St. Bonaventure Professor to Train
Harvard Research Fellow
Micro-dissection techniques used by St. Bonaventure assistant biology professor Julie Hens, Ph.D., in her mammary gland research have caught the eye of a Harvard research fellow.
Silva Krause, Ph.D., a research fellow in the Vascular Biology Program at Children’s Hospital of Boston and Harvard Medical School, will be on campus Wednesday and Thursday to meet and train with Hens in the William F. Walsh Science Center.
“My research focuses on embryonic mammary gland biology, and the molecular mechanisms involved in this processs. I micro-dissect mouse mammary buds and study the molecular mechanisms that enable them to outgrow into an initial branching structure. We do this by using explants of the mammary buds and mesenchyme and growing them in vitro,” Hens explained.
“With all the great new facilities at Walsh … we have the ability to accomplish much of the research that a larger lab facility can offer,” said Hens. The university’s new $14.6 million science center opened just a year ago.
Krause, the third researcher who has sought out Hens for training on this technique, learned of Hens’ work through her paper published in the journal Development (“BMP4 and PTHrP Interact to Stimulate Ductal Outgrowth during Embryonic Mammary Development and Inhibit Hair Follicle Induction”).
Krause joined Ingber’s laboratory in Boston a year ago and is starting a new project. The Ingber laboratory is interested in the general mechanism of cell and developmental regulation: how cells respond to signals and coordinate their behaviors to produce tissues with specialized form and function. The specific focus of their lab has been the control of angiogenesis and vascular development.
During her visit to St. Bonaventure, Krause will also give a lecture, “Interdisciplinary Approaches to Combat Breast Cancer,” about her research. The lecture begins at 4 p.m. Thursday on the third floor of De La Roche Hall.
Krause received a Ph.D. from Tufts University Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences in 2008. Her thesis was titled “Stromal-Epithelial Interactions in the Mammary Gland: Development of a Tissue Morphogenesis Model” and she designed a novel three-dimensional in vitro model for the human breast that allowed for the development of both ductal and alveolar structures to study breast development and breast cancer in vitro.
Hens’ research interest is geared toward understanding mammary gland and lung development. In both cases this is to understand not just the basic science of the organs but to use this knowledge to understand cancer further in the hope of developing new treatments.
Specifically, Hens has been studying the signaling pathways of PTHrP, MSX-2, BMPs, and WNTs in the mammary gland and how they function during embryonic development. She plans to expand this research to study breast cancer and additionally lung development and cancer.
Last week, Hens discussed “The Multiple Roles of Cadherin-11 in Mammary Gland Development and Cancer” during the first Faculty Research Colloquium for the fall semester. Her research paper “Analysis of Gene Expression in PTHrP-/- Mammary Buds Supports a Role for BMP Signaling and MMP2 in the Initiation of Ductal Morphogenesis” is in press now in the journal Developmental Dynamics.
Hens, who joined the St. Bonaventure faculty in 2007, holds a Ph.D. in animal science from the University of Maryland and an M.S. degree in genetics from Pennsylvania State University. She earned her undergraduate degree in biology from Canisius College.
from St. Bonaventure University
Silva Krause, Ph.D., a research fellow in the Vascular Biology Program at Children’s Hospital of Boston and Harvard Medical School, will be on campus Wednesday and Thursday to meet and train with Hens in the William F. Walsh Science Center.
“My research focuses on embryonic mammary gland biology, and the molecular mechanisms involved in this processs. I micro-dissect mouse mammary buds and study the molecular mechanisms that enable them to outgrow into an initial branching structure. We do this by using explants of the mammary buds and mesenchyme and growing them in vitro,” Hens explained.
“With all the great new facilities at Walsh … we have the ability to accomplish much of the research that a larger lab facility can offer,” said Hens. The university’s new $14.6 million science center opened just a year ago.
Krause, the third researcher who has sought out Hens for training on this technique, learned of Hens’ work through her paper published in the journal Development (“BMP4 and PTHrP Interact to Stimulate Ductal Outgrowth during Embryonic Mammary Development and Inhibit Hair Follicle Induction”).
Krause joined Ingber’s laboratory in Boston a year ago and is starting a new project. The Ingber laboratory is interested in the general mechanism of cell and developmental regulation: how cells respond to signals and coordinate their behaviors to produce tissues with specialized form and function. The specific focus of their lab has been the control of angiogenesis and vascular development.
During her visit to St. Bonaventure, Krause will also give a lecture, “Interdisciplinary Approaches to Combat Breast Cancer,” about her research. The lecture begins at 4 p.m. Thursday on the third floor of De La Roche Hall.
Krause received a Ph.D. from Tufts University Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences in 2008. Her thesis was titled “Stromal-Epithelial Interactions in the Mammary Gland: Development of a Tissue Morphogenesis Model” and she designed a novel three-dimensional in vitro model for the human breast that allowed for the development of both ductal and alveolar structures to study breast development and breast cancer in vitro.
Hens’ research interest is geared toward understanding mammary gland and lung development. In both cases this is to understand not just the basic science of the organs but to use this knowledge to understand cancer further in the hope of developing new treatments.
Specifically, Hens has been studying the signaling pathways of PTHrP, MSX-2, BMPs, and WNTs in the mammary gland and how they function during embryonic development. She plans to expand this research to study breast cancer and additionally lung development and cancer.
Last week, Hens discussed “The Multiple Roles of Cadherin-11 in Mammary Gland Development and Cancer” during the first Faculty Research Colloquium for the fall semester. Her research paper “Analysis of Gene Expression in PTHrP-/- Mammary Buds Supports a Role for BMP Signaling and MMP2 in the Initiation of Ductal Morphogenesis” is in press now in the journal Developmental Dynamics.
Hens, who joined the St. Bonaventure faculty in 2007, holds a Ph.D. in animal science from the University of Maryland and an M.S. degree in genetics from Pennsylvania State University. She earned her undergraduate degree in biology from Canisius College.
from St. Bonaventure University
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