Research Interests
The focus of my lab is to elucidate the signaling pathways by which the glycoprotein hormones follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) initiate cellular responses of differentiation and proliferation. In response to FSH, granulosa cells produce steroid hormones, protein hormones, and growth factors that regulate the hypothalamic/pituitary axis and promote oocyte maturation, development of the follicle to a preovulatory phenotype, and uterine receptivity. All of the documented responses to FSH appear to be mediated by cAMP and its predominate intracellular target, cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA). Indeed, granulosa cells offer one of the best examples of a cellular model whose responses are orchestrated by PKA. Signaling by PKA is confined to specific locations in cells by virtue of a multi-gene family of A-kinase anchoring proteins (AKAPs) that localize pools of PKA, their substrates, and interconnected signaling enzymes such as phosphodiesterases (PDEs) that limit the broadcast of cAMP and phosphatases that dynamically regulate substrate phosphorylation. Our studies focus on the signaling pathways and downstream transcriptional targets by which FSH initiates maturation of granulosa cells as well as the AKAPs that anchor PKA to facilitate these responses. We are also interested in pathways by which LH signals to initiate ovulation and luteinization and the associated AKAPs that participate in these pathways.
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