Address:	McCallum Building Room 360 1918 University Blvd. Birmingham, AL 35294-0005
	Telephone: Fax: E-Mail:	(205) 975-7229 (205) 975-6748 cchang@uab.edu
	Recent Publications

Research Interest

TGF-β signals; BMPs; extracellular and intracellular modulation of TGF-β signal transduction; ErbB signals; early Xenopus embryogenesis.

The research in Dr. Chang’s laboratory will be focused on the following areas. 1) Regulation of TGFβ signaling during early frog development and in cancer formation and progression. TGFβ (transformation growth factor beta) signals have been implicated in a variety of processes, including cell proliferation, differentiation, migration, and apoptosis. Two main classes of the TGFβ ligands, TGFβ/Activin/nodal and BMPs, play overlapping and distinct roles during vertebrate embryogenesis and in adult tissue homeostasis. The activities of these ligands are regulated temporally and spatially by multiple factors. One of the research goals in the lab is to understand how TGFβ signals are modulated by proteins located at different cellular levels during development and in cancer formation. Issues related to the presentation of the ligands, the differential activities of different ligands, and the mechanisms of regulation of the TGFβ signal transduction by factors such as Twisted Gastrulation and tomoregulin-1 will be studied. 2) Regulation of EGF receptor-related signaling in development and in cancer. Epidermal growth factor (EGF) signals are employed in multiple processes in invertebrate embryogenesis and are amplified in a variety of carcinomas. The activities of EGF-related signals during vertebrate development are less understood. Previous studies from this lab have shown that EGF receptor-like protein tyrosine kinases (ErbBs) regulate morphogenesis of early Xenopus embryos, but the mechanisms are unknown. One of the research directions in the lab is to comprehend how ErbBs control different morphogenetic processes during early frog development.

Lab Members:
Shuyi Nie, graduate student
Paul W. Harms, graduate student

Possible Rotation Projects:

1. Use antisense morpholino oligonucleotides to block TGF-β signaling components during early Xenopus development to uncover the endogenous function of these proteins
2. Use antisense morpholino oligonucleotides and tissue explants to study ErbB signaling in somite morphogenesis