PhD
Michael Hooker Distinguished Professor of Biology
UNC-Chapel Hill
Cancer Cell Biology
Area of Interest
Cell adhesion, cytoskeletal regulation and Wnt signaling in development and disease
We work at the interface between cell, developmental and cancer cell biology, focusing on the epithelial tissues that form the basic architectural unit of our bodies and of those of other animals. We explore how the machinery mediating cell adhesion, cytoskeletal regulation and Wnt signaling regulates cell fate and tissue architecture in development and disease.
Part of our lab explores how cell-cell adhesion and the cytoskeleton shape tissue architecture, and how alterations in them drive cancer metastasis. Our challenge is to alter the current static model of cell adhesion to explain the remarkable cellular events of morphogenesis that shape the embryonic body plan. To do so, we are exploring the dynamic regulation of cell adhesion and the interactions between adhesion and the cytoskeleton. These same processes are altered to allow metastatic cells to escape primary tumors and migrate to distant locations.
The other part of our lab explores Wnt signaling. Wnts are one of the five signal transduction pathways that shape virtually all cell fates and which are inappropriately activated in most solid tumors. We explore novel biological roles for Wnt signaling during development, and seek to determine how the tumor suppressor APC regulates both Wnt signaling and the cytoskeleton in normal development and in human cancer.
Awards and Honors
- Elected Fellow, American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB), 2020
- Member of the Advisory Council of NIH’s Center for Scientific Review, 2019-2022
- Member of the NIGMS Advisory Council, 2015-2018
- Elected Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2010
