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Laboratories

Cytoskeletal Membrane Dynamics: Mark A. McNiven

  • About
    • About
    • About the Lab
    • Research Team
  • Focus Areas
    • Focus Areas
    • Tumor Cell Growth and Migration
    • Lipid Droplet Biology and Fatty Liver
    • Alcohol-Induced Liver Damage
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  • Membrane trafficking in tumor cell growth: Vesicle transport of growth factor receptors and cell surface components contributes to tumor cell growth

    An electron micrograph and corresponding fluorescence light micrograph of a junction between two pancreatic tumor cells forming vesicular caveolae (arrows) that internalize cell-cell borders allowing the cells to separate and invade. Green is a stain for the caveolin protein.

  • Pancreatic tumor cells grow and invade during metastasis

    The cytoplasm (red) and nuclei (blue) of pancreatic cancer cells are invading through a porous filter in culture.

  • Tumor cells detach and migrate during invasion

    A light micrograph of migrating pancreatic tumor cells stained for actin filaments and a small GTPase activating protein Vav1

  • Cellular organelles essential to regulation of hepatocyte fat metabolism

    These cellular organelles — the autophagolysosome (AP-LY), the lipid droplet (LD) and the mitochondria (MITO) — are often in close proximity to each other and work synergistically.

  • The cellular basis of fatty liver disease: Hepatocytes accumulate lipid droplets when exposed to alcohol

    Hepatocytes cultured from rats fed a control diet (left) have far fewer lipid droplets (red) than hepatocytes cultured from rats fed a diet containing alcohol for six weeks (right). DNA/nucleus is in blue.

Tumor Cell Growth and Migration

The Cytoskeletal Membrane Dynamics Lab is studying how the metastatic behavior of tumor cells is regulated to discover new treatments for pancreatic cancer.

Tumor cell growth and migration

Lipid Droplet Biology and Fatty Liver

Dr. McNiven's research team is discovering the basic mechanisms by which liver cells utilize stored fat and how a deficit in lipid droplet breakdown causes fatty liver disease.

Lipid droplet biology and fatty liver

Alcohol-Induced Liver Damage

The Cytoskeletal Membrane Dynamics Lab studies how alcohol contributes to defective lipid droplet breakdown, which causes liver damage.

Alcohol-induced liver damage
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