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Dr. Helen McNeill
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Dr. Helen McNeill 
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Dr. Helen McNeill’s groundbreaking work looks at how cells organize into tissues. At heart is the question of why one cell stops growing while others surge out of control through the body. A better understanding of this process is critical in cancer research, a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth.

Dr. McNeill’s research focuses on a gene called Ft, (known as “fat”). Ft instructs cells how they should interact with other cells, and how large to grow.

Mutations in the Ft gene can cause cells to overgrow and turn into tumours. Ft is also involved in a cellular pathway implicated in a large number of human cancers, including breast cancer, sarcomas and liver cancer. Ft regulates the Hippo Kinase pathway, a pathway that is mutated in many different cancers. Dr. McNeill is investigating the specific role Ft plays with the hope of identifying new treatment targets for cancer and other diseases related to Ft malfunction.

Mutations of the Ft gene could also become a biomarker to help identify women at most risk of breast cancer recurrence. Dr. McNeill is currently collaborating with Dr. Irene Andrulis, a breast cancer researcher at the Lunenfeld, to combine genetic findings with population data related to breast cancer, which has a recurrence rate of 20%. Dr. McNeill's research will look at the genetic basis for how and why some cancer patients relapse in hopes of helping doctors identify patients that are more likely to experience recurrence of the disease.
 
Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute
Mount Sinai Hospital
Joseph & Wolf Lebovic Health Complex
600 University Avenue
Toronto Ontario M5G 1X5
Tel: 416-586-4800 ext.8267

 
Jul 15, 2009 04:35 PM

     

At a Glance

  • Researches how cells organize into tissues
  • Focuses on a gene called Ft, (known as “fat”) that tells cells how they should interact with other cells, grow and die off
  • Looks at the role of the Ft gene in cancer – which is implicated in breast cancer, sarcomas and liver cancers
  • Won the Petro Canada Young Innovator’s Award in 2006.

 

 

Major Research Activities

A central problem in cell and developmental biology is understanding how cells and groups of cells become organized to form organs and tissues. One form of higher organization that is currently under intense investigation is planar cell polarity. Planar cell polarity is the coordinate organization of cells within the plane of a single layered sheet of cells.

Planar polarity is essential for tissue functioning: the planar polarity of the vertebrate inner ear is essential to proper hearing and balance; similarly, planar polarity of the fly eye is essential for accurate vision. We are using the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, as a genetically tractable organism to investigate the genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying planar polarity.

 

 

Recent Publications

Phosphorylation of the tumor suppressor Fat is regulated by its ligand Dachsous and the kinase Discs Overgrown. Sopko R, Silva E, Clayton L, Gardano L, Barrios-Rodiles M, Wrana J, Varelas X, Arbouzova NI, Shaw S, Saburi S, Matakatsu H, Blair S, McNeill H.Curr Biol. 2009 Jul 14;19(13):1112-7. Epub 2009 Jun 18.
 
LKB1 regulates polarity remodeling and adherens junction formation in the Drosophila eye.
Amin N, Khan A, St Johnston D, Tomlinson I, Martin S, Brenman J, McNeill H. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Jun 2;106(22):8941-6

The FERM-domain protein Expanded regulates Hippo pathway activity via direct interactions with the transcriptional activator Yorkie.
Badouel C, Gardano L, Amin N, Garg A, Rosenfeld R, Le Bihan T, McNeill H. Dev Cell. 2009 Mar;16(3):411-20.
 
Loss of Fat4 disrupts PCP signaling and oriented cell division and leads to cystic kidney disease.
Saburi S, Hester I, Fischer E, Pontoglio M, Eremina V, Gessler M, Quaggin SE, Harrison R, Mount R, McNeill H.Nat Genet. 2008 Aug;40(8):1010-5. E

 

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