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Dr. Megan Agajanian of Stanford presents
March 25 @ 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Megan Agajanian, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar, Roel Nuuse Lab
Department of Developmental Biology
Stanford University
Seminar title: “The dynamic role of TBX3 in 鈥淭he dynamic role of TBX3 in cancer and development”
Location: 1131 Bioinformatics
Please join us and show support for our seminar speakers!
(For those unable to attend, a zoom link is available upon request to聽Mimi Baltz.)
Host: Mike Emanuele
Megan is a postdoc in Roul Nouse’s lab, the person who first identified Wnt signaling in humans. She is a former Pharmacology student in the Emanuele Lab.聽 She has been funded by HHMI Gilliam and a K00 Award, and was selected for the NSF-ASCB FRED Program.
Dr. Agajanian is interested in lineage plasticity and the signals that drive diverse cellular responses. Her postdoctoral work focuses on the dynamic role of TBX3 in breast cancer and mammary gland development. TBX3 mutations in the developing embryo result in Ulnar Mammary Syndrome, which is characterized by incomplete mammary gland development. In contrast, TBX3 is mutated in breast cancer and is associated with metastasis. Despite these critical roles of TBX3, the role of patient mutations in breast cancer progression and the role of TBX3 in postnatal mammary gland expansion remain virtually unstudied. Using organoid and mouse models, we have demonstrated TBX3 supports organoid growth and in vivo is required for mammary gland expansion during puberty. Interestingly, previous work identified TBX3 as a lineage specific component of the Wnt transcriptional complex in colorectal cancer, but it鈥檚 role in Wnt signaling in the mammary gland remains unknown. With her background in Wnt signaling interrogation, in the future, she aims to pursue her interest in lineage and context dependent regulators of this critical signaling cascade using a wide array of techniques, including organoid models, molecular biology, proteomic, and in vivo approaches.
“My project focuses on TBX3 (T-Box Transcription Factor 3), one of the top ten mutated genes in breast cancer. TBX3 upregulation and loss of function mutations are identified in patients, raising the question: is TBX3 a proto-oncogene or tumor suppressor? My work in the Nusse lab will define the role of TBX3 in breast cancer progression and identify TBX3 targets that can be utilized as therapeutic targets in TBX3-associated breast cancer.”
