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Rodriguez Malave, Norma
 Norma Rodriguez Malave
Hails from Mayaguez, Puerto Rico
Fall 2007 will be a Senior at University of Puerto Rico majoring in Industrial Biotechnology
Norma is interested in cancer research and plans to get a PhD in Biochemistry or Molecular Biology and would some day like to be a researcher with St. Jude's Childrens Hospital and Research Center.
Reason I chose UW-Madison Molecular and Environmental Toxicology Summer Research Program
I came to Madison, becuase a profesor of mine, Dr. Carlos Rios-Velazquez, got his Ph.D. here and has always talked about the varius opportunities UW-Madison has to offer. My interest in going to grad-school here rose, yet. I needed to see if it was the right one for me so I decided to do Summer Research here.
Funding
Participating in the Molecular and Environmental Toxicology Summer Research Opportunity Program through the funding of the National Instutite of Health.
 Photo Credits: Chris Frazee, Media Solutions
Photo to Left: Norma with her advisor Dr. Linda Schuler and lab mentor Tim Piazza, comparative biosciences graduate student.
Photo Below: Norma working with her mentor Tim Piazza
Title of Summer Research
Down Regulation of Prolactin Receptors in T47D Human Mammary Tumor Cells and How Signal Transduction is Involved
I worked with Timothy Piazza, graduate student, in Dr. Linda A. Schuler's lab. My worked was based on the down-regulation of the prolactin hormone receptor. Prolactin hormone regulates a series of processes in mammary cells. Some which involve cell growth and proliferation. Prolactin has also been correlated to breast cancer progression in women. On the other hand, how its specific cytokine receptor is processed is not understood especially in breast cancer cells. In this study, we examined the effects of ligand binding to the long prolactin receptor in breast cancer cells, specifically the T47D adenocarcinoma cell line. We observed a biphasic down-regulation of
the long prolactin receptor in presence of prolactin. Also, we were able to inhibit the down-regulation by inhibiting tyrosine kinases: Jak2 and c-Src using specific chemical inhibitors. These results are different from another breast cancer line, MCF-7 cells, suggesting that cell context is important for prolactin receptor processing. Our findings shine a light on other ways of receptor down-regulation and ways of mediating this process.
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