Lucy Liaw is a full time research scientist in the Center for Molecular Medicine. She attended the University of Washington, receiving her Ph.D. in Biological Structure/Pathology in 1994. Her post-doctoral work was performed in the Department of Cell Biology at Vanderbilt University, and she spent one year in the Division of Cardiology at Vanderbilt before joining the faculty at Maine Medical Center Research Institute in 1998. She is a member of the graduate faculty at the University of Maine, Orono, and has adjunct faculty appointments at University of Southern Maine and University of New England.

Education

B.S. University of Arizona, Ph.D. University of Washington

Research interests

My laboratory is interested in understanding how blood vessels develop during embryogenesis and repair themselves following vascular injury. We have recently focused on the family of Notch receptors, which have been shown to be highly expressed in large vessels during remodeling. Our goals are to understand the pathways by which Notch receptor signaling controls smooth muscle cell and endothelial cell behavior. These studies apply to human diseases including restenosis, atherosclerosis, and other vascular obstructive diseases. In addition, blood vessel recruitment and growth is a hallmark of successful tumors, and we are interested in signals that increase tumor cell growth and survival.

One of our major strategies is to create murine genetic transgenic models in which we can activate or inhibit Notch receptor signaling in a vascular-specific manner. These models will allow us to develop in vivo systems to understand blood vessel remodeling and tumor growth.

I also direct the Molecular Genetics Core Facility in the Center for Molecular Medicine, which is a resource for the generation of transgenic and gene-targeted models. This service allows investigators to submit transgenes of interest for pronuclear injection to obtain transgenic animals, or target specific genes in embryonic stem cells. Other resources available through this Core Facility are cryoprotection of mouse lines, re-derivation, embryo staging and collection, and maintenance of shared strains for investigator use.

Publications

• O'Neill CF, Urs S, Cinelli C, Lincoln A, Nadeau RJ, León R, Toher J, Mouta-Bellum C, Friesel RE, Liaw L. Notch2 signaling induces apoptosis and inhibits human MDA-MB-231 xenograft growth. Am J Pathol. 2007 Sep;171(3):1023-1036.

  For more information: Download PDF

• Plumer A, Duan H, Subramaniam S, Lucas FL, Miesfeldt S, Ng AK, Liaw L. Development of fragment-specific osteopontin antibodies and ELISA for quantification in human metastatic breast cancer. BMC Cancer. 2008 Jan 31;8:38.

  For more information: Download PDF

• Havrda MC, Johnson MJ, O'Neill CF, Liaw L. A novel mechanism of transcriptional repression of p27kip1 through Notch/HRT2 signaling in vascular smooth muscle cells. Thromb Haemost. 2006 Sep;96(3):361-370.

  For more information: Download PDF

• Urs S, Harrington A, Liaw L, Small D. Selective expression of an aP2/Fatty Acid Binding Protein 4-Cre transgene in non-adipogenic tissues during embryonic development. Transgenic Res. 2006 Oct;15(5):647-53.

  For more information: Download PDF

• Hara-Kaonga B, Gao YA, Havrda M, Harrington A, Bergquist I, Liaw L. Variable recombination efficiency in responder transgenes activated by cre recombinase in the vasculature. Transgenic Res. 2006 Feb;15(1):101-106.

  For more information: Download PDF

• Miceli-Libby L, Johnson MJ, Harrington A, Hara-Kaonga B, Ng AK, Liaw L. Widespread delta-like-1 expression in normal adult mouse tissue and injured endothelium is reflected by expression of the Dll1LacZ locus. J Vasc Res. 2008;45(1):1-9.

  For more information: Download PDF

• Tang Y, Urs S, Liaw L. Hairy-related transcription factors inhibit Notch-induced smooth muscle alpha-actin expression by interfering with Notch intracellular domain/CBF-1 complex interaction with the CBF-1-binding site. Circ Res. 2008 Mar 28;102(6):661-668.

  For more information: Download PDF

• Venkatesh DA, Park KS, Harrington A, Miceli-Libby L, Yoon JK, Liaw L. Cardiovascular and hematopoietic defects associated with Notch1 activation in embryonic Tie2-expressing populations. Circ Res. 2008 Aug 15;103(4):423-431.

  For more information: Download PDF

• Urs S, Roudabush A, O'Neill CF, Pinz I, Prudovsky I, Kacer D, Tang Y, Liaw L, Small D. Soluble forms of the Notch ligands Delta1 and Jagged1 promote in vivo tumorigenicity in NIH3T3 fibroblasts with distinct phenotypes. Am J Pathol. 2008 Sep;173(3):865-878.

  For more information: Download PDF

[Edit my profile]