Our Science – Barr Website

Valarie A. Barr, Ph.D.

Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Biology Staff Scientist (Facility Head) National Cancer Institute Building 37, Room 2035 37 Convent Drive Bethesda, MD 20892 Phone:   301-496-9052 Fax:   301-496-8479 E-Mail:   barrv@mail.nih.gov

Biography

Dr. Barr received her Ph.D. degree from the Department of Cell Biology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1994. She then carried out postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Dr. Simeon Taylor in the Diabetes Branch, National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases. She joined the Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Biology as a Staff Scientist in 2001.

Research

The Microscopy Core facility provides state-of-the-art equipment, advice and training to researchers with particular expertise in live cell imaging. Most of the research done in the Core facility focuses on the movement of proteins involved in signal transduction pathways. In collaboration with Dr. Samelson, we study the movements of proteins initially found in signaling complexes that form at activated T cell receptors. These studies use a model system where chimeric proteins tagged with variants of GFP are visualized in Jurkat T cells. These cells are activated either by contact with antibody-coated coverslips or by contact with superantigen pulsed Raji B cells. Using this system we have studied the formation of signaling complexes, the movement of proteins involved in reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton and the trafficking of SLP-76, an important adaptor protein involved in T cell activation.

This page was last updated on 9/5/2008.