Mission Statement
The Division of Intramural Research attempts to understand and harness the science and technologies which will allow prediction, at or before birth, of diseases to which we are susceptible, to identify genetic, prenatal (fetal antecedents) and environmental factors that influence their expression so that interventions can be developed that will prevent or modify their expression. It studies the biology of development, and examines events from conception through senescence at the molecular, physical/chemical, genetic, and behavioral level in cells, tissues/organs and organisms. It attempts to understand the biological processes of normal and pathological development in human beings.
A central phenomenon is communication. A cell orients itself as a consequence of signals it receives from its environment and from other cells proximate to it; these signals on its surface are transmitted and interpreted in its interior. This in turn results in changes in the cell and its membrane, which lead to the development of cellular polarity. Similar events are fundamental to cellular growth and differentiation resulting in the formation of tissues, organ-systems and ultimately an organism:
The phenomenon of embryologic development and differentiation is generally regarded as one of the two most profound unsolved problems in human biology – the other being the operation of the brain. In both cases, the core of the mystery is the cooperative and collaborative behavior of the cells themselves. The embryo develops from a single cell into an elaborately complex structure, a baby, made up of trillions of cells, each one specialized for doing what it is supposed to do and confining its activities to its designated area but kept in communication with all the rest by chemical advertisements.
We attempt to exploit these phenomena in the translational investigations of our clinical branches.
The research of the Division of Intramural Research asks several fundamental questions:
- How do cells communicate/signal from their exterior margins (cell membrane) to the cytosolic compartment (an aqueous environment filled with organelles and macromolecules), to the nucleus to initiate gene expression and replication, and subsequently to translate molecular responses to produce changes in function, differentiation, and signal its neighbors and the environment?
- How do cells talk to one another, how do they identify their properties and location to one another and, thus, give rise to tissues/organs?
- How are these processes integrated during embryonic, fetal and postnatal development?
- When these processes go awry and disease ensues, how may we intervene in this pathologic sequence and treat human diseases?
