Grant: Operating Grant

Our lab is concerned with the mechanisms that are used by mammals to control the development of the mammary gland (mice) or breast (humans). We are interested in these processes in embryonic animals, where mammary gland development begins, as well as in postnatal animals. In particular we study a class of protein molecules called the Hedgehog proteins. These proteins are very important in helping to organize the three-dimensional structure of embryos and of individual tissues. The Hedgehog proteins work by binding onto other molecules, called receptors, which then dictate how cells will participate in the formation of a tissue. We recently discovered that a defect in the Hedgehog receptor stopped the development of the mammary gland in mice. This mouse seems also to be blocked for forming tumours in the mammary gland of some mice carrying a particular cancer gene, but not in mice carrying a different class of cancer gene. Thus, our studies will show how the Hedgehog proteins help direct breast development as well as to understand how, when altered, they are involved in the formation of cancer in the mammary gland.