Grant: Operating Grant

Many drugs and environmental toxicants induce a stress response. The embryo is uniquely sensitive to insult during the time when organs are developing. We hypothesize that the ability of the embryo to respond to stress is an important determinant of developmental outcome. Furthermore, we suggest that there are specific signaling pathways which are uniquely sensitive to stress and mediate this response. Elucidation of the role that these signalling pathways play in protecting the embryo against insult will permit us to develop new strategies to prevent birth defects.