Presidential Young Investigator

总统青年研究人员奖将支持确定涉及神经元分化的分子机制的研究。来自小脑颗粒神经元的细胞系和胚胎癌细胞系P19将被用于消减杂交研究，以开始识别在分化或未分化细胞中特异表达的基因。同源基因的克隆将被用来识别对分化至关重要的其他基因。基因转染法将用于研究已鉴定的基因的功能。此外，还将确定参与GAP-43转录调控的因素，GAP-43是一种神经元特异性基因蛋白。这些研究是理解大脑发育机制的基础。

A Presidential Young Investigator Award will support studies to define molecular mechanisms involved in neuronal differentiation. Cell lines derived from cerebellar granule neurons and the embryonic carcinoma cell line, P19, will be used for subtractive hybridization studies to begin to identify genes that are specifically expressed in differentiated or undifferentiated cells. Cloning of homologous genes will be used to identify other genes important to differentiation. Gene transfection will be used to study function of those genes identified. In addition, factors involved in transcriptional regulation of GAP-43, a neuron-specific gene protein, will be identified. These studies are fundamental to understanding the mechanisms underlying brain development.