Investigating the interaction of endothelial neuropilin-2 and alpha5-integrin during angiogenesis; a sticky business. (SSA)

血管生成是从预先存在的血管形成血管。血管生成对于维持健康的生理过程和损伤后组织的血管再生是必不可少的。我们的研究小组专注于研究血管生成的分子基础，我们最近发现了两种细胞表面蛋白之间的新的相互作用，这两种细胞表面蛋白是由参与这一过程的内皮细胞表达的。本研究的目标是确定内皮神经纤毛蛋白2和α 5-整合素蛋白如何在分子、细胞和生物体水平上相互作用来调节血管生成。该项目将为学生提供广泛的跨学科技术经验，包括与基因敲除小鼠，内皮细胞分离，细胞成像和组织培养。学生将学习标准技术，如蛋白质印迹，免疫组织化学，免疫荧光和共聚焦显微镜的使用。该项目将涉及培养内皮细胞和各种迁移、发芽和模拟血管生成的体外试验。该项目旨在使用条件性基因敲除小鼠来确定这两种蛋白在发育血管生成和血管损伤后的体内功能。

Angiogenesis is the formation of blood vessels from pre-existing vessels. Angiogenesis is essential for maintaining healthy physiological processes and for the revascularisation of tissues following an injury. Our research group focuses on investigating the molecular basis of angiogenesis and we have recently identified a novel interaction between two cell surface proteins expressed by endothelial cells involved in this process.The goal of the studentship would be to determine how endothelial neuropilin-2 and alpha5-integrin proteins interact to regulate angiogenesis at the molecular, cellular and organismal levels. This project would give the student experience in a wide range of cross-disciplinary techniques, including working with knockout mice, endothelial cell isolation, cell imaging, and tissue culture. The student would learn standard techniques such as western blotting, immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence and the use of confocal microscopy. The project would involve culture of endothelial cells and a variety of migration, sprouting and in vitro assays which model angiogenesis. The project aims to use conditional knockout mice to determine the in vivo function of these two proteins during developmental angiogenesis and following a vascular injury.