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| Division of Reproductive Biology Research Serdar E. Bulun, MD, Professor and Chief CURRICULUM VITAE Debabrata (Debu) Chakravarti, PhD, Associate Professor, and Associate Director Dr. Chakravarti received his PhD from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, in 1992. Until 1998, he was a Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund Postdoctoral Fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Ron Evans at the Salk Institute, La Jolla, California. Dr. Chakravarti was an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania prior to his arrival at Northwestern University in 2005. One of the major research interests of Dr. Chakravarti is to determine the mechanisms of steroid hormone and vitamin signaling with special emphasis on the role of the nuclear hormone receptor co-regulatory proteins in gene transcription. Modulation of chromatin modification is essential for gene expression and therefore its alteration has been linked to human diseases including cancer. Dr. Chakravarti’s laboratory identifies and characterizes the role of chromatin signal transducer proteins including the recently identified INHAT proteins in gene regulation. Dr. Chakravarti’s laboratory is also characterizing members of a novel THAP domain protein family regarding their roles in gene regulation, chromatin signaling, cell growth and differentiation, and cancer. CURRICULUM VITAE J. Julie Kim, PhD, Assistant Professor Dr. Julie Kim is assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and a member of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. She studies the molecular events that occur in the endometrium in response to early pregnancy. Specifically, these events include regulation of genes associated with decidualization by the progesterone receptor, forkhead and homebox transcription factors. In addition, part of her research focuses on the regulation of these genes in endometriosis. Another project in the lab involves the molecular regulation of genes in response to progesterone in endometrial cancer. Specifically, the mechanisms of progesterone receptor action in endometrial cancer are under investigation. Dr. Kim received her PhD degree from Laval University in 1995 and her BS degree from the University of Toronto in 1990.
Eugene Xu, PhD, Assistant Professor The overall goal of Dr. Xu's research is to understand the genetic and developmental mechanisms of mammalian germline development, in particular, how key events such as maintenance/differentiation of germline stem cells and entry into meiosis are regulated in mammals. The pathways that develop germ cells appear to be conserved broadly, at least in outline, in organisms as diverse as insects and mammals. The reproductive pathways begin in the embryo with allocation of cells to the germ cell lineage and migration of these germline stem cells to the gonad. The pathways continue with mitotic proliferation and meiosis of the germ cells followed by maturation into fully differentiated sperm and eggs. This research and that of others has shown that such conservation in broad outline can be extended further to the mechanistic level. CURRICULUM VITAE Takeshi Kurita, PhD, Research Associate Professor Dr. Kurita received his PhD in Applied Physics (Biophysics) from Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan in 1994. His research interest lies in molecular mechanisms of development and carcinogenesis of sex-steroid target organs. In reproductive organs and mammary glands, steroid hormones are crucial in normal functions of the epithelial compartment and regulate growth, differentiation and cell death. They are also known to play a role in carcinogenesis of these organs. Dr. Kurita’s study particularly focuses on the effects of steroid hormones in epithelial-stromal/mesenchymal tissue interactions and how such interactions affect developmental or carcinogenesis process of steroid target organs. Another area of Dr. Kurita’s research is to study replicative senescence of epithelial tissues and to understand its role in carcinogenesis of sex-steroid target organs. His group is studying molecular events in aging of epithelial tissues using an in vivo serial transplantation model. CURRICULUM VITAE E-mail: t-kurita@northwestern.edu Telephone: (312) 503-0525 Important Links 303 E. Superior St., 4th floor, Chicago, IL 60611 | Division Telephone: (312) 503-1600 | Fax: (312) 503-0095 | | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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