Fiona Watt

Bio: Dr. Fiona Watt was a PhD student in Oxford studying with Henry Harris when she was introduced to the cell biology of cancer. It wasn't until her stretch as a postdoctoral fellow at MIT that she began studying mammalian epidermis. She then set up her own lab at the Kennedy Institute before joining the Cancer Research-UK London Research Institute. In 2006, Dr. Watt will be moving to Cambridge to become deputy director of the new Cancer Research-UK Cambridge Research Institute, becoming involved in a major stem cell initiative within the University.

Talk Title: Self-Renewal and Lineage Selection by Adult Epidermal Stem Cells

Abstract: Two issues that are currently of great interest in adult stem cell research are how stem cell renewal is regulated and how stem cell progeny select particular differentiated lineages. My lab has evidence that epidermal stem cells become depleted through loss of Rac1 or overexpression of Myc. We are currently investigating how Rac and Myc interact. Epidermal lineage selection is determined, at least in part, by the level of beta-catenin signalling, while Hedgehog affects the balance between morphogenesis and proliferation.