Susan Mendrysa

Title:

Associate Professor

PhD Granting Institution:

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Contact:

Email Address: mendrysa@purdue.edu
Office Phone: 765-494-8622

Primary Training Group:

Cancer Biology

Current Projects:

The unifying theme of the research in the Mendrysa laboratory is the role of the p53 tumor suppressor protein in development, tissue homeostasis, and disease. The regulation of p53 must be tightly controlled as loss of p53 function is a major driver of tumor formation and aberrantly elevated p53 function contributes to the neuro-degeneration associated with human disease including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s Disease. A major focus of our current research is to delineating the mechanisms by which p53 function is regulated by the MDM2 protein in cerebellar granule neuron progenitors (GNPs). Disruption of GNP maturation can result in defects in motor coordination and learning, or in medulloblastoma, the most common childhood brain tumor. We primarily use genetically modified mice as a model system in which to place MDM2 and p53 within the molecular pathways that govern the proliferation, differentiation, and cell death of GNPs in cerebellar development and tumorigenesis. Our in vivo genetic studies with mice are complimented by in vitro molecular biology and biochemistry approaches in mammalian cells to delineate the functional and mechanistic relationship of cellular signaling molecules. Using this multi-disciplinary approach, the Mendrysa lab is able to perturb the level of proteins of interest (e.g. p53, MDM2) in the whole animal in order to investigate their physiological roles in normal and pre-cancerous tissues and conduct hypothesis-driven experiments in vitro for follow up analyses.