Daniel Carson, Ph.D.Professor and Chair
Department of Biological Sciences
University of Delaware
116 Wolf Hall
Newark DE 19716-2590
Phone: (302) 831-6977
FAX: (302) 831-1033
E-Mail: dcarson@udel.edu
Web Site: http://www.udel.edu/bio/people/faculty/dcarson.html
Education
Post-Doctoral, John Hopkins University School of Medicine
Ph.D., Microbiology; Temple University, 1979
B.S., Biology; University of Pennsylvania, 1975
Research Interests:
Our lab is examining the expression and function of cell surface components that participate in and regulate cellular interactions in developing embryos and various tumor cell models. Following fertilization, embryos develop to a stage at which they acquire the ability to bind to and invade uterine tissue. This development reflects an increase in the expression of embryonic adhesion-promoting molecules. One class of embryonic adhesion-promoting molecules is heparan sulfate proteoglycans. Studies in both mouse and human model systems indicate that proteoglycans and novel cell surface proteoglycan-binding proteins support embryo-uterine interactions at early stages of embryo attachment. Expression of both the proteoglycans and their binding proteins persists through placental development and plays an important role on cartilage development. Similar proteoglycan-dependent interactions occur in a variety of tumor cell lines, including those of breast, melanoma and prostate.
A novel proteoglycan-binding protein (HIP) is expressed in a number of normal and malignant adult epithelia where it is proposed to play a similar proteoglycan-binding role. Structure-function and genetic approaches are used to understand the exact function of HIP and proteoglycans in implantation as well as in the physiology of adult tissues.
A second class of cell surface molecules, high molecular weight mucin glycoproteins, is expressed by many normal epithelial cells and at particularly high levels in various tumors. One mucin in particular, (MUC1) is proposed to play an antiadhesive role and protect tumor cells from host immune surveillance. MUC1 is abundantly distributed at the apical aspect of the uterine epithelium under most conditions in a number of species, including mice and humans. In mice, MUC1 is markedly down-regulated at both the protein and mRNA level prior to the time of embryo attachment. This response appears to be critical to permit embryo attachment and is mediated by the action of ovarian steroid hormones, certain cytokines, and their receptors. Again, Molecular biological and molecular genetic approaches are used to understand the MUC1 expression in the context of embryo attachment and in breast and prostate cancer models.
Before coming to the University of Delaware in 1998, Dr. Carson was a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.
