Soumen Paul, PhD

Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Division of Cancer & Developmental Biology
Ph.D.: University of Calcutta, 2002
Postdoctoral: University of Wisconsin Madison, 2002-2007

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During mammalian development, a whole organism is developed from a single fertilized egg.  So, one of the fascinating questions in biology is "How do cells adopt different cell fates? Research in our laboratory focuses on defining molecular mechanisms that regulate tissue-specific gene expression to orchestrate development and physiological processes. We are asking how transcriptional mechanisms that involve, transcription factors/cofactors, distinct epigenetic marks, and other chromatin-associated factors regulate chromatin structure and thereby regulate gene expression during developmental, and physiological processes as well as during pathological conditions.

One of our research interests is to define molecular processes that control the genesis of early cell lineages, their self-renewal, differentiation, and function. The first lineage decision during mammalian development is the establishment of Trophectoderm (TE) and and inner cell mass (ICM) lineages. These differentiation events begin during pre-implanation development when blastomeres are fated towards TE and ICM. TE develops into parts of the placenta, while the ICM forms embryonic and some extra-embryonic structures. To understand this early lineage commitment, we are using embryonic stem (ES) and trophoblast stem (TS) cells as model system. We are also using transgenic mouse models to test our hypotheses.

Another area of our research interest is to dissect mechanisms to understand the molecular regulation of blood vessel formation (Vasculogenesis and Angiogenesis) and vascular cell (Endothelial cell) specification and function. Therefore, to begin to dissect regulatory mechanisms of blood vessel formation, we are defining the transcriptional regulation of key genes during early vascular development and adult angiogenesis.

We predict that our research will contribute towards development of progenitor cells or new tissues for regenerative therapeutics including vascular tissue engineering. We also predict to contribute towards therapeutics that will promote endogenous regeneration. In addition, we expect to develop new modes of anti-angiogenic therapy during pathological conditions.

 

Selected Publications:

Home, P, Saha, B, Dutta, D, Ray, S, Pal, A, Gunewardena, ., Yoo, B, Vivian, JL, Larson, M, Petroff, M, Gallagher, PG, Schulz, V, White, KL, Golos, TG, Behr, B, and Paul, S. (2012)  Altered Subcellular Localization of Transcription Factor TEAD4 Regulates First Mammalian Cell Lineage Commitment. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. (April 23, 2012, Epub ahead of print)

Dutta, D, Ray, S, Home, P, Larson, M, Wolfe M W, and Paul, S. Self Renewal vs. Lineage Commitment of Embryonic Stem Cells: Protein Kinase C Signaling Shifts the Balance. STEM CELLS29(4):618-28.

Dutta, D, Ray, S, Home, P, Wang, S, Sheibani, N, Tawfik, O, Cheng, N, and Paul, S. Regulation of  Angiogenesis by Histone Chaperone HIRA-Mediated Incorporation of Lysine 56-Acetylated Histone H3.3 at Chromatin Domains of Endothelial Genes. J. Biol. Chem. (285:41567-77)

Home, P, Ray, S, Dutta, D, Bronshteyn, I, Larson, M, and Paul, S. (2009). GATA3 is selectively expressed in the trophectoderm of peri-implantation embryo and directly regulates CDX2 gene expression. J. Biol. Chem. 284: 28729-37.

Ray, S, Dutta, D, Rumi, M, Canham, L, Soares, MJ, and Paul, S. (2009). Context-Dependent Function of Regulatory Elements and Switch in Chromatin Occupancy between GATA3 and GATA2 regulate Gata2 trasncription during Trophoblast Differentiation. J. Biol. Chem. 284: 4978-4988.

Dutta, D, Ray, S, Vivian, JL, and Paul, S. (2008). Activation of the VEGFR1 chromatin domain: An angiogenic signal-ETS1/HIF-2alpha regulatory axis. J. Biol.  Chem.  283:25404-25413.

Pal, S, Wu, J, Murray, JK, Gellman, SH, Wozniak, MA, Keely, PJ, Boyer, ME, Gomez, TM, Hasso, SM, Fallon JF, and Bresnick, EH (2006). An Anti-Angiogenic Neurokinin-B/Thromboxane A2 Regulatory Axis. J. Cell  Biol. 174:1047-1058.

Grass, JA, Jing, H, Kim, SL., Martowicz, ML, Pal, S, Blobel GA, and Bresnick, EH (2006). Hematopoietic Regulation via GATA Factor Complexes Dispersed Over Broad Region of the GATA-2 Chromatin Domain. Mol. Cell  Biol. 26:7056-7067.

Pal, S, Nemeth, MJ, Bodine, D, Miller, JL, Svaren, J, Thein, SL, Lowry, PJ, and Bresnick, EH (2004). Neurokinin-B transcription in erythroid cells: Direct activation by the hematopoietic transcription factor GATA-1. J. Biol. Chem. 279:31348-31356.

Pal, S, Cantor, AB, Johnson, KD, Moran, TB, Boyer, ME, Orkin, SH and Bresnick, EH (2004). Coregulator-dependent facilitation of chromatin occupancy by GATA-1. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 101: 980-985.

Grass, JA, Boyer, ME, Pal, S, Wu, J, Weiss, MJ, and Bresnick, EH (2003). GATA-1-dependent transcriptional repression of GATA-2 via disruption of positive autoregulation and domain-wide chromatin remodeling. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 100: 8811-8816.