Rahul Warrior

 Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Department of Molecular Biology

Dr. Warrior’s lab used genetic and molecular techniques to study two main areas, both of which are relevant to human development and disease. One project in the lab focuses on the role of nuclear and neuronal migration while a second area of interest is signal transduction by growth factors. He has cloned and generated mutations in DnudC and Dlis-1, two Drosophila genes that act together in a pathway. Homologs of both genes have been bound in man, and mutations in one of them, causes a human birth defect (Miller-Dieker Lissencephaly) that is characterized by severe mental retardation. He also studies the TGF pathway in Drosophila because of the well developed genetics and has identified and cloned schnurri, the first transcription factor to be directly implicated in a TGF-beta signaling pathway. Since schnurri has human homologs that may act in the same way, the answers to these questions are of interest to human disease states.

 

Other Link