| Budget Amount *help |
¥4,550,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,050,000)
Fiscal Year 2009: ¥1,040,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥240,000)
Fiscal Year 2008: ¥1,040,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥240,000)
Fiscal Year 2007: ¥2,470,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥570,000)
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| Research Abstract |
The marginal region of the retina contains retinal stem cells that continue to proliferate and remain undifferentiated for a long period. We have previously identified a signaling molecule Wnt2b as a retinal stem cell factor that maintains undifferentiated state of the retinal stem cells. In this research project, we investigated downstream pathway of the Wnt signaling, especially focusing on transcription factors. We have found that Wnt activates multiple transcription factors including c-myc, which in turn cooperatively activate a transcriptional repressor c-hairy1. We have also revealed that the activation of c-hairy1 in turn was necessary and sufficient to inhibit differentiation of the retinal stem cells. Thus, c-hairy1 functions as a node downstream of Wnt signaling to maintain the retinal stem cells.
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