Lina Liang, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology & Anatomy
PhD, China Academy of Chinese Medicine Sciences
Faculty Advisor: DJ Sidjanin
Mailing Address: Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology & Anatomy 8701 Watertown Plank Road Milwaukee, WI 53226-3548 USA
Email: lliang@mcw.edu
Phone: (414) 456-2014 FAX: (414) 456-6517
Research Area: Hereditary cataracts
My current research focuses on identification of novel genes and molecular pathways associated with formation of hereditary pediatric cataracts. Lens opacity 11 (lop11) is an autosomal recessive mouse cataract mutation. Our lab positionally cloned the lop11 locus and identified a mutation in the Hsf4 gene. In humans, mutations in HSF4 have been associated with both autosomal dominant and recessive cataracts, however the molecular mechanisms of autosomal dominant/recessive heredity and cataract formation remain unknown. HSF4b is a 53 kDa protein that forms homotrimers and acts as a transcription activator. Our current hypothesis is that loss-of-function HSF4 mutations result in recessively inherited cataracts where lop11 mouse is an excellent model for evaluation of the mechanism of Hsf4 associated cataract formation. In contrast, our hypothesis is that HSF4 gain-of-function mutations result in a dominant negative effect via hetero-oligomerization of the mutant and wild-type monomers. Studies evaluating these hypotheses are currently in progress.
Training / Education
Publications