Department of Physiology and Developmental Biology

Office:  597 WIDB

Office Phone:  801-422-4998

Email:  marchansen@byu.edu

Education

B.S. in Molecular Biology from BYU, 1997.

PhD in Cancer Biology from Stanford, 2002

Post-doctoral fellow, Huntsman Cancer Institute (2002-2005)

Research Interests

I am interested in the molecular mechanism of how cells assemble and disassemble the cell-cell junctions that hold them together. These junctions are the basis of tissue formation and are normally only disassembled during development. However, cells within tumors acquire the ability to disassemble their cell-cell junctions. This allows them to detach from the tumor, invade the surrounding tissue, and migrate to distant parts of the body where new tumors are then established.

Student involvement/Requirements

I am interested in working with undergraduate and graduate students who are interested in cancer metastasis, cell adhesion, or, more generally, cell biology. The lab uses a multi-faceted approach to understand biological problems. This means that we use a wide array of approaches; this is not a good lab to learn how to do one or two lab protocols through high repetition. Students are expected to commit time and effort necessary to understand a biological problem, address it experimentally using the appropriate approach, and interpret the results. Progress will be assessed during regular lab meetings and in journal discussion groups. Students will be expected to demonstrate a conceptual mastery of the research project before performing experiments. Students who successfully generate new findings will present their findings at national scientific meetings and in publications.

Publications

Hansen, MDH and Beckerle, MC. Zyxin and LPP regulate VASP availability during cell-cell junction formation. Submitted.

Hansen, MDH, Ehrlich, JS, and Nelson, WJ. 2002. Molecular mechanism for orienting membrane and actin dynamics to nascent cell-cell contacts in epithelial cells. J. Biol. Chem. 277:45371-6.

 Ehrlich, JS, Hansen, MDH, and Nelson, WJ. 2002. Spatio-temporal regulation of Rac1 localization and lamellipodia dynamics during epithelial cell-cell adhesion. Dev. Cell. 3:259-70.

Hansen, MDH and Nelson, WJ. 2001. Serum-activated assembly and membrane translocation of an endogenous Rac1:effector complex. Curr. Biol. 11:356-60.

Department of Physiology and Developmental Biology