Laura C. Bridgewater
Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology
Office: 591 WIDB
Office Phone: 801-422-2434
Email: laura_bridgewater@byu.edu
Education
As a postdoctoral fellow I worked at the world renown M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX. I worked in the Department of Molecular Genetics and received training in many of the different molecular biology and transgenic animal techniques that are used to study gene regulation. As a graduate student, my work focused on the study of hexavalent chromium, a potent carcinogen, to study the effects on DNA replication. I discovered that chromium can crosslink the opposite strands of the DNA double helix together, and it thus interferes with replication by physically obstructing the progression of DNA polymerases. This could lead to DNA mutations and thus to cancer.
Research Interests
One of my main research interests is in the area of gene regulation. This topic is highly relevant to cancer research because errors or disturbances in the regulation of several different oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes can result in tumorigenesis. My present efforts are focused on cartilage collagen gene regulation as a model system, using a rat chondrosarcoma (cartilage cancer) cell line for in vivo assays. I am working to understand how certain collagen genes are expressed only in cartilage and not in any other tissue, and how activation of these genes causes pluripotent mesenchymal cells to differentiate into cartilage. The results of this work will increase our understanding of gene regulatory mechanisms in general, and will shed light on the various aspects of regulation that can go wrong in cancerous cell. In addition, this work will reveal information about the genetic steps that normally take place during the cartilage differentiation process. Cancer is essentially a failure of cellular differentiation, where cells remain in an immature proliferative state rather than progressing to their mature, non-dividing state. Work focused on the normal differentiation process will also shed light on the various steps of differentiation that can go awry, and will thus suggest potential directions for the development of cancer treatments.
Student Involvement/Requirements
At present, 15 students are working with me on the above stated research. Students working with me have generally taken molecular biology and are able to commit to at least a year in the lab. Undergraduates work with me, graduate students, and other undergraduates on this research. The work is publication oriented and undergraduates do appear on publications. The research is funded by NIH, and undergraduate student work is funded by a generous gift from Ira and Mary Lou Fulton.
Publications
Bridgewater, Laura C., Lefebbvre, Veronique, McKinney, Sandra, Zhang, Zhaoping and de Crombrugghe, B. The role of HMG binding sites in Coll 1a2 chondrocyte-specific enhancers. In preparation.
Bridgewater, L.C., Lefebvre, V., and de Crombrugghe, B. "Chondrocyte-specific enhancer elements in the Coll 1a2 gene resemble the Col2a1 tissue-specific enhancer." Journal of Biological Chemistry 273:14998-15006 (1998).
Bridgewater, L.C., Manning, F.C.R., and Patierno, S.R., (1998). Arrest of replication by DNA polymerases and () caused by chromium-DNA lesions. Molecular carcinogenesis 23:201-206.
Singh, J.T., Bridgewater, L.C., and Patierno, S.R., (1998). Differential sensitivity of chromium-mediated DNA interstrand crosslinks and DNA-protein crosslinks to disruuption by alkali and EDTA. Toxicological Sciences 45:72-76.
