Eckert, Richard L. - University of Maryland-Baltimore - Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

个人简介

Dr. Eckert received his Bachelor degree from the University of Wisconsin and PhD from the University of Illinois - Urbana. He then completed post-doctoral work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Department of Cell Biology, and at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics. In 1986 he joined the faculty of Case Reserve University School of Medicine as an assistant professor of physiology and biophysics, dermatology, reproductive biology, oncology and biochemistry. He was subsequently promoted to associate professor with tenure in 1992 and professor in 1996. Dr. Eckert joined the University of Maryland as chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in January 2007. He holds two patents from the United States Patent Office, and has been continuously funded as a principal investigator since 1989. He is presently principal investigator on multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health and has been supported by the Department of the Navy, the American Cancer Society, the Dermatology Foundation, the American Institute for Cancer Research and the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program Breast Cancer Research Program.

研究领域

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Dr. Eckert's research focuses on understanding how normal surface epithelial cells function to protect people from illnesses and how those cells are altered during disease states, including skin cancer. The skin, the largest organ of the human body, provides structural integrity to the body surface, and provides the interface with the environment. The epidermis, the outermost epithelial surface, is a first line of defense. This tissue houses the capacity to mount an immune response, position sensory cells, and repel insults. Understanding the mechanisms that regulate development and maintenance of this organ is of utmost importance (Eckert et al., Physiol Rev 77:397-424, 1997). The epidermis is a multi-layered tissue, containing a reservoir of stem cells (in the hair follicle shaft and basal layer). The stem cells proliferate to give rise to daughter cells which then differentiate to produce mature keratinocytes, thereby populating the epidermal surface. Ultimately these cells undergo terminal cell death. This process results in the production of the multi-layered structure (Fig. 1) Under normal conditions, epidermal stem cells have unlimited ability to divide, but as part of the differentiation process they lose this ability. Identifying the mechanisms that regulate the transition from stem cell to daughter cell to terminally differentiated cell is an important area of investigation, and requires that we understand the mechanisms that control keratinocyte proliferation, apoptosis, differentiation, and senescence. A major goal of our laboratory is to understand these processes and identify the control factors.