Nuber Group

	Ulrike Nuber, MD Associate Professor
Address:	Lund Center for Stem Cell Biology and Cell Therapy BMC B-10 Klinikgatan 26 221 84, Lund, Sweden Tel: 46-46-222-1563 Fax: 46-46-2223600 E-mai: Ulrike.Nuber@med.lu.se

Link to Nuber page (click here)

Main Research Topics

Discovering the molecular mechanisms underlying diseases of one of the most complex organs – the brain - remains a central challenge in neurological research. A normal and diseased cell state is ultimately determined by the coordinated expression of its genome and transcription factors integrating extrinsic and intrinsic signals are fundamental to gene expression control. Identifying master regulators controlling specific cell states will greatly facilitate the control of diseased cells.

The focus of this group is the elucidation of transcription networks in two diseases of the brain, Rett syndrome and glioma. Rett syndrome is caused by mutations in MECP2, encoding a transcription repressor and transcription factors are also critically involved in brain tumor development and growth. Our objective is to gain knowledge about central gene regulatory networks in these diseases to be translated into novel therapies. The aim of the glioma project is to identify master regulatory factors controlling brain tumor stem cells and to understand how these factors are implicated in the development of brain tumor stem cells from normal neural cells. In addition, we are validating these regulators as novel drug targets. In the project on Rett syndrome, we are investigating the interplay between the repressor MeCP2 and the glucocorticoid receptor as activator of common target genes to find out whether interfering with this balance could lead to the development of a novel treatment strategy.

Group Members

Irena Pala, Postdoc

Federico Colecchia, Post doc
Sebastian Braun, PhD student

Falk Hertwig, PhD student

Cosima Pfenninger, PhD student

 
Selected Recent and Key Publications

Pfenninger CV, Roschupkina T, Hertwig F, Kottwitz D, Englund E, Bengzon J, Jacobsen SE, Nuber UA. CD133 is not present on neurogenic astrocytes in the adult subventricular zone, but on embryonic neural stem cells, ependymal cells, and glioblastoma cells.
Cancer Res. 67: 5727-5736, 2007.

Chickarmane V, Troein C, Nuber UA, Sauro H, Peterson C. Transcriptional dynamics of the embryonic stem cell switch. PLoS Comput Biol. 2006, 2, e123.

Nuber UA, Kriaucionis S, Roloff TC, Guy J, Selfridge J, Steinhoff C, Schulz R, Lipkowitz B, Ropers HH, Holmes MC, Bird A. Up-regulation of glucocorticoid-regulated genes in a mouse model of Rett syndrome. Hum Mol Genet. 14:2247-56, 2005.

Oostendorp RAJ, Robin C, Steinhoff C, Marz S, Bräuer R, Nuber UA, Dzierzak EA, Peschel C. Long-term maintenance of hematopoietic stem cells does not require contact with embryo-derived stromal cells in cocultures. Stem Cells 23:842-51, 2005. Roloff TC, Nuber UA. Chromatin, epigenetics and stem cells. Eur J Cell Biol. 84:123-35, 2005.

Gurok U, Steinhoff C, Lipkowitz B, Ropers HH, Scharff C, Nuber UA. Gene expression changes in the course of neural progenitor cell differentiation. J Neurosci. 24:5982-6002, 2004.

Singh U, Fohn L, Wakayama T, Ohgane J, Steinhoff C, Lipkowitz B, Schulz R, Orth A, Ropers HH, Behringer RR, Tanaka S, Shiota K, Yanagimachi R, Nuber UA, Fundele R. Abnormal gene expression in mouse placentopathies caused by interspecies hybridization, cloning, and Esx1 mutation. Dev Dyn. 230:149-64, 2004.

Herr A, Meunier D, Muller I, Rump A, Fundele R, Ropers HH, Nuber UA. Expression of mouse Tbx22 supports its role in palatogenesis and glossogenesis. Dev Dyn. 2003, 226:579-86.

Roloff TC, Ropers HH, Nuber UA. Comparative study of methyl-CpG-binding domain proteins. BMC Genomics. 2003, 4:1.