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Branam, Amanda
Amanda Branam, Phd - Email
Mentor - Richard Peterson
09/01/10 to present
Undergraduate and Graduate Work
2010 - PhD University of Wisconsin-Madison
Funding - National Research Service Award (NIEHS Training Grant T32 - 09/01/10)
Research
Prostate disease is prominent among the male population. Understanding the progression and cause of the disease is crucial in determining both treatment and prevention. One impending question to further understand prostate disease is to what extent susceptibility to prostate disease is affected by exposure to environmental contaminants. 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) is a member of the halogenated aromatic hydrocarbon family of environmental contaminants and exposure to TCDD has been shown to result in a range of diseases including cancer, teratogenicity, immunosuppression, and endocrine disruption. In utero and lactational TCDD exposure has been shown to negatively affect prostate development in rodents by inhibiting the growth of ventral prostatic buds and causing dorsal and lateral prostatic buds to form in inappropriate positions. The mechanism by which prenatal TCDD exposure leads to detrimental defects in prostate development is poorly understood. Recent evidence has shown that â-catenin is found within the urogenital sinus (UGS), the region where prostate is derived, and â-catenin signaling is necessary for prostatic bud formation, the initial step in prostate formation. During my postdoctoral research, I propose to test hypotheses regarding the exact mechanism by which in utero TCDD exposure affects -catenin signaling in the UGS. My results will hopefully shed light both on how the prostate is formed as well as how TCDD exposure inhibits prostatic bud formation in the mouse fetus.
Publications- Branam AM, Hoffman GG, Pelegri FJ, and Greenspan DS. 2010. Zebrafish Chordin-like and Chordin are Functionally Redundant in Regulating Patterning of the Dorsoventral Axis. Dev. Biol.
- Hoffman GG*, Branam AM*, Cole WG, Wenstrup RM, Pelegri FJ, and Greenspan DS. 2010. Characterization of the Six Zebrafish Clabe B Fibrillar Procollagen Chains with Evidence for Evolutionarily Conserved Alternative Splicing Within the pro-á1(V) C-propeptide. Mat. Biol.
- Jasuja R, Ge G, Voss NG, Lyman-Gingerich J, Branam AM, Pelegri FJ, and Greenspan DS. 2007. Bone morphogenetic Protein 1 Prodomain Specifically Binds and Regulates Signaling by Bone Morphogenetic Proteins 2 and 4. J. Biol. Chem. Mar 23; 282 (12): 9053-62.
*Equal Contributors
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Graduate Seminar Presentations
04/19/12
Title TBA
02/17/11
The Role of Wnt Signaling in the Disruption of Prostatic Bud Formation by TCDD
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