Waksman Celebrated National Take our Daughters and Sons to Work day

Waksman welcomed kids to discover the fun in science.

Dr. Konstantin Severinov earns $1.2M NIH Grant

Research targets bacterial immunity, drug (Antibiotic) resistance

Israel's Prestigious Wolf Prize Honors Dr. Joachim Messing

Dr. Joachim Messing is the winner of the 2013 Wolf Prize in Agriculture by The Wolf Foundation of Israel.

Located on Busch Campus of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, the Waksman Institute of Microbiology is an interdisciplinary research institute devoted to excellence in basic research. Focus areas include developmental biology, cell biology, biochemistry, structural biology, genetics, and genomics.

To support the educational mission of Rutgers, Waksman faculty members hold appointments in academic departments throughout the university. Our researchers train undergraduate students, graduate students, and post-doctoral fellows, as well as engage high school students in research through an outreach program.

Recent Publications

Li, Y., Segal, G., Wang, Q., Dooner HK.  In Press.  Gene tagging with engineered Ds elements in maize. Methods in Molecular Biology: Plant Transposable Elements.
Pan, G, Feng Y, Ambegaonkar AA, Sun G, Huff M, Rauskolb C, Irvine KD.  2013.  Signal transduction by the Fat cytoplasmic domain.. AbstractWebsite
The large atypical cadherin Fat is a receptor for both Hippo and planar cell polarity (PCP) pathways. Here we investigate the molecular basis for signal transduction downstream of Fat by creating targeted alterations within a genomic construct that contains the entire fat locus, and by monitoring and manipulating the membrane localization of the Fat pathway component Dachs. We establish that the human Fat homolog FAT4 lacks the ability to transduce Hippo signaling in Drosophila, but can transduce Drosophila PCP signaling. Targeted deletion of conserved motifs identifies a four amino acid C-terminal motif that is essential for aspects of Fat-mediated PCP, and other internal motifs that contribute to Fat-Hippo signaling. Fat-Hippo signaling requires the Drosophila Casein kinase 1_ encoded by discs overgrown (Dco), and we characterize candidate Dco phosphorylation sites in the Fat intracellular domain (ICD), the mutation of which impairs Fat-Hippo signaling. Through characterization of Dachs localization and directed membrane targeting of Dachs, we show that localization of Dachs influences both the Hippo and PCP pathways. Our results identify a conservation of Fat-PCP signaling mechanisms, establish distinct functions for different regions of the Fat ICD, support the correlation of Fat ICD phosphorylation with Fat-Hippo signaling, and confirm the importance of Dachs membrane localization to downstream signaling pathways.
Reddy, BVVG, Irvine KD.  2013.  Regulation of Hippo Signaling by EGFR-MAPK Signaling through Ajuba Family Proteins.. 24:459-471. AbstractWebsite
EGFR and Hippo signaling pathways both control growth and, when dysregulated, contribute to tumorigenesis. We find that EGFR activates the Hippo pathway transcription factor Yorkie and demonstrate that Yorkie is required for the influence of EGFR on cell proliferation in Drosophila. EGFR regulates Yorkie through the influence of its Ras-MAPK branch on the Ajuba LIM protein Jub. Jub is epistatic to EGFR and Ras for Yorkie regulation, Jub is subject to MAPK-dependent phosphorylation, and EGFR-Ras-MAPK signaling enhances Jub binding to the Yorkie kinase Warts and the adaptor protein Salvador. An EGFR-Hippo pathway link is conserved in mammals, as activation of EGFR or RAS activates the Yorkie homolog YAP, and EGFR-RAS-MAPK signaling promotes phosphorylation of the Ajuba family protein WTIP and also enhances WTIP binding to the Warts and Salvador homologs LATS and WW45. Our observations implicate the Hippo pathway in EGFR-mediated tumorigenesis and identify a molecular link between these pathways.