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.
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.
Dooner, HK, Weil CF.  2013.  Transposons and gene creation. Molecular Genetics and Epigenetics of Plant Transposons. :143-167.