Faculty

Jeanne C. Myers

Emeritus Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics

Department: Biochemistry and Biophysics

Contact information

909 Stellar Chance Laboratories
422 Curie Blvd.
Philadelphia, PA 19104

Office: (215) 898-0712
Fax: (215) 573-2085

Email:
myers@mail.med.upenn.edu

Publications

Search PubMed for articles

Education:
B.S. (Biology, Chemistry)
Fordham University, 1969.
MA (Molecular Biology)
Columbia University, 1975.
Ph.D. (Biochemical Genetics)
Columbia University, 1976.

Links
Search PubMed for articles
Cell and Molecular Biology graduate group faculty webpage.
Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics graduate group faculty webpage.

Permanent link

> Perelman School of Medicine > Faculty > Details

Description of Research Expertise

Research Interests
Molecular biochemistry of the extracellular matrix

Key words: collagen, myogenesis, cancer, basement membrane, angiogenesis.

Description of Research
We are studying two nonfibrillar collagen proteins that were originally identified from cDNA clones. Both are localized in basement membrane zones of adult human tissues, but are likely to have very different molecular structures and functions. Type XV is a chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan and there is evidence of carboxy-terminal processing that may release a fragment involved in angiogenic processes. Type XIX collagen was recently purified from human umbilical cord and found to exhibit intermolecular aggregates linked at the heparin-binding, amino termini. Several lines of evidence from our and other laboraotries point to a direct involvement of this protein in skeletal myogenesis, possibly in a signaling pathway.

Rotation Projects for 2006-2007
In vitro expression of recombinant type XIX collagen in cultured human cells for ultrastructural characterization of functional domains.

Molecular and biochemical expression of type XIX collagen in an in vivo model of myogenic differentiation.

Lab personnel:
Deqin Li, Ph.D.

Selected Publications

Myers, JC, Li, D, Amenta, PS, Clark, CC, Nagaswami, C, and Weisel, JW: Type XIX collagen purified from human umbilical cord is characterized by multiple sharp kinks delineating collagenous subdomains and by intermolecular aggregates via globular, disulfide-linked and heparin-binding amino termini. J. Biol. Chem. 278: 32047-57, 2003.

Amenta, PS, Hadad, S, Lee, MT, Barnard, N, Li, D, and Myers, JC: Loss of types XV and XIX collagen precedes basement membrane invasion in ductal carcinoma of the female breast. J. Pathol. 199: 298-308, 2003.

Li, D, Clark, CC, and Myers, JC: Basement membrane zone type XV collagen is a disulfide-bonded chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan in human tissues and cultured cells. J. Biol. Chem. 275: 22339-47, 2000.

Myers, JC, Li, D, Rubinstein, NA, and Clark, CC: Up-regulation of type XIX collagen in rhabdomyosarcoma cells accompanies myogenic differentiation. Exp. Cell Res. 253: 587-98, 1999.