Laura Attardi

BIOGRAPHY

ACADEMIC POSITION:
• Associate Professor, Department of Radiation and Cell Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine
• Associate Professor, Department of Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine

EDUCATION:
• PhD, Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, 1994
• BA, Biochemistry, Cornell University, 1988

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
The p53 tumor suppressor gene plays a crucial role in protecting organisms from developing cancer. Our research is aimed at dissecting the mechanism of p53 action and the role of target genes it activates in apoptosis and tumor suppression, using the mouse as a model system. Our strategy is to use a combination of biochemical, cell biological, and mouse genetic approaches, starting by generating hypotheses about p53 using primary mouse embryo fibroblasts (MEFs), and then testing them using knockout technology in the mouse. An understanding of p53 function in the mouse will ultimately be useful for understanding how inactivation of p53 in humans leads to cancer and for designing therapies for the many tumors disrupted in the p53 pathway.

HOME PAGE
http://www.stanford.edu/group/attardi/