Anjen Chenn, MD, PhD

Associate Professor of Pathology
Feinberg School of Medicine

Research Interests:
Our major research interest is understanding the factors that control cell proliferation and differentiation in the developing mammalian central nervous system. Although the mechanisms that regulate cell proliferation during neural development are poorly understood, studies in other tissues suggest that loss of normal cell polarity and tissue architecture play crucial regulatory roles in cell proliferation and cancer. Our most recent work suggests that beta catenin, an integral component of the adherens junction, can regulate cell cycle re-entry and differentiation in the developing mammalian brain. Transgenic mice expressing a truncated, stabilized form of beta catenin develop massively enlarged brains with increased cerebral cortical surface area and folds resembling sulci and gyri of higher mammals. Understanding the biology of epithelial organization can lend insight onto the regulation of proliferation during neural development and ultimately reveal mechanisms underlying developmental brain disorders and tumors in the central nervous system.

Selected Publications:
Noles, S. R. and Chenn, A. (2007). Cadherin inhibition of beta-catenin signaling regulates the proliferation and differentiation of neural precursor cells. Mol Cell Neurosci 35, 549-58.

Wrobel, C. N., Mutch, C. A., Swaminathan, S., Taketo, M. M. and Chenn, A. (2007). Persistent expression of stabilized beta-catenin delays maturation of radial glial cells into intermediate progenitors. Dev Biol 309, 285-97.

Woodhead, G. J., Mutch, C. A., Olson, E. C. and Chenn, A. (2006). Cell-autonomous beta-catenin signaling regulates cortical precursor proliferation. J Neurosci 26, 12620-30.

Chenn, A. and Walsh, C. A. (2002). Regulation of cerebral cortical size by control of cell cycle exit in neural precursors. Science 297, 365-9.

Chenn, A. and McConnell, S. K. (1995). Cleavage orientation and the asymmetric inheritance of Notch1 immunoreactivity in mammalian neurogenesis. Cell 82, 631-41.