Seth Field

Brief Personal Statement:

Aside from being your WWW host in the Greenberg Lab, I'm also an MD/PhD student. I'm currently trying to finish up my graduate thesis (described below). As you can see, one thing I do in my copious spare time :) is to compose HTML (and I occasionally eat and sleep, as well).

Research:

I am interested in the physiological function of genes which encode transcription factors believed to be important for cell cycle progression. In particular, I have used targeted mutations in ES cells and mice to study two families of genes.

One gene I have studied is c-fos. Surprisingly, ES cells deficient for c-fos proliferate and differentiate in vitro as well as wild-type ES cells. Likewise, they can contribute to a wide variety of tissues in chimeric mice. Thus, c-fos is not required for the proliferation or differentiation of at least some cell types.

I have also studied members of the E2F family of genes. E2F is a transcription factor believed to be important for cell cycle progression. To study the transcription factor E2F I have produced transgenic mice deficient in E2F1, a component of E2F. While E2F1 is not required for cell cycle progression or grossly normal embryonic development, it is required for the normal function of a physiologic pathway of apoptotic cell death. This finding suggests that E2F1 plays a role in linking the cell cycle to apoptotic cell death.

How to contact:

email: Seth Field <FIELD_S@a1.tch.harvard.edu >

Phone/Fax/Postal Address

Friends on the Web:

Greenberg Lab World Wide Web Pages