Joan Ruderman

Department of Cell Biology
Harvard Medical School
Building C2, Room 425
240 Longwood Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
Tel: (617) 432-1104
Fax: (617) 432-1144
Email: ruderman@hms.harvard.edu
Web Page: The Ruderman Lab Page
2 postdoctoral fellows, 1 graduate student, 1 research assistant, 1 undergraduate

Most previous work in our lab has been devoted to understanding the roles of mitotic kinases in driving cell cycle progression. Much of the lab's focus has now shifted to using zebrafish embryos to investigate how certain hormonally active pollutants, also known as endocrine disruptors, interfere with normal programs of early embryonic development.

Environmental Estrogens

An increasing number of diverse chemicals encountered in everyday life have been identified as environmental estrogens, compounds that can activate the transcription of genes that are normally regulated by estrogen.  These include certain pesticides, plasticizers, surfactants, and compounds added to personal care products.  There is growing concern that environmental exposures to these compounds, and to others yet to be discovered, are contributing to increases in reproductive abnormalities, infertility, and estrogen-dependent cancers in both males and females.  Previously identified environmental estrogens show little structural similarity to estrogen, making it impossible to predict simply on the basis of structure alone which other pollutants may also be estrogenic.  We are using zebrafish embryos as sensors for environmental estrogens, both in high-throughput screens that are capable of assessing the effects of exposures to environmentally relevant combinations of compounds, and genetic/morphological investigations into the effects of such compounds on early development, with a particular emphasis of estrogen-regulated development of the nervous system. 

Cell Cycle Regulation

We are trying to understand how the kinases Aurora A and HIPK2 control mitotic progression through interactions with proto-oncogenes.

References:

• Liu, Q. and J.V. Ruderman, (2006) Aurora A, mitotic entry, and spindle bipolarity. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 103(15):  5811-6.
• Gadea, B.B. and J.V. Ruderman, (2006) Aurora B is required for mitotic chromatin-induced phosphorylation of Op18/Stathmin. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 103(12):  4493-8.
• Crane, R.F. and J.V. Ruderman, (2006) Using Xenopus oocyte extracts to study signal transduction. Methods Mol Biol. 322:  435-43.
• Gadea, B.B. and J.V. Ruderman, (2005) Aurora kinase inhibitor ZM447439 blocks chromosome-induced spindle assembly, the completion of chromosome condensation, and the establishment of the spindle integrity checkpoint in Xenopus egg extracts. Mol Biol Cell. 16(3):  1305-18.