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Department of Physiology and Aging College of Medicine
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Maria Zajac-Kaye

Maria Zajac-Kaye, PhD

Professor

Department: MD-ANATOMY-GENERAL
Business Phone: (352) 273-9153
Business Email: mzajackaye@ufl.edu

On This Page

Teaching Profile

Courses Taught

  1. GMS6934 – Cancer Biology Data Discussion

    College of Medicine

  2. GMS6691 – Special Topics in Cell Biology and Anatomy

    College of Medicine

  3. GMS7980 – Research for Doctoral Dissertation

    College of Medicine

  4. GMS7979 – Advanced Research

    College of Medicine

  5. GMS6895 – CTS Journal Club

    College of Medicine

  6. GMS6064 – Tumor Biology

    College of Medicine

  7. GMS6421 – Cell Biology

    College of Medicine

  8. GMS6692 – Research Conference in Anatomy and Cell Biology

    College of Medicine

  9. GMS6690 – Molecular Cell Biology Journal Club

    College of Medicine

Research Profile

My long-term research interests focus on understanding mechanisms of oncogenic transformation. We have recently studied the role of thymidylate synthase (TS) in tumorigenesis since TS plays a central role in DNA synthesis/repair and high levels of TS have correlated with a poor prognostic outcome in patients with lung, pancreas, colon, and rectal carcinomas. We demonstrated that ectopic expression of catalytically active human TS (hTS) was sufficient to induce a transformed phenotype in mammalian cells both in culture and in transgenic models confirming that it serves as a bona fide cancer therapeutic target. Our current work is focused on defining patterns of cooperation between TS and other cancer genes using a series of defined mouse models. Our goal is to use these transgenic animals to study the in vivo consequences of elevated TS on DNA stability, to test how this relates to tumorigenesis, and to improve the use of TS as a biomarker and therapeutic target.

RESEARCH PROJECTS

Development of an animal model to study the effect of thymidylate synthase expression on the biology of exocrine pancreatic cancer

Cooperation of CDKN2A/p16 gene inactivation and thymidylate synthase overexpression in tumor development

Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1) gene inactivation and thymidylate synthase overexpression in the development of islet cell carcinoma

Targeted drugs and siRNA delivery for pancreatic and lung cancer in an in vitro and in vivo animal models

Publications

Academic Articles

Grants

Education

  1. Research Fellow

    Medicine Branch, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, MD

  2. Biotechnology Fellow

    Medicine Branch, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, MD

  3. Post Doctoral Fellow

    Department of Experimental Cell Biology, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY

  4. PhD

    Department of Biochemical and Biophysical Sciences, School of Hygiene and Public Health, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD

  5. MS, Organic Chemistry

    The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD

  6. BS (Honors), Chemistry

    The City University of New York, New York, NY

Contact Details

Phones:
Business:
(352) 273-9153
Emails:
Business:
mzajackaye@ufl.edu
Administrative Assistant:
Profile photo for Mark J Zakshevsky
Mark J Zakshevsky
Phone:
(352) 273-9647
Email:
zmz30@ufl.edu
View Profile
Addresses:
Business Mailing:
PO BOX 103633
 GAINESVILLE FL 326100001
Business Street:
PO Box 103633
2033 MOWRY RD RM 360
 GAINESVILLE FL 32610