Cara Y. Gottardi PhD

Cara J. Gottardi, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. Her research centers on a protein complex that projects from the cell surface and forms a structural Velcro that holds cells to one another. This complex is comprised of a transmembrane cadherin component that mediates Ca++-dependent homophilic recognition, and a number of associated "catenins" that link cadherins to the underlying cytoskeleton. A major question in the field is to understand how these catenins direct cadherin-adhesive activities, and how cadherin-based cell-cell adhesion ultimately impacts gene expression and differentiation.

Curiously, these cell surface localized catenins can also respond to developmental signaling cues (e.g., Wnt-family proteins) and localize to the nucleus, where they carry out cell specific activation of gene targets. Given evidence that too much and too little nuclear signaling by catenins can drive tissue pathogenesis in mouse models of fibrosis, COPD and cancer, Dr. Gottardi's group reasons that the cadherin/catenin adhesion/signaling system merits closer examination, as it is likely a key dysregulated target across numerous lung diseases.