Dr. Lina Dagnino, Ph.D.


Children’s Health Research Institute
Scientist, Developmental Biology Program


Lawson Health Research Institute
Scientist, Children’s Health Research Institute


University of Western Ontario
Associate Professor, Departments of Paediatrics, and Physiology & Pharmacology


Contact Information
Tel: (519) 661-4264
Fax: (519) 661-3827
E-Mail: ldagnino@uwo.ca
Web: www.physpharm.med.uwo.ca/research/index.html


Brief Biography

Dr. Lina Dagnino was awarded a Studentship from the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research to conduct doctoral studies in Pharmacology at the University of Alberta, and graduated in 1988. She received a fellowship from the Heart and Stroke Foundation to conduct post-doctoral studies with Dr. Mona Nemer at the Clinical Research Institute of Montreal, followed by a Centennial Fellowship from the MRC, to continue her studies on regulation of cell growth at Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN) in Dr. Harold Moses’ laboratory.


Dr. Dagnino received a CFI/OIT New Investigator grant and a New Investigator Scholarship from the CIHR and the Cancer Research Society Inc. in 1998, as well as the Margaret Moffat Scholarship from the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at The University of Western Ontario. She is also a recipient of a Premier’s Research Excellence Award, from the Province of Ontario. Dr. Dagnino’s research is currently funded by the CIHR, the NCIC, and NSERC.


Research Interests

Dr. Dagnino’s research focuses on the mechanisms that are involved in cellular decisions to maintain an undifferentiated, stem-cell phenotype or follow a pathway of terminal differentiation in the epidermis. Her group is also interested in investigating how those mechanisms regulate normal tissue regeneration and abnormal proliferation, such as that involved in tumor formation.


Research Activities

Dr. Dagnino’s research interests involve the elucidation of the mechanisms that regulate epidermal keratinocyte (KT) proliferation and maturation. Her group has demonstrated that genes encoding the family of E2F transcription factors are differentially expressed in developing epidermis, and that expression of E2F-1 is essential for proper KT proliferation and migration, and for normal wound healing. A second research theme in Dr. Dagnino’s program is the characterization of integrin-linked kinase (ILK) in differentiating KTs and its role in epidermal homeostasis and acquisition of barrier function. She has demonstrated novel tissue-specific mechanisms that control the formation of ILK complexes associated with cell-cell junctions in differentiated KTs and with cell-extracellular matrix contact points in undifferentiated cells.

 

Awards and Recognition

Premier’s Research Excellence Award - Awarded by Ontario Ministry of Energy, Science and Technology

 

Cancer Research Society New Investigator Scholarship - Awarded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research

 

Funding in support of “Mechanisms of melanosome phagocytosis in keratinocytes” - Awarded by National Science and Engineering Research Council

 

Funding in support of “ILK and Elmo in cell migration" - Awarded by Heart and Stroke Foundation

 

Funding in support of “Integrin-linked kinase in epidermal formation and regeneration” Awarded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research

 

Funding in support of “Molecular mechanisms of hair follicle morphogenesis” - Awarded by National Cancer Institute of Canada

 

Patents

  1. EE Knaus, MW Wolowyk, L Dagnino, MC Li-Kwong-Ken, DS Sobolesky, H Wynn.  Antihypertertensive reduced pyridyl derivatives. EurPatAppl ED87300447.7  (HL33394/000), 11 March 1987, 50 pp
  2. EE Knaus, MW Wolowyk, L Dagnino, Mc Li-Kwong-Ken, DS Sobolesky, H Wynn. Reduced pyridyl derivatives with cardiovascular regulating properties. US Patent 4, 771,057, 13 Sep 1988, 30 pp

Publications

  1. E Ho, W Chang and L Dagnino. Expression and analysis of exogenous proteins in epidermal cells. Meth Mol Biol, In press 2008
  2. IA Ivanova, SJA D’Souza and L Dagnino (2005). E2F1 stability is regulated by a novel-PKC/p38? MAP kinase signaling pathway during keratinocyte differentiation. Oncogene (in press).
  3. A Vespa, SJA D’Souza and L Dagnino (2005). A novel role for integrin-linked kinase in epithelial sheet morphogenesis. Mol Biol Cell 16:4084-4095.
  4. P Mill, R Mo, MC Hu, L Dagnino, ND Rosemblum, and CC Hui (2005). SHH controls epithelial proliferation via independent pathways that converge on N-myc. Dev Cell 9: 293,3035.
  5. L Martin-McCaffrey, L Dagnino, J Penninger, D Siderovski, SJA D’Souza (2004). RGS14 is a mitotic spindle protein essential from the first division of the mammalian zygote. Dev Cell 7(5):763-9.
  6. WY Chang, SJA D’Souza and L Dagnino (2004). The DP-1 transcription factor is essential for epidermal morphogenesis. J Biol Chem 279:51343-51353.
  7. A Vespa, A Darmon, C Turner, SJA D’Souza and L Dagnino (2003). Ca2+-dependent localization of integrin-linked-kinase to cell-cell junctions in differentiating keratinocytes. J Biol Chem 278:11528-11535.
  8. L Stinson, AJ Darmon, L Dagnino, SJA D’Souza (2003). Delayed apoptosis post-cadmium injury in renal proximal tubule epithelial cells. Am J Nephrol 23:27-37.
  9. MD Apostolova, IA Ivanova, C Dagnino, SJA D’Souza and L Dagnino (2002). Active nuclear import and export pathways regulate E2F-5 subcellular localization. J Biol Chem 277:34471-34479.
  10. SJA D’Souza, A Vespa, S Murkherjee, A Maher, A Pajak and L Dagnino (2002). E2F-1 is essential for normal epidermal wound repair J Biol Chem 277:10626-10632.
  11. S.J.A. D’Souza, A. Pajak, K. Balaszi, and L. Dagnino (2001). Ca+2 and BMP-6 signalling regulate E2F during epidermal keratinocyte differentiation. J Biol Chem 276:2331-23538.