Nami McCarty, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor,
Centre for Stem Cell Research
phone 713.500.2495; fax 713.500.2424
Nami.McCarty@uth.tmc.edu
Dr. Nami McCarty received her B.S. in pathology from Seoul National University in 1992. She started her higher education at Northwestern University, Chicago in 1993 and received her M.S. in 1994. She obtained her Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology from Purdue University in 2000. From 1998 – 2005, she received her postdoctoral training at the Cancer Center, MIT and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard Medical School.
As a postdoctoral fellow and instructor in Dr. Cantor’s laboratory at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Dr. McCarty pursued projects that have led directly to several significant findings. She used SAGE to identify transcripts expressed in the two major thymocyte lineages; this includes 27 highly differentially expressed genes in these two subsets. Additionally, she had developed a novel application involving lentivirus-encoded shRNA constructs to selectively knock down gene expression in mice. This technique has enabled investigation of the functions of the various gene products identified by SAGE. Lastly, she combined these approaches to identify and characterize MINK as a critical signaling molecule necessary for T cell development and differentiation.
In 2006, Dr. McCarty received a Career Developmental Award from the National Institutes of Health-NIAID and subsequently joined the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston as an Assistant Professor. The current research interests of Dr. McCarty lab are:
Isolation and characterization of human lymphoma initiating cells (L-ICs). Dr. McCarty's lab is actively studying whether lymphoma is hierarchically organized so that only rare subsets of cells (stem cells) possess the potential to initiate and form new tumors.
Identification of cellular and molecular niches of hematopoietic stem cells. The ‘niche’ is in an in vivo regulatory microenvironment where HSC reside and communication between niche and HSC is essential during hematopoiesis.
Generation and analysis of bone marrow chimeric mice with targeted knock down of genes identified by SAGE ; AP-1 (Adaptor Protein-1) and RIP-15 (Retinoid X Receptor Interacting Protein 15 (RIP 15).