Main Field(s) of Research, Abstract
The lymphatic system is important in the physiological processes of immune surveillance, tissue fluid homeostasis and fat absorption. The formation of new lymphatic vessel from the pre-existing one is called as lymphangiogenesis.. Recently, lymangiogenesis is shown to be involved in various inflammatory diseases such as psoriasis, rheumatoid arthristis etc. Thus, lymphatic vessel play a role in many pathological processes including tumor cell metastasis, wound healing and chronic inflammation.
The sprouting of new lymphatics from the preexisting one has been observed in the inflammatory tissue, tumors as well as their draining lymph nodes. My project is to distinguish between these pathological conditions on the basic of their gene expression profile.

Main Fields of Research, Keywords
Angiogenesis, lymphangiogenesis, inflammation, gene expression, cancer metastasis

Special Techniques and Equipment
FACS sorting, Microarray, Melanoma mouse model, mouse model for acute and chronic inflammation, RT-PCR, real time PCR, immunofluorescence microscopy, endothelial cell based in vitro assays (proliferation, tube formation, wound scratch assay)