Scholar Profile

Michael E. Greenberg

Professor
Harvard University
Children's Hospital
300 Longwood Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
Voice: 617-355-8344
Fax: 617-730-0636
Email: greenberg@a1.tch.harvard.edu
Personal Homepage
1987 Searle Scholar

Research Interests

Signal Transduction Regulating Neuronal Gene Expression

In 1984 Greenberg and Ziff demonstrated that c-fos transcription is induced very quickly after the stimulation of quiescent fibroblasts with serum or purified growth factors. Moreover, this transcriptional response was remarkably transient, returning to virtually undetectable levels within an hour. He and others quickly extended this observation to show that c-fos transcription could be induced by a wide variety of stimuli in a plethora of cell types.

These properties of c-fos expression make it an excellent tool for addressing a number of interesting biological questions. Among these are questions of how extracellular signals lead to changes in gene expression, how are these changes in gene expression important for a cell, and what determines the rate at which an mRNA is degraded.

In recent years the lab has become more generally interested in issues of intracellular signal transduction, and especially in signal transduction in the nervous system. In addition, we have become more widely interested in the role of transcription factors in controlling cell proliferation, differentiation, and death. Additional information can be found on the [Greenberg Homepage] at Children's Hospital.