Individual Student Views - 2004

Karen Osorio
Tumbar Lab
G&D (entered program 2004)

From: Born in Puerto Rico
Undergraduate Studies: University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus

Statement

As an undergraduate student, I became more interested in biology and wanted to keep learning. So, I decided to pursue my doctoral degree in the field of Genetics and Development. I chose to come to Cornell because it is one of the top Universities in United States and in addition, there were several labs that I was interested in. When I came for an interview, I met different people in our department from whom I felt the friendly environment, and I thought that I could gain friends as I pursue my degree. So far, I haven’t regretted my decision of coming to Cornell.

Research

The Tumbar laboratory uses stem cells from one of the epidermal appendages of the skin, the hair follicle, as a model system to study mechanisms that regulate stem cell function in morphogenesis, homeostasis and injury repair. In our previous genomic screen (Tumbar et al, 2004) we identified the transcription factor RUNX1, widely known for its pivotal function in hematopoietic stem cells emergence, to be differentially expressed in the stem cell compartment of the mouse hair follicle. To understand the function of Runx1 in the hair follicle stem cells, we employed targeted conditional deletion analysis in mice. Currently I am analyzing the phenotype of the Runx1 mutant mice.

Publications

Acute Myeloid Leukemia Factor 1 Controls Developmental but not Injury Driven Activation of Hair Follicle Stem Cells Karen M. Osorio, Song Eun Lee, David J. McDermitt, Sanjeev K. Waghmare, Ying Zhang, Hyun N. Woo, and Tudorita Tumbar (submitted)

Conference presentations

2006-Present: Runx1 Controls Developmental but not Injury Driven Activation of Hair Follicle Stem Cells Tudorita (Doina) Tumbar, Karen Osorio, Songeun Lee, David McDermit, Sanjeev Waghmare, and Ying Zhang. Golden Key Stem cell meeting (poster presentation). 

Investigating the role of Runx1 in Epithelial Hair Follicle Stem Cells. Verge Meeting (oral presentation).
                       
2005-2006     Lizardi-Ortiz J., Hyzinsky-Garcia M.C.,Valle-Aviles F.L.,
Osorio K.M., Lasalde-Dominicci, J Electrophysiological Characterization of Position Phenylalanine 426 located at  the Lipid-Protein Interface of the Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Alpha-M4  Domain. Society of Neuroscience 2005 Washington DC.

2003-2002     Comparative Studies of Cysteine Rich Domain Neuregulin 1 in Heterozygous and Wild Type Mice COR Colloquium  Washington DC (oral presentation)

Osorio-Martinez, K., Lizardi-Ortiz, J., Lasalde-Dominicci, J. Structural Studies of the Amino Terminal Domains of the a4, a7 and b2 Subunits of the Neuronal Acetylcholine Receptor, Career Opportunity Research Program Open House, University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus (poster presentation)

2002-2001     Osorio-Martinez, K. M., Moller, P. Sexual Dimorphism in the weakly electric fish Mormyrus rume prosboscirostris, Leadership alliance 2002 Symposium, Atlanta (poster presentation)