Jody Rosenblatt

Biography

Jody Rosenblatt, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Oncological Sciences at the University of Utah School of Medicine, an investigator at Huntsman Cancer Institute, and a member of the Cell Response and Regulation Program.The Rosenblatt Lab at Huntsman Cancer Institute studies cell death and division in epithelia. Cell turnover occurs at a high rate throughout the body, particularly in epithelia. In order to maintain constant cell numbers, the number of cells that die must match those that divide. If they do not, epithelia could lose their primary function as a barrier, as in asthma and colitis, or amass into carcinomas. We have found that both cell death and division are controlled by mechanical tensions--if epithelial cells become too dense, they extrude some cells that later die. If they become too sparse, stretch causes some cells to rapidly divide. Because these processes are critical for cell turnover, not surprisingly, we have found that their misregulation leads to tumor formation and initiation or barrier function diseases.Rosenblatt received her BA with honors from the University of California, Berkeley, and her PhD from the University of California, San Francisco. She then completed postdoctoral fellowships at the University College London. Rosenblatt presents and publishes widely and has received numerous research fellowships and grants in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Research Interest

Extrusion Apoptosis Carcinoma Cell Biology Epithelial Cells Homeostasis