James K Wahl

Biography

Dr. James K Wahl is a Professor and Co-Director Advanced Microscopy Core Department of Oral Biology, University of Nebraska Medical Center

Research Interest

Cellular junctions are altered during metastasis allowing individual tumor cells to release from the primary tumor, migrate to secondary sites and re-establish cell-cell contacts. Desmosomes are prominent cell-cell junctions in stratified squamous epithelial tissues that confer upon cells the ability to function coordinately as a tissue and to withstand mechanical stress. In stratified squamous epithelia, such as oral epithelia, the molecular components of the desmosomes are expressed in a differentiation-dependent manner. As a result, desmosomes between cells attached to the basement membranes are compositionally different from desmosomes between cells in the upper, more differentiated layers. It is likely that desmosomes comprised of different molecular components perform diverse functions and lead to altered adhesive characteristics. Therefore, it is important to understand the functional characteristics of compositionally different junctions.