Development of an In Vivo Model to Monitor Vitamin D Activity

Vitamin D compounds are being developed for the treatment of chronic kidney disease. The purpose of this proposal is to develop a cell-based screening platform that will allow the rapid assessment ofrelative efficacy of a library of compounds. The intern will use recombinant DNA methodology to generate a cell-based assay in which the green fluorescence protein will be inserted into a vitamin D responsive gene; thus, permitting the visualization of vitamin D signaling in real-time. This same recombinant DNA construct will be designed in such a way that it can be further used to establish a line of mice in which tissues responding to vitamin D compounds will “glow”. This may permit the visualization of pharmacodynamic properties of compounds in live animals.

Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Glenville Jones

Student:

Tracie Pennimpede

Partner:

CrossWing Inc.

Discipline:

Biochemistry / Molecular biology

Sector:

Pharmaceuticals

University:

Queen's University