Dr. Wendy Mars is an Associate Professor in the Department
of Pathology who has been at the University of Pittsburgh
since 1991. Prior to her arrival at the university, Dr. Mars
received her B.S. in Medical Technology from Arizona State
University and her Ph.D. in the Molecular Genetics of Cancer
from The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical
Science at Houston, working on projects related to cytogenetics,
cell cycle kinetics of cancer cell lines and hematopoietic
stem cell development. In addition to her current research
in tissue regeneration, she is actively involved in multiple
teaching ventures, while working with students from the undergraduate
to the post-doctoral levels. Currently she teaches in several
graduate level courses for the Interdisciplinary
Biomedical Graduate Program and serves as Director
of both the CMP Summer Undergrduate Research Program and CMP Graduate Program.
Dr. Mars is actively involved in research efforts aimed towards understanding specific biological processes that allow a normal liver, especially hepatocytes, to regenerate. As many of the same proteins are involved, this research has expanded into other areas of tissue regeneration, including studies on neuronal development and kidney repair. Recently, Dr. Mars' has been featured in several publications for her findings.
The significance of Dr. Mars' research stems primarily from two properties of liver regeneration. First, in hepatic disease, the liver loses its ability to regenerate in a normal manner. If damage is severe enough, this eventually leads to patient death since the liver is an essential organ for normal body metabolism. Second, liver is unique in that following a loss of liver mass, the organ is able re-grow to the correct size and then stop. This property serves as an important model for understanding the signals that are vital for the malignant process, due to the fact that in cancers an imbalance between the growth and death of cells leads to the eventual overgrowth of the tumor. Thus, understanding the signals that cause the liver to cease growing may provide clues for understanding the molecular basis of cancer. For more information on the projects in which Dr. Mars is currently involved, please see the following:
CONTACT INFORMATION
Dr. Wendy M. MarsPhone: (412)648-9690
Email: wmars@pitt.edu