# Epithelial Cell Reintegration in Development and Disease

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA · 2022 · $77,832

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Simple epithelial tissues are monolayered sheets of cells. As they divide, epithelial cells
commonly move apically (upward), sometimes to the point that they are protruding out of
the sheet. The daughter cells must then reintegrate back down into it. This process
appears to be a normal feature of tissue development. We aim to understand how it works.
Our work in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster shows that cell reintegration relies on
partially-redundant adhesion molecules that line cell-cell borders, but it is not yet clear if
these molecules are part of a dedicated machinery or if they simply contribute (in sum) to
an amount of adhesion that is required for cells to reintegrate. In the first aim we propose
to test between these possibilities using traditional Drosophila genetics and imaging.
Another open question about epithelial cell reintegration is whether it requires active
participation from neighboring cells (“welcoming” in the new cell) or if instead the
reintegrating cell just pushes its neighbors out of the way. In the second aim we propose
to use cultured Madin-Darby Canine Kidney (MDCK) cells to investigate the behavior of
the neighboring cells. Together, the proposed work will illuminate cell reintegration, a
fundamental property of epithelial tissues, and help to explain its importance to tissue
development and maintenance.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10864672
- **Project number:** 7R01GM125839-06
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Daniel T. Bergstralh
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $77,832
- **Award type:** 7
- **Project period:** 2018-09-01 → 2024-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10864672

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10864672, Epithelial Cell Reintegration in Development and Disease (7R01GM125839-06). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10864672. Licensed CC0.

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