KEITH-R-PORTER-LECTURE, 1996 - OF MICE AND MEN - GENETIC-DISORDERS OFTHE CYTOSKELETON

Since the time when I was a postdoctoral fellow under the supervision of Dr. Howard Green, then at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , I have been interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms und erlying growth, differentiation, and development in the mammalian ecto derm. The ectoderm gives rise to epidermal keratinocytes and to neuron s, which are the only two cell types of the body that devote most of t heir protein-synthesizing machinery to developing an elaborate cytoske letal architecture composed of 10-nm intermediate filaments (Ifs). Our interest is in understanding the architecture of the cytoskeleton in keratinocytes and in neurons, and in elucidating how perturbations in this architecture can lead to degenerative diseases of the skin and th e nervous system. I will concentrate on the intermediate filament netw ork of the skin and its associated genetic disorders, since this has b een a long-standing interest of my laboratory at the University of Chi cago.