Mae J Ciancio, Ph.D.

The primary area of research in my laboratory is on the anti-obesity effect of heat shock protein 70 (HSP70), a stress-inducible protein. Using a transgenic mouse line that selectively over-expresses HSP70 primarily in the epithelial cells that line the gastrointestinal tract (HSP70 transgenic mice; HSP70 TG), we demonstrated that these mice maintain a lean phenotype despite consuming a high-fat diet as compared to their non-transgenic (NTG) littermates.
The second area of scholarly work in our laboratory is on the pathogenesis of chemically induced oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSSC) utilizing a mouse model of disease.
The third major research focus of our laboratory is on the protective role of HSP70 against Chlamydia muridarum induced inflammation in a female murine model of disease.