The London Research Institute research groups are based at Lincoln’s Inn Fields and Clare Hall. Our major research themes are: the biology of tumours and tissues, cellular regulatory mechanisms and genomic integrity and cell cycle.
Ralf Adams
The research goals of Ralf’s laboratory at the LRI - Vascular Development - were to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying cell-cell communication, adhesion and migration during normal tissue morphogenesis and to gain insight into their potential relevance for cancer and other disease conditions.
Blood vessels form an extensive hierarchical network of arteries, capillaries and veins that functions a conduit system for the transport of liquids, solutes, gases, macromolecules and cells within the vertebrate body. During fetal and postnatal growth, the size and transport capacity of the vasculature need to increase significantly. This is predominantly achieved by angiogenesis, that is, the expansion of an existing vessel network through a combination of sprouting, proliferation and remodelling processes.
Ralf left the LRI to lead a department at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine in Münster.
Significant LRI Papers
- Adams RH, Alitalo K. Molecular regulation of angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis. Nature Rev. Mol. Cell. Biol. 2007;8:464-78 (Abstract)
- Foo SS, Turner CJ, Adams S, Compagni A, Aubyn D, Kogata N, Lindblom P, Shani M, Zicha D, Adams RH. Ephrin-B2 controls cell motility and adhesion during blood-vessel-wall assembly. Cell. 2006;124:161-173 (Abstract)
- Gliki G, Ebnet K, Aurrand-Lions M, Imhof BA, Adams RH. Spermatid differentiation requires the assembly of a cell polarity complex downstream of junctional adhesion molecule-C. Nature. 2004;431:320-4 (Abstract)
- Takamiya K, Kostourou V, Adams S, Jadeja S, Chalepakis G, Scambler PJ, Huganir RL, Adams RH. A direct functional link between the multi-PDZ domain protein GRIP1 and the Fraser syndrome protein Fras1. Nat. Genet. 2004;36:172-177 (Abstract)
- Grunwald IC, Korte M, Adelmann G, Plueck A, Kullander K, Adams RH, Frotscher M, Bonhoeffer T, Klein R. Hippocampal plasticity requires postsynaptic ephrinBs. Nat. Neurosci. 2004;7:33-40 (Abstract)
