Current Research and Scholarly Interests
Dr. Sylvester concurrently pursues three areas of related investigation. The general approach of his efforts are to combine the study of human disease samples and mouse models of human disease to pose new hypotheses and to test these hypotheses experimentally. The objective of Dr. Sylvester's studies is to derive a deeper understanding of human disease and to develop applications for possible new diagnostics and therapeutics.
In the laboratory the group studies the role of Wnt signaling in liver regeneration and response to injury. The Sylvester laboratory has demonstrated that Wnt and its signaling molecule beta-catenin have a strong influence over hepatocellular metabolism and resistance to oxidative stress. Ongoing studies to gain a deeper understanding of the mechanism by which Wnt and related pathways exert control over cellular metabolism, energy balance and redox balance are ongoing. Cellular energy and redox balance are central to the related processes of liver development, regeneration and tumorignesis.
Dr. Sylvester has established a network of academic children's hospitals and investigators to study the human newborn diseases Necrotizing Enterocolitis and sepsis. The group has published several papers describing their novel findings of molecular indicators or biomarkers of disease. The group is seeking to establish both molecular indicators of disease as well as biochemical indicators that accurately identify infants most at risk for disease in order to provide clinical strategies to prevent disease onset. Molecules and pathways of interest that have been identified in human specimens are studied further in experimental models of disease to gain a deeper insight to the specific mechanisms of disease.