> Faculty > Professors > George E. Davis

George E. Davis, M.D., Ph.D.

Professor DavisGeo@missouri.edu

Research Interests

My laboratory focuses on the following questions relevant to angiogenesis, wound repair and cancer research:

1. How do endothelial cells form cell-lined tube structures with lumens in three-dimensional (3D) extracellular matrices?
2. How do endothelial cells and other cell types such as tumor cells invade 3D matrices?
3. To what extent do endothelial cells directly or indirectly play a role in tumor invasion and metastasis?
4. What molecular events control the process of vascular regression?
5. How do vascular supporting cells such as pericytes stabilize vascular tubes?
6. How do distinct matrix metalloproteinases and their inhibitors control the processes of vascular morphogenesis versus regression in 3D matrices?
7. How do extracellular matrix fragments (matricryptins) regulate vascular morphogenesis versus regression in normal versus diseased states (e.g. diabetes)?
   

Background  Information

• BS Microbiology, Arizona State University
• MD, PhD, University of California, San Diego, PhD in Biology- Role of extracellular matrix in neurite outgrowth
• Anatomic Pathology Residency- National Institutes of Health
• Postdoctoral Research- Burnham Institute, La Jolla, CA
• Assistant to Full Professor, Department of Pathology, Texas A&M College of Medicine
• Joined the Department in 2006
• Past chairperson and member, NIH Cardiovascular Differentiation and Development study section
• Past member, NIH Pathology A study section
• Research Funded by the National Institutes of Health
  
  

Selected  Publications

• Kamei, M., Saunders. W.B., Bayless, K.J., Dye, L., Davis. G.E., and Weinstein, B.M. (2006) Endothelial tubes assemble from intracellular vacuoles in vivo. Nature, 442: 453-456.
• Saunders, W.B., Bohnsack, B.L., Faske, J.B., Anthis, N.J., Bayless, K.J., Hirschi, K.K. and Davis, G.E. (2006) Coregulation of vascular tube stabilization by endothelial cell TIMP-2 and pericyte TIMP-3. J. Cell Biol., in press.
• Davis, G.E. and Saunders, W.B. (2006) Molecular balance of capillary tube formation versus regression in wound repair: Role of matrix metalloproteinases and their inhibitors. J. Invest. Dermatol., in press.
• Davis, G.E., and Senger, D.R. (2005) Endothelial-ECM: Biosynthesis, remodeling, and functions during vascular morphogenesis and neovessel stabilization. Circ. Res., 97:1093-1107.
• Saunders, W.B., Bayless, K.J. and Davis, G.E. (2005) MMP-1 activation by serine proteases and MMP-10 induces human capillary tubular network collapse and regression in 3D collagen matrices. J. Cell Sci., 118: 2325-2340.
• Bayless, K.J., and Davis, G.E. (2004) Microtubule depolymerization rapidly collapses capillary tube networks in vitro and angiogenic vessels in vivo through the small GTPase Rho. J. Biol. Chem., 279: 11686-11695.
• Bayless, K.J. and Davis, G.E. (2002) The Cdc42 and Rac1 GTPases are required for capillary lumen formation in three-dimensional extracellular matrices, J. Cell Sci., 115:1123-1136.
• Davis, G.E., Bayless, K.J., and Mavila, A. (2002) The molecular basis of endothelial cell morphogenesis in three-dimensional extracellular matrices, Anat. Rec., 268:252-275.
• Davis, G.E., Bayless, K.J., Davis, M.J., and Meininger, G.A. (2000) Regulation of tissue injury responses by the exposure of matricryptic sites within extracellular matrix molecules, Am. J. Pathol., 156:1489-1498.
  

Methodolgy/Techniques

We have developed microassay approaches to study human endothelial cell tube morphogenesis and regression in 3D matrices. We perform time-lapse imaging of tube formation and regression, endothelial cell invasion and tumor cell invasion of 3D matrices. We use cellular and molecular biological approaches such siRNA knockdown, recombinant adenoviral and lentiviral vectors to deliver wild-type and mutant genes to cells to assess function in these biological contexts.