Aravind Reddy
The Role of ATF6 in Lipotoxicity
Mentor: Dr. Jean Schaffer, Center for Cardiovascular Research, Washington University School of Medicine 

ER stress is a cellular response to an overload of unfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum. ER stress is induced in cells under high-fat treated, or lipotoxic conditions. ATF6 is a transcription factor induced by ER stress and binds to a certain DNA motif sequence when activated. My project sought to asses ATF6 activation by assaying induction of a firefly luciferase reporter gene under the control of the ATF6 DNA promoter. In theory, under conditions of ER stress the ATF6 protein will bind to the motif sequence and induce gene expression, which will eventually lead to the production of firefly luciferase.  This construct will be transfected into CHO cells and assayed under conditions of high fat treatment and ones that induce ER stress. This assay can be used to measure ER stress response in any cell type under any conditions.  Work on this construct is still in progres