My primary function is to serve as Administrator/Manager of the Flow Cytometry-Confocal Microscopy Core Facility, a research support resource which is part of the School of Medicine Biotechnology Program. Flow cytometry and Confocal microscopy are powerful techniques based on laser light excitation of fluorescent molecules. Flow cytometry is commonly used to study various aspects of cell function, including apoptosis, cell cycle, and immunophenotype analysis. The facility has two bench top flow analyzers (Becton Dickinson FACScan), and a four-color cell sorter (FACStar Plus) to isolate specific cell subsets from a complex mixture of cell types. Confocal microscopy is used primarily for cellular co-localization studies and three-dimensional reconstruction. A new Zeiss 510 Laser-scanning Confocal Microscope was installed in May 2001, which is capable of three-channel fluorescence acquisition.

My research interests include:
1. Development of flow cytometric and confocal microscopic methods to study cell signalling
2. Identification and isolation of leukemic stem cells using flow cytometric methods
3. Resistance to apoptosis in cancer cells

McJilton, M.A., Sikes, C.V., Wescott, G.G., Wu, D., Foreman, T.L., Gregory, C.W., Weidner, D.A., Ford, O.H., Lasater, A.M., Mohler, J.L., Terrian, D.M. Protein kinase C-epsilon interacts with Bax and promotes survival of human prostate cancer cells. Oncogene 22, 7958-7968 (2003).

Weidner, D.A., Wang, R-Y., Zhao, S., Calvert, L., Kuehnle, I., Kantarjian, H., Brenner, M.K., Goodell, M.A. Reduced level of Philadelphia chromosome positive (Ph+) cells in lineage negative side population bone marrow progenitor cells from patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), in Acute Leukemias IX, 239-251 (2003).

Wulf, G.G., Wang, R-Y., Kuehnle, I., Weidner, D.A., Marini, F., Brenner, M.K., Andreeff, M., Goodell, M.A. A leukemic stem cell with intrinsic drug efflux capacity in acute myeloid leukemia. Blood 98, 1166-1173 (2001).

Leroux, E., Auzenne, E., Weidner, D., Wu, Z.Y., Donato, N.J., Klostergaard, J. Febrile and acute hyperthermia enhance TNF-induced necrosis of murine L929 fibrosarcoma cells via caspase-regulated production of reactive oxygen intermediates. J. Cell. Physiol. 187, 256-263 (2001).

Davis, D.W., Weidner, D.A., Holian, A., McConkey, D.J. Nitric oxide-dependent activation of p53 suppresses bleomycin-induced apoptosis in the lung. J.Exp.Med 192, 857-869 (2000).

Clodi, K., Kliche, K.O., Zhao, S., Weidner, D., Schenk, T., Consoli, U., Jiang, S., Snell, V., Andreeff, M. Cell surface exposure of phosphatidylserine correlates with stage of fludarabine-induced apoptosis in chronic lymphocytic leukemia and expression of apoptosis-regulating genes. Cytometry 40, 19-25 (2000).

Hazarika, P., Dham, N., Patel, P., Cho, M., Weidner, D., Goldsmith, L., Duvic, M. Flotillin 2 is distinct from epidermal surface antigen (ESA) and is associated with filopodia formation. J. Cell. Biochem. 75, 147-159 (1999).