Regulation of hematopoietic cell development and activation by adapter proteins.

Adapter proteins, molecules with modular domains that mediate intermolecular interactions, play critical roles in the regulation of signaling events in all cell types. A major focus of our laboratory has been to examine the role of adapter molecules in hematopoietic cell development and activation. This review will describe the approaches we are taking to identify such proteins and to determine the mechanisms by which they exert their functions. This work represents the enormous efforts of the students and postdocs who have committed themselves to these projects, as well as the important collaborations we have developed with other investigators at the University of Pennsylvania and elsewhere.