Associate Professor of Pathology
| Address: | Kaul Building, room 664 UAB Birmingham, AL 35294-6823 |
| Telephone: | (205) 934-0062 |
| Fax: | (205) 934-0480 |
| Email: | kucik@uab.edu |
| Publications |
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Education
B.Sc., University of Wisconsin at Madison (with honors)
MD/Ph.D., Washington University in St. Louis
Howard Hughes Fellow, University of California, San Francisco
Research Interests
White blood cell adhesion to blood vessel walls constitutes an essential early step in the defense against infection, without which an immune response cannot develop. On the other hand, too much adhesion can lead to atherosclerosis and other major health problems. Using a flow-cell system that mimics conditions in the blood vessel, dynamic adhesion is analyzed by high-time-resolution digital imaging and computer analysis. Cultured endothelium and leukocytes from knockout mice enable us to define the functions of specific adhesion molecules. We also use time-lapse imaging of migrating cells to understand endothelial wound healing, and a laser-tweezers-based system to measure adhesion molecule rearrangement on living cells. This work is also important to understand how cancer cells metastasize to distant sites via the bloodstream.