Proteoglycans
control cell behavior

The roles of syndecans (heparin sulfate proteoglycans) in several developmental processes. The complexity of sugar chains on proteoglycans provide an enormous level of molecular diversity that could be used in a variety of developmental processes, including cell signaling, cell migration , cell-matrix interactions and metastasis. Figuring out how this molecular diversity is regulated and how it is utilized in bilogy will be one of the challenges in the “postgenomic era.” We have several very exciting results and a large battery of tools to take on fundamental questions of roles of proteoglycans in vertebrate development.