This project tries to enlighten the mechanisms of action of the Smad protein family and is subdivided in two parts:

1. To provide a first picture of how full-length R-SMAD proteins are structured, which remains an open question in the field of TGF-beta signaling.
2. To uncover the mechanisms that correlate SMAD-mediated cell signaling with gene expression, to provide an understanding on how the TGF-β cascade works in differentiation, development and in disease and a first answer to the question of why the consequences of this TGF-β signaling cascade are so unpredictable. This line of research is financed by a SAF2011-25119 grant.