Biography

Dr. Yvona Ward received her Ph.D. in 1992 from the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. She then joined Dr. Kathy Kelly in the Laboratory of Pathology at the NCI where she conducted studies on PAC-1, a MAP Kinase phosphatase and investigated the role of the Ral pathway in tumorigenesis and metastasis. In 1999, Dr. Ward became the head of the Microinjection and Confocal Microscopy Core Facility in the Cell and Cancer Biology Branch of the NCI.

Research

The Cell and Cancer Biology Branch (CCBB) Microinjection and Confocal Microscopy core facility provides training, guidance, and state-of-the-art service to scientists in the CCBB and other laboratories at the NCI who require microinjection or confocal microscopy techniques as part of their research efforts. The core facility currently houses a Zeiss LSM 510 laser scanning microscope capable of generating images with up to four different colors. Images of fixed specimens on slides as well as live cells can be acquired on the system. Please refer to the publications list for specific examples of research projects carried out using the core equipment.

Image acquisition and analysis is provided free of charge. Scientists who are fully trained in confocal microscopy work independently while inexperienced users are encouraged to arrange for training or to establish a collaboration with Yvona Ward.

In addition to managing the CCBB core facility, Dr. Ward conducts research in collaboration with Dr. Kathy Kelly on the role of CD97, an adhesion class GPCR, in tumor progression and metastasis.