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 Mammalian Brain Development
Bin Chen , Dept. MCD Biology
The cerebral cortex is the seat of our highest cognitive and perceptual function. It has been estimated that there are hundreds of different neuronal cell types in the cerebral cortex. The proper generation of these different neuronal types and the formation of their appropriate connections is essential for brain function. However, not much is known about how genes regulate the generation of these different types of neurons and the connections between them. Research in the Chen lab is aimed at identifying different transcription factors and signaling pathways critical for the development of cerebral cortex. Using mouse as a model system and a combination of gene knockouts, mis-expression experiments, neuronal tracings and cell culture experiments to explore these areas [More] |
 The Generation of Neural Connections
David Feldheim , Dept. MCD Biology
Higher cognitive functions in mammals are dependent upon complex neural connections in the brain. The Feldheim laboratory examines the development of the primary visual system in the mouse brain to understand how such connections are generated.
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 Transcription, Elongation, Chromatin and Human Disease
Grant Hartzog, Dept. of MCD Biology
Grant Hartzog's laboratory investigates the roles of proteins that regulate the rate of transcription elongation - i.e. how quickly RNA polymerases travel along and transcribe genes into RNA. Many normal cellular genes are known to be regulated at the level of elongation, and the HIV virus specifically co-opts normal transcription elongation factors to regulate its own replication. Thus, understanding how transcription elongation is controlled is important for an understanding of both normal and abnormal gene expression. [More]
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 How do Billions of Neurons and their Axons Know Where to Go?
Lindsay Hinck , Dept. MCD Biology
A functional nervous system requires an amazingly elaborate network of neuronal connections. A few secreted cues play an essential role in directing the construction of these networks. Professor Hinck's lab examines the regulation of such guidance cues and their receptors. One focus is on netrin-1, a bifunctional cue that either attracts neurons to a target or repels them away from a non-target zone. Neurons sense netrin-1 as either an attractant or a repellent depending upon which netrin-1 receptors are expressed on their surface. Recently, Hinck's group has examined a post-translational mechanism that allows navigating growth cones to adjust their sensitivity to netrin-1 by down-regulating the number of receptors expressed on the cell surface [More] |
 Intracellular Transport and Cytoplasmic Organization
Bill Saxton, Dept. of MCD Biology
Bill Saxton's group studies mechanisms that drive intracellular transport and cytoplasmic organization, using Drosophila as a model system. One current area of interest is axonal organelle transport in the intact nervous system, which is critical for neuron development, neuron function, and a contibutor to human neurodegenerative diseases. They also study transport in Drosophila oocytes, which ensures both specific body-axis determinant RNA localization and bulk cytoplasmic mixing for proper embryonic development. Since the molecular motor proteins and filament tracks for these processes are the same, but the processes are quite different, the parallel studies provide a good context for discoveries about the biophysics, biochemistry and evolution of motion. [More] |
 Chromatin Regulation in Development and Disease
Susan Strome, Dept. of MCD Biology
The currently booming field of "epigenetics" includes investigations of how chromatin-level regulation controls gene expression and development. The Strome lab uses the nematode C. elegans to investigate the roles of covalent histone modifications in specifying the ON and OFF states of genes, and in guiding cells to adopt correct fates and undergo correct developmental programs. [More]
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 The Cell cycle, Cytoskeleton and Pathogenesis
Bill Sullivan, Dept. of MCD Biology
The Sullivan lab uses the Drosophila embryo as a model system to investigate the mechanisms that drive furrow invagination during cytokinesis. Through a combination of cellular and molecular genetic approaches we find that furrow formation requires coordinated cell cycle regulated and endocytic-based vesicle recruitment. These studies have also identified a new role for cell cycle checkpoints in coordinating the nuclear cycle with cytokinesis. More recently, the lab has applied these approaches toward understanding the mechanisms by which the widespread intracellular insect pathogen, Wolbachia, influences host nuclear and cytoplasmic cell cycles [More]
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 Regulation of Chromatin Structure and Gene Expression
John Tamkun, Dept. of MCD Biology
The Tamkun lab investigates regulation of chromatin's high order structure and its role in gene expression. Composed of DNA and proteins, chromatin's ability to fold enables the eukaryotic genome to be packaged into an extremely small space inside the nucleus of the cell. Proper transcription and replication of the genome also depend upon precise regulation of these dynamic structures, with defects in these processes believed to underly many human diseases. [More]
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 How Stem Cell Fate Is Decided
Camilla Forsberg, Dept. of Biomolecular Engineering
Camila Forsberg's research group focuses on stem cell fate decisions that give rise to variant blood cell types. Are such decisions made by the stem cell itself, by its descendant multipotent progenitors, or both? To answer such questions, Forsberg's group conducts molecular lineage tracing of HSC differentiation in vivo. In order to elucidate the mechanisms of fate decisions, they employ global analyses, such as genome-wide gene expression analysis and chromatin remodeling assays. The ultimate goal of this research is to facilitate our ability to direct specific fates and improve clinical applications of hematopoietic and non-hematopoietic stem cell therapy. [More]
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 Ex-vivo Survival Mechanisms Used by Vibrio cholerae between Epidemics
Fitnat Yildiz, Dept. of Microbiology and Environmental Toxicology
Ex-vivo Survival Mechanisms used by Vibrio cholerae between Epidemics: Fitnat Yildiz's laboratory investigates signaling and regulatory networks of Vibrio cholerae, the causative agent of the Asiatic cholera. She and her colleagues are particularly interested in those mechanisms that allow the pathogen to adapt to changes in its habitat. The bacteria's ability to survive in different growth modes in aquatic environments is closely linked to seasonal epidemics of cholera. Yildiz's laboratory is attempting to identify and characterize genes and processes associated with phase variations of the pathogen. Their results will be useful for prediction and control of epidemics of this devastating disease. [More]
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