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Graduate Students: Bibliowicz, JonathanHayes, JulieLee, JiwoonUribe, Rosa
Research Summary:
Our research focuses on vertebrate eye development largely utilizing the zebrafish as a model system, with some projects now extending into mouse models. Combining forward genetic screens with reverse genetic and embryological manipulations we hope to understand the molecular, cellular and developmental events that regulate eye formation and visual function. Current areas of interest in the lab include studies focusing on the development and maintenance of the lens and retinal pigment epithelium and elucidation of the molecular and cellular mechanisms that regulate morphogenesis of the eye. Our research combines molecular, cellular, biochemical, transgenic and in vivo imaging techniques to address these questions. It is our hope that these studies will ultimately lead to a better understanding of visual system disorders such as macular degeneration, cataracts and ocular colobomas that often result in blindness in afflicted patients.
Publications:| Expanded progenitor populations, vitreo-retinal abnormalities, and Müller glial reactivity in the zebrafish leprechaun/patched2 retina (2009) BMC Developmental Biology in press | | Zebrafish mutations in gart and paics identify crucial roles for de novo purine synthesis in vertebrate pigmentation and ocular development (2009) Development 136(15), 2601-11. | | The Vacuolar-ATPase Complex Regulates Retinoblast Proliferation and Survival, Photoreceptor Morphogenesis and Pigmentation in the Zebrafish Eye (2009) Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science 50, 893-905. | | Expression profiling during optic fissure closure identifies two Nlz genes with a critical role in fissure closure (2009) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106, 1462-7. | | Zebrafish blowout provides genetic evidence for Patched1-mediated negative regulation of Hedgehog signaling within the proximal optic vesicle of the vertebrate eye (2008) Developmental Biology 319, 10-22. | | Zebrafish Mutants as Models for Congenital Ocular Disorders in Humans (2008) Mol Reprod Dev 75, 547-555. | | Laminin Beta 1 and Gamma 1 Containing Laminins are Essential for Basement Membrane Integrity in the Zebrafish Eye (2007) Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 48, 2483-2490. | | Shroom2 (APXL) regulates melanosome biogenesis and localization in the retinal pigment epithelium (2006) Development 133, 4109-4118 . | | Identification of Zebrafish Insertional Mutants With Defects in Visual System Development and Function (2005) Genetics 170, 245-261. | | Tbx2b is essential for neuronal differentiation along the dorsal/ventral axis of the zebrafish retina (2005) Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 102, 4371-4376. |
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