Lab Web Sites of SDB Members

Arranged alphabetically by member's last name:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

 

Stephen Alexander's laboratory at the University of Missouri uses Dictyiostelim discoideum as a model system for studies on: 1. molecular and cellular mechanisms of resistance to anticancer drugs; 2. regulation of protein secretion during development.

 

Ethan Bier's Lab, Department of Biology, UC San Diego, is interested in how the Dpp and EGF-R signaling pathways interact to define the neurogenic region of the Drosophila blastoderm embryo, and how these two pathways then collaborate to promote wing vein development during early metamorphosis. They use a combination of molecular and genetic approaches to investigate these developmental questions.

 

Helen Blau's Laboratory, Stanford University School of Medicine, is internationally known for establishing the plasticity of the differentiated state. Dr. Blau's elegant heterokaryon experiments proved that silent muscle genes could be activated in diverse specialized adult cells. Recently she showed that adult bone-marrow-derived stem cells are similarly plastic. Her innovative approaches have profoundly impacted biology and medicine.

 

Leon Browder's Lab at the University of Calgary works on the mechanisms that control protein synthesis during oogenesis and early embryonic development of Xenopus laevis.

 

Peter Bryant's laboratory at the Developmental Biology Center University of California, Irvine, focuses on tumor suppressor genes in Drosophila and their human homologs, as well as, the genetics of development in Drosophila.

 

Sue Bryant's Laboratory in the Department of Developmental and Cell Biology, University of California, Irvine, studies pattern formation in regenerating and developing vertebrate limbs.

 

Juergen Buening's Lab, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. The research interests of the Juergen Buening Lab are comparative studies of insect ovaries focussing on early oogenesis, analysis of insect phylogeny and Drosophila oogenesis as a model system.

 

Laura Burrus' Lab, Department of Biology, San Francisco State University, studies the biological role(s) of secreted signaling proteins during vertebrate somite development.

J.A. Campos-Ortega's Lab at the Institute for Developmental Biology, University of Cologne studies the cellular, genetic and molecular bases of neurogenesis in Drosophila and the zebra fish.

 

Sean Carroll's Lab at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, has several foci: the elaboration of the developmental genetics underlying wing formation in Drosophila, the use of hox genes across animal phyla, and the patterning and prepatterning of butterfly wing color patterns.

 

Cheng-Ming Chuong's Laboratory of Organogenesis Studies, University of Southern California, current research interests include: skin appendage morphogenesis (particularly feather pattern formation); roles of adhesion molecules in mesenchymal condensation during skeletogenesis; and cell adhesion molecules in diseases/skin gene therapy.

Ben Cheyette’s Lab at the University of California, San Francisco studies signaling in mouse neural development and behavior, focusing on novel Dvl-interacting genes. 

Robert A. Cornell’s Lab in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at the Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa. We study genetic regulation of neural crest induction and patterning in zebrafish, with an emphasis on the control of cell survival.

FishScope is a WWW archive of time-lapse recordings and confocal images of developing fish and other aquatic organisms from the lab of Mark Cooper at the University of Washington.

 

Tom Cooper's Lab, Department of Pathology, Baylor College of Medicine, studies the mechanism of muscle-specific alternative pre-mRNA splicing, myotonic dystrophy, the mechanism of A/C-rich splicing enhancer (ACE) activity, and post-transcriptional regulation of exogenous gene expression.

 

Igor Dawid's Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, USA
Igor Dawid's lab is interested in molecular mechanisms underlying differentiation and pattern formation in the early vertebrate embryo, in particular with respect to the establishment of the body pattern at gastrulation. These questions are being pursued in Xenopus laevis and in the zebrafish.

 

Steve Devoto's Lab at Wesleyan University studies the development of zebrafish muscle cell identity.

 

Steve DiNardo's Lab at the University of Pennsylvania Health System studies studies developmental patterning in embryos and stem cell function during spermatogenesis.

 

Chris Doe's Lab, Institute of Neuroscience and Institute of Molecular Biology at the University of Oregon, works on neural patterning, neural stem cells, and neural cell lineage in Drosophila.

 

Stephen Duncan's Lab, Medical College of Wisconsin, studies the molecular mechanisms underlying mammalian development.

The Epel Lab at Hopkins Marine Station studies sea urchin development and their site has links to several other sea urchin development labs.

 

The Ettensohn Lab, Carnegie Mellon, studies early patterning and morphogenetic cell movements in sea urchin embryos.

 

Michael Ferrari's lab at the University of Missouri Kansas City studies the cellular physiology of muscle development, with a particular focus on calcium regulation of myofibrillogenesis and somitogenesis during skeletal muscle development in Xenopus.

CISTRON--The Goldman Lab Server at San Francisco State University focuses on the differences in DNA structure in and around transcriptionally active and inactive genes.

 

The Gard Lab, Department of Biology, University of Utah study cytoskeletal organization during oogenesis and early development in Xenopus laevis.

 

Laura Grabel's lab at Wesleyan University studies the role of Integrins in cell migration using EC cells, and the role of Hedgehog genes in early mouse development, using both ES cells and mouse embryos mutant for genes in the hedgehog signalling pathway.

James Hanken Lab, Harvard University, studies evolutionary developmental biology; focusing on cranial development, neural crest migration, and the endocrinology of morphology.

 

Jeff Hardin's Lab at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, focuses on two major questions: how do cell sheets change shape during morphogenetic movements, and how do freely migrating cells make attachments to specific locations in the embryo? We are using two experimental systems to study these events: (1) The embryonic epidermis, or hypodermis, of the nematode, C. elegans, and (2) the archenteron of the sea urchin gastrula.

 

Richard Harland's Lab, U.C. Berkeley, focuses on understanding early vertebrate development at the molecular level. They study this problem in both the amphibian Xenopus, and in the mouse. Xenopus embryos are large and easily manipulated, so that the function of various macromolecules, such as RNA and protein, can be assayed by microinjection into living embryos. Functional assays in Xenopus can then be complemented by genetic knockouts in the mouse, to gain fuller understanding of the normal requirements for gene action in the developing embryo.

 

Michael Herman's lab, Kansas State University, studies how cell polarity is established and controlled during metazoan development, using the free-living soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a model. As cellular asymmetry is estabished, orientation to the body axis of an animal gives each cell a polarity. It is important both for cells that divide asymmetrically to generate different kinds of daughter cells, and for cells that migrate to be oriented to the body axis.

 

Brigid Hogan's Lab at the Vanderbuilt Medical Center, focuses on the genetic regulation of inductive tissue interactions in mammalian development by using the mouse as the primary research model.

 

Gary Hunnicutt at the Population Council studies sperm maturation within the epididymis.

 

Rolf Karlstrom’s lab at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst studies axon guidance and forebrain patterning during development of the brain in zebrafish.  For a time-lapse movie of zebrafish embryogenesis, please go to: http://www.rochester.edu/College/BIO/labs/KaneLab/theStuff/fishTL/index.html

Doug Kline's Lab at Kent State University focuses on mammalian oocyte maturation, fertilization, and egg activation.

 

John Klingensmith's lab, Department of Cell Biology, Duke University, studies the embryonic organizer and the mechanisms of early pattern formation in mouse.

 

Steve Konieczny's Laboratory at Purdue University is interested in understanding the molecular regulatory circuits that function during vertebrate development, especially skeletal muscle development.

Kristen Kroll's Lab at Washington University School of Medicine focuses on cellular and molecular processes that form and pattern the neural plate and on the transcriptional regulation of neurogenesis, using Xenopus embryos and mammalian stem cells as systems.

Cathy Krull's Lab at the University of Missouri-Columbia studies how the precise patterns of neural circuitry are assembled that underlie functional behaviors, including locomotion, perception, and memory. Specifically, they are interested in cellular and molecular mechanisms that guide motor axons and neural crest to their targets in the periphery.

Gordon Laurie's Laboratory at the University of Virginia focuses on the basement membrane, a ubiquitous feature of epithelial, endothelial, muscle and some neural cells. They study this thin extracellular matrix that mediates cell attachment, growth and differentiation through structural molecules and growth factors, many of which remain uncharacterized.

 

The Lessman Lab at The University of Memphis focuses on oocyte maturation at both the molecular and cell physiology levels. Model systems include: the leopard frog (Rana pipiens), zebrafish (Brachydanio rerio), goldfish (Carassius auratus) and the african clawed frog (Xenopus laevis). At present we are particularly interested in large macromolecular complexes in oocytes.

 

Howard Lipshitz's Lab, Sick Children & Univ. Toronto, research focuses on mechanisms of cytoplasmic RNA localization and the genetic control of morphogenesis using Drosophila as a model.

 

The Liscum laboratory at the University of Missouri studies the molecular and genetic mechanisms mediating the phototropic response in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Mandoli Lab at the University of Washington use genetics, physiology, cell biology and, photobiology to understand how Acetabularia (the Mermaid's Wineglass) makes and maintains its elaborate architecture in the absence of cell division.

 

Mark Mercola's lab, Harvard Medical School, works on embryonic heart induction and patterning, left-right asymmetry, and cardiogenesis from stem cells.

 

The McGinnis Lab, Department of Biology, UC San Diego works on the evolutionary origins of Hox proteins. A long term objective of their research is to understand the molecular interactions that underlie functional specificity in the Hox patterning system.

Kelly A. McLaughlin’s lab members at the Tufts University  investigate how signal transduction mechanisms serve to regulate cellular behaviors (i.e. proliferation, apoptosis, migration, and differentiation) during organ development in Xenopus laevis embryos.  Our studies include examination of the early specification of tissues (such as the heart and kidney) as well as later patterning and subsequent morphogenesis of embryonic organs.

Sue Ann Miller's lab at Hamilton College studies potential contributions of differential cell division and cell death in early morphogenesis of chick and mouse embryos in order to place an organismal perspective on dynamics of the cell cycle.

 

Jeffrey Miller's Lab, University of Minnesota, studies the mechanism of Wnt signal transduction and the role of Wnt signaling in vertebrate development, using Xenopus as a model system. Their focus is on understanding the role of Wnt signaling in the establishment of the dorsal-ventral axis and in the regulation of cell movements during gastrulation and neuralation.

 

Sally Moody's Laboratory at George Washington University, Washington, DC, focuses on: the role of maternal determinant molecules in establishing the dorsal axis/central nervous system; the identification of the upstream regulatory regions of a neuron-specific beta-tubulin gene; the determination of amacrine cell fates in the retina; fate maps in Xenopus laevis.

 

Randy Moon's Lab at the University of Washington works on the mechanisms of signal transduction by the Wnt gene family, and the functions of these signaling pathways during development in Xenopus and zebrafish. These functions include specification of the dorsal-ventral axis following fertilization, and specification of cell fate in the nervous system.

 

The Morris Lab studies the effects of growth factors and cytokines on development of male germ cells during spermatogenesis.

Wnt Genes in Drosophila, Roel Nusse's lab at Stanford University studies the role of the highly conserved Wnt genes in development. Wnt gene mutations affect many biological processes and Nusse's lab studies how they affect the segmentation of Drosophila embryos, as seen in Drosophila embryos mutant for the segment polarity gene, wingless. His lab studies the genetics and biochemistry of wingless in Drosophila.

Guillermo Oliver's laboratory at the Department of Genetics of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis focus in molecular and cellular mechanisms underlaying mouse pattern formation and organogenesis.

Eric N. Olson's Laboratory, UT Southwestern Medical Center, is interested in basic regulatory mechanisms in developmental biology. They work primarily with muscle cells as a model system to investigate two major questions. (1) How do multipotential embryonic stem cells become committed to specific fates that result in activation of unique sets of cell typespecific genes? (2) How do the signal transduction pathways regulating cell proliferation interface with the mechanisms for cell differentiation?

 

Sonia Pearson-White's lab at the University of Virginia studies how cells respond to cues to proliferate or differentiate, using genetic models in mice. They focus on developing and regenerating skeletal muscle and on T cells undergoing activation. They study the regulation of the Ski/Sno gene family, and how these genes negatively regulate TGF-beta signaling.

 

Melissa Pepling's Lab at Syracuse University studies mouse germ cell development and oogenesis

 

 

Pamela Raymond's Laboratory, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, studies the development and regeneration of the vertebrate retina using both goldfish and zebrafish as model systems. They are especially interested in neurogenesis (the formation of neurons) and neuronal specificity (the expression of differentiated cellular features).

 

Tom Reh's Laboratory University of Washington focuses on examining the mechanisms that control neuronal proliferation and differentiation during neurogenesis in the vertebrate CNS. To look at these questions we are using the retina as a model system.

 

Janet Rossant's Lab, Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Canada, studies the genetic control of many aspects of early mouse development.

The Sánchez Laboratory, studies the molecular events that lead to pattern formation in amphibian and planarian regeneration.

 

Hubert Schorle's lab at the University of Bonn - Medical School studies the biology of the transcription factors of the AP-2 family (TFAP2). They generate knockout and transgenic mice in order to address the functional role of AP-2 genes in vertebrate development.

 

Elba Serrano's lab, Biology, New Mexico State University, focuses on the development of the nervous system in Xenopus, with an emphasis on the sensory systems responsible for hearing and balance. The lab is interested in mechanosensory hair cell differentiation and innervation during inner ear organogenesis and morphogenesis. As part of this effort the lab studies ion channel expression during acoustico-vestibular development.

 

Geraldine Seydoux's Lab, Johns Hopkins University, focuses on the mechanisms that establish embryonic polarity and germ cell fate in the C. elegans embryo.

 

Ramesh Shivdasani's lab, Dana-Farber Cancer Inst./Harvard Med Sch, focuses on the molecular mechanisms of gut development and on how blood platelets are created from megakaryocytes.

 

Susan Singer's Lab, Carleton College, is interested in the developmental regulation of flowering and also inflorescence architecture in the garden pea.

 

The Sive Lab, in the MIT Biology Department studies anteroposterior patterning in the frog, Xenopus laevis, and the fish, Danio Rerio.

 

Xenopus Research at the Sokol Lab, Harvard focuses on different aspects of signal transduction during patterning in the frog, Xenopus laevis.

 

Phil Soriano's lab at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Center in Seattle utilizes a variety of molecular and genetic approaches, including gene trapping and gene targeting, to study growth factor signaling in mouse development.

 

Mary Lee Sparling's lab, Calif State Univ Northridge, investigates changes in cell membranes at fertilization and early development, involving lipids and lipid altering enzymes.

 

Nick Spitzer's Lab, Department of Biology, UC San Diego, focuses on the question, what are the mechanisms by which neurons differentiate to achieve the spectacular complexity of the brain? Voltage-dependent ion channels and neurotransmitter receptors are expressed at early stages of development, substantially before synapse formation, suggesting that ion channel activity participates in signal transduction that directs subsequent steps of development. They want to understand the mechanisms of generation of spontaneous calcium transients and the mechanisms by which they exert their effects, and at determining the molecular basis of regulation of potassium currents.

 

Didier Stainier's Lab at UC San Francisco takes a genetic approach in zebrafish to study vertebrate endoderm, heart and blood vessel formation and function. They are working with several mutations that affect distinct aspects of endodermal and/or cardiovascular development.

 

Brad Stith's lab Web site, University of Colorado Denver, has animations of hormone signaling in Xenopus oocytes, and fertilization. Time Lapse video is shown for gravitational rotation, surface contraction waves (due to intracellular [calcium] wave) and cleavage are shown. Course packets for Cell Biology, Cell Signaling, Developmental Biology and Advanced Cell Biology are noted. A THE Journal on the use of the web in teaching, and a discussion on obtaining grant funding at Primarily Undergraduate Institutions is present.

 

Susan Strome's Lab, Indiana University, focuses on how one-cell embryos generate the diverse array of different tissue types seen in adult organisms. In the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans, as in many species, this process is guided mainly by maternally supplied factors. They are taking advantage of the powerful genetics available in C. elegans to identify some of the maternal components required for the specification and development of a specific cell type, the germ line.

 

Billie Swalla's Lab at the Univeristy of Washington, Seattle, studies the control of gene activation during embryonic development and how developmental genes may influence morphology and larval life history. Their primary work is done studying primitive chordates, ascidians, in which closely related species have evolved amazingly different larval morphologies and life histories.

 

Kathryn Tosney's Lab, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, study: growth cone motility and guidance; axon guidance, in vivo; muscle differentiation and morphogenesis; neural crest migration; and neural patterning.

Peter Vize maintains the Xenopus Molecular Marker Resource, a site for access to information on molecular markers used in research with Xenopus embryos. There are also useful anatomical figures and the Nieuwkoop and Faber stage series at this site.

 

Virginia Walbot's Lab, Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, studies the Mutator transposon family of maize. They focus on the developmental regulation of transposition. They want to know by what mechanism(s) are transposition activities restricted to terminal cell divisions.

 

The Waschek laboratory, University of California at Los Angeles, investigates the roles and actions of neuropeptides on vertebrate nervous system development and regeneration. Molecular and genetic approaches are used in conjunction with mouse and Xenopus models.

 

Bill Wasserman's Lab at Loyola University Chicago studies molecular events in amphibian oocytes that prepare them for fertilization and subsequent embryonic development.

 

Brant Weinstein's Lab at NIH studies the embryonic origins of the vertebrate circulatory system, using the zebrafish as their experimental system.

 

Zena Werb's Lab, Markey Program In Biological Sciences, UC San Francisco, studies the role of extracellular proteolysis in controlling vascular development and angiogenesis during embryonic development and placental formation, bone development and tumorgenesis.

 

Gary Wessel's PRIMO Site at Brown University focuses on the molecular biology of fertilization and early development in mice, starfish, and sea urchins.

 

Monte Westerfield's laboratory in the Institute of Neuroscience at the University of Oregon studies cell fate specification and patterning using zebrafish.

 

Bill Wood's Lab in the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, studies the mechanisms by which cell fates and patterns are determined during embryonic development of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, using techniques of genetics, cell biology, and molecular biology.

 

Joseph Yost's Lab, Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah, lab utilizes zebrafish and Xenopus to study Left-Right axis formation in the heart, gut, and brain. These pathways include midline (notochord and neural) development, TGF-beta cell-cell signaling, non-canonical Wnt signaling, and the roles of syndecans in cell signaling, cell migration, fibrillogenesis and heart formation. In addition, we are developing the use of zebrafish genetics to identify modifier genes in cancer development. Collaborative studies extrapolate our results in zebrafish to human genetics, using Utah human genetic databases to discover new genes in cardiovascular development.

 

Rolf Zeller's Laboratory, Basel Medical School, Switzerland, studies the molecular basis of cell-cell signalling over time and space in vertebrate embryos. They use predominantly mouse molecular genetics in combination with embryonic manipulation to study the mechanisms which (1) control establishment of the limb bud organiser (polarsing region), (2) morphogenetic signalling and signal relay during limb bud development, (3) the role of cell-cell signalling during CNS development.

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