There is a fundamental question shared by studies in developmental biology and studies in cancer biology: what are the genes and cellular mechanisms that establish and maintain the "identity" of a cell in the body throughout the life of an organism? This cell "identity" instructs a brain or heart or gut cell to form brain or heart or gut tissue in the appropriate places in the body, at the appropriate times during the life of the organism. Developmental biology includes the study of how cell identity is acquired and maintained in the context of the whole organism. Cancer biology includes the study of how normal cell identity is altered, such that a cell switches from being a well-behaved cell in its normal context within the organism to a cancer cell. It has become clear that some of the same genetic pathways that lead to normal development are altered in cells that have gone awry in cancer. For example, cells change positions and neighbors in the normal process of cell migration during development, and in the process of metastasis in cancer development. It is our hope that developmental biology studies will uncover pathways that control cell "identity " and will have implications in a variety of fields.

Developmental biologists at Huntsman Cancer Institute ask a wide range of questions about cell behavior, regulation of cell shape and tissue patterning, cell migration, cell-to-cell signaling, and intracellular signaling from receptor activation through transcription regulation. Our long-term research goal is to understand the developmental mechanisms, genes, and molecules and that regulate the assignment of different cell identities and patterns in functionally appropriate positions in the developing organism. The graduate program includes intellectually challenging training in state-of-the art research laboratories and participation in highly interactive research group meetings, journal clubs, and seminar and didactic courses.

Participating Faculty

Michael Bastiani - The lab studies the molecular regulation of neuronal growth cone behavior during brain development and in particular the role of lipocalins. "Unregulated" cancer cell motility is a key behavior leading to tumor metastisies. We study the dynamic behaviors of growth cones primarily in C. elegans using state of the art confocal microscopic imaging techniques, but also make extensive use of molecular and genetic techniques in Drosophila and mouse to study molecular function.

Mary Beckerle - Cells receive signals from their environment that regulate such diverse processes as cell motility, cell proliferation, and apoptosis. We are interested in understanding how cells process and integrate these signals, and how such exquisite control becomes disturbed in tumor cells. We use genetic (mouse and fly), biochemical, and cell biological approaches to dissect the signaling pathways that control cell behavior.

Mario R. Capecchi - Our laboratory's effort is directed toward the molecular genetic analysis of mammalian development with emphasis on neurogenesis, organogenesis and limb development. Mouse genetics.

Chi-Bin Chien - My lab is studying axon guidance, using the retinotectal projection of zebrafish as a model system. How axons find their initial targets in vivo is a basic problem of developmental neurobiology, which we are attempting to address at a cell biological level. We are using a combination of molecular biology, classical genetics, positional cloning, and sophisticated imaging methods to define the molecules involved in retinal axon guidance and how they control growth cone dynamics.

Maureen L. Condic - We are interested in the control of neuronal fate and axon outgrowth during development of the nervous system. The control of cell fate and cell migration are important topics both in developmental biology and in cell biology. We work in embryonic animal models (chicks, rats and mice), both in vitro and in vivo, using cell biological and molecular biological techniques.

Susan Mango - Our lab is interested in the mechanisms that underlie organogenesis, including cell fate determination and morphogenesis. We study i)how the PHA-4 transcription factor specifies different cell fates within the C. elegans digestive tract during development and ii)how cell shape changes enable a cluster of precursor gut cells to develop into a linear digestive tube. We use genetics, experimental embryology and molecular approaches with C. elegans, a small, free-living nematode. Mango Lab.

Andres Villu Maricq - Nervous system development and plasticity. Study of genes required for neuronal differentiation, pathfinding, and synaptic organization. Genetic and molecular analysis of neuronal function in Caenorhabditis elegans and generation of transgenic models.

Suzanne L. Mansour - The Mansour Lab is interested in understanding the genetic control of inner ear development and function. Inner ear development goes through classic steps of induction, morphogenesis and differentiation, so the genetic pathways responsible for this progression are likely to be conserved among many developing organs. We use gene trapping and gene targeting to generate mutant mice, which are characterized using morphologic, behavioral, and molecular techniques.

Shige Sakonju - We are interested in how spatially restricted expression of homeotic genes is maintained throughout development. Homeotic genes are master regulatory genes that specify body segment identity; their expression patterns must be faithfully maintained to prevent the appearance of homeotic monsters. We use genetic and molecular approaches to study the model organism Drosophila melanogaster.

Gary C. Schoenwolf - The role of intercellular and intracellular signaling in pattern formation during early embryogenesis. Cell-cell interactions and intracellular signaling play key roles in both normal development and cancer. Cell and molecular biological techniques applied to early chick and mouse embryos.

Gerald Spangrude - The Spangrude laboratory is interested in defining the cellular events that lead to blood development (hematopoiesis) in mammals. Hematopoiesis is a developmental program that persists after birth and continues throughout the life of mammals, and is regulated by cytokines, cell-cell interactions, and apoptotic mechanisms. We use flow cytometry, cell culture, and transplant models in the mouse to define cell populations that are critical to hematopoiesis and bone marrow transplantation.

Carl Thummel - Our lab studies the molecular mechanisms by which the steroid hormone ecdysone triggers the major developmental transitions during the life cycle of Drosophila melanogaster. We focus on the ecdysone-regulated destruction of larval tissues as well as the cell shape changes that direct the morphogenesis of adult legs and wings during metamorphosis.

H. Joseph Yost - Our research group is interested in the developmental genetic pathways and mechanisms that establish the vertebrate body plan. We use embryos of zebrafish and the frog Xenopus laevis in complementary approaches, with a focus on how left-right asymmetry is established in the embryo and transmitted to brain, heart and viscera primordial cells. The projects in the lab encompass a broad range of molecular and cell biological topics, including cell-matrix and cell-cell interactions, cell fate and migration, cell signaling pathways from ligand/receptors interactions to transcription co-factors and RNA translational control. Yost Lab.