The thyroid gland secretes thyroxine (TH), a hormone essential for the growth and development of all vertebrates including humans. To understand TH action, the Donald Brown lab studies one of the most dramatic roles of the hormone, the control of amphibian metamorphosis—the process by which a tadpole turns into a frog. He studies the frog Xenopus laevis, from South Africa, because it is easy to rear. Events as different as the formation of limbs, the remodeling of organs, and the resorption of tadpole tissues such as the tail are all directed by TH. How can a simple molecule control so many different developmental changes? The hormone works by regulating the expression of groups of genes. It instructs some genes to absorb the tail and gills and others to start new tissues and organs.

The lab has developed a strategy to analyze this complex programing. They have identified genes that are regulated by TH in a variety of tissues and organs by hybridizing probes with micro arrays prepared by Agilent Technologies.

Scientific Area: 
Genetics & Developmental Biology
Reference to Person: 
Donald Brown

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Ethan Greenblatt Receives Eleventh Postdoctoral Innovation and Excellence Award
September 18, 2018

Ethan Greenblatt, a senior postdoctoral associate in Allan Spradling’s lab at the Department of Embryology, has been awarded the eleventh Postdoctoral Innovation and Excellence Award. Greenblatt has made a major impact on biological science, particularly with his research identifying genetic factors underlying fragile X syndrome, the most common cause of autism.

Recipients of these postdoctoral awards are given a cash prize for their exceptionally creative approaches to science, strong mentoring, and contributing to the sense of campus community. A celebration is also held in their honor. These awards are made through nominations from the departments and are chosen by the Office

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Farber Awarded Pew grant to study nutrient and microbe influence on glucose sensitivity
September 14, 2018

Baltimore, MD—The Pew Charitable Trust has awarded Carnegie’s Steve Farber and colleague John F. Rawls of Duke University a $200,000 grant to investigate how dietary nutrients, such as fats, alter the ability to sense glucose in the gut—a process that involves the microbial ecosystem in the gut. Results from this research could reveal how microbes and nutrients in the gut environment interact and could provide new strategies to combat disorders such as diabetes and obesity.

Rawls has investigated host-microbe interactions, and Farber studies lipid­ metabolism. Together they will use the zebrafish for this work. Zebrafish are entirely clear while embryos and are ideal for observing

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This image shows an example of defects in the development of the embryonic central nervous system in stored eggs that lacked the Fmr1 gene.
Autism linked to egg cells’ difficulty creating large proteins
August 15, 2018

Baltimore, MD—New work from Carnegie’s Ethan Greenblatt and Allan Spradling reveals that the genetic factors underlying fragile X syndrome, and potentially other autism-related disorders, stem from defects in the cell’s ability to create unusually large protein structures. Their findings are published in Science.

Their research focuses on a gene called Fmr1. Mutations in this gene create problems in the brain as well as the reproductive system. They can lead to the most-common form of inherited autism, fragile X syndrome, as well as to premature ovarian failure.

It was already thought that Fmr1 plays a pivotal part in the last stages of the process by which the recipe

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How do jumping genes cause disease, drive evolution?
July 26, 2018

Baltimore MD—Almost half of our DNA sequences are made up of jumping genes—also known as transposons. They jump around the genome in developing sperm and egg cells and are important to evolution. But their mobilization can also cause new mutations that lead to diseases, such as hemophilia and cancer. Remarkably little is known about when and where their movements occur in developing reproductive cells, the key process that ensures their propagation in future generations, but can lead to genetic disorders for the hosts.

To address this problem, a team* of Carnegie researchers developed new techniques to track the mobilization of jumping genes. They found that during a particular

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Mechanisms of cell division, homeostasis, aging, and cell fate

The Zheng lab studies cell division including the study of stem cells, genome organization, and lineage specification. They study the mechanism of genome organization in development, homeostasis—metabolic balance-- and aging; and the influence of cell morphogenesis, or cell shape and steructure,  on cell fate decisions. They use a wide range of tools and systems, including genetics in model organisms, cell culture, biochemistry, proteomics, and genomics.

 
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The biology of reproduction studying ovarian stem cells of the fruitfly

The Spradling laboratory studies the biology of reproduction. By unknown means eggs reset the normally irreversible processes of differentiation and aging. The fruit fly Drosophila provides a favorable multicellular system for molecular genetic studies. The lab focuses on several aspects of egg development, called oogenesis, which promises to provide insight into the rejuvenation of the nucleus and surrounding cytoplasm. By studying ovarian stem cells, they are learning how cells maintain an undifferentiated state and how cell production is regulated by microenvironments known as niches. They are  also re-investigating the role of steroid and prostaglandin hormones in controlling the

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The mechanics of stem cell development

Stem cells make headline news as potential treatments for a variety of diseases. But undertstanding the nuts and bolts of how they develop from an undifferentiated cell  that gives rise to cells that are specialized such as organs, or bones, and the nervous system, is not well understood. 

The Lepper lab studies the mechanics of these processes. overturned previous research that identified critical genes for making muscle stem cells. It turns out that the genes that make muscle stem cells in the embryo are surprisingly not needed in adult muscle stem cells to regenerate muscles after injury. The finding challenges the current course of research into muscular dystrophy, muscle

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Left and right side differences of the developing brain

The Marnie Halpern laboratory studies how left-right differences arise in the developing brain and discovers the genes that control this asymmetry. Using the tiny zebrafish, Danio rerio, they explores how regional specializations occur within the neural tube, the embryonic tissue that develops into the brain and spinal cord.

The zebrafish is ideal for these studies because its basic body plan is set within 24 hours of fertilization. By day five, young larvae are able to feed and swim, and within three months they are ready to reproduce. They are also prolific breeders. Most importantly the embryos are transparent, allowing scientists to watch the nervous system develop and to

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William Ludington

The Ludington lab investigates complex ecological dynamics from microbial community interactions using the fruit fly  Drosophila melanogaster. The fruit fly gut carries numerous microbial species, which can be cultured in the lab. The goal is to understand the gut ecology and how it relates to host health, among other questions, by taking advantage of the fast time-scale and ease of studying the fruit fly in controlled experiments. 
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Nick Konidaris

Nick Konidaris is a staff scientist at the Carnegie Observatories and Instrument Lead for the SDSS-V Local Volume Mapper (LVM). He works on a broad range of new optical instrumentation projects in astronomy and remote sensing. Nick's projects range from experimental to large workhorse facilities. On the experimental side, he recently began working on a new development platform for the 40-inch Swope telescope at Carnegie's Las Campanas Observatory that will be used to explore and understand the explosive universe.

 Nick and his colleagues at the Department of Global Ecology are leveraging the work on Swope to develop a new airborne spectrograph that will be used to provide a direct

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Michael Walter, Director

Experimental petrologist Michael Walter became director of the Geophysical Laboratory beginning April 1, 2018. His recent research has focused on the period early in Earth’s history, shortly after the planet accreted from the cloud of gas and dust surrounding our young Sun, when the mantle and the core first separated into distinct layers. Current topics of investigation also include the structure and properties of various compounds under the extreme pressures and temperatures found deep inside the planet, and information about the pressure, temperature, and chemical conditions of the mantle that can be gleaned from mineral impurities preserved inside diamonds.

Walter had been at

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Guoyin Shen

Guoyin Shen's research interests lie in the quest to establish and to examine models for explaining and controlling the behavior of materials under extreme conditions. His research activities include investigation of phase transformations and melting lines in molecular solids, oxides and metals; polyamorphism in liquids and amorphous materials; new states of matter and their emergent properties under extreme conditions; and the development of enabling high-pressure synchrotron techniques for advancing compression science. 

He obtained a Ph.D. in mineral physics from Uppsala University, Sweden in 1994 and a B.S. in geochemistry from Zhejiang University, China in 1982. For more

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