A5012469524- Retinal Development and Disorders
- Epigenetics and DNA Methylation
- interferon and immune responses
- Genetics and Neurodevelopmental Disorders
- Genomics and Chromatin Dynamics
- Chromatin Remodeling and Cancer
- Pluripotent Stem Cells Research
- Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics
- Retinoids in leukemia and cellular processes
- Axon Guidance and Neuronal Signaling
- CRISPR and Genetic Engineering
- Retinal Diseases and Treatments
- Glaucoma and retinal disorders
- Neurogenesis and neuroplasticity mechanisms
- Cancer-related gene regulation
- Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors Research
- Mechanisms of cancer metastasis
- Insect and Pesticide Research
- Retinopathy of Prematurity Studies
- Advanced Fluorescence Microscopy Techniques
- Advanced biosensing and bioanalysis techniques
- Photoreceptor and optogenetics research
- Cell Image Analysis Techniques
- Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior
- Renal and related cancers
University of Pittsburgh
2021-2024
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
2015-2019
University of Utah
2007-2018
The histone methyltransferase complex PRC2 controls key steps in developmental transitions and cell fate choices; however, its roles vertebrate eye development remain unknown. Here, we report that Xenopus, regulates the progression of retinal progenitors from proliferation to differentiation. We show core components are enriched downregulated differentiated cells. Knockdown component Ezh2 leads reduced progenitor proliferation, part due upregulation Cdk inhibitor p15Ink4b. In addition,...
Retinal development requires precise temporal and spatial coordination of cell cycle exit, fate specification, migration differentiation. When this process is disrupted, retinoblastoma, a developmental tumor the retina, can form. Epigenetic modulators are central to precisely coordinating events, many epigenetic processes have been implicated in cancer. Studying mechanisms challenging because they often regulate multiple cellular processes; therefore, elucidating primary molecular involved...
Atoh7 is transiently expressed in retinal progenitor cells (RPCs) and required for ganglion cell (RGC) differentiation. In humans, a deletion distal non-coding regulatory region upstream of ATOH7 associated with optic nerve atrophy blindness. Here, we functionally interrogate the significance landscape to retinogenesis mice. Deletion enhancer structure leads RGC deficiency, hypoplasia, blood vascular abnormalities, phenocopying inactivation Atoh7. Further, loss remote impacts ipsilaterally...
Vsx2 is a transcription factor essential for retinal proliferation and bipolar cell differentiation, but the molecular mechanisms underlying its developmental roles are unclear. Here, we have profiled VSX2 genomic occupancy during mouse retinogenesis, revealing extensive genetic programs associated with development. binds transactivates enhancer in association PAX6. Mice harboring deletions regulatory landscape exhibit specific abnormalities differentiation. In one of those deletions,...
Abstract The Polycomb repressive complex 2 is a multimeric aggregate that mediates silencing of broad range genes, and associated with important biological contexts such as stem cell maintenance cancer progression. PRC2 mainly trimethylates lysine 27 histone H3 composed three essential core subunits: EZH2, EED, SUZ12. Xenopus orthologs subunits Ezh2 Eed have been described but Suz12 remained unidentified. Here, we report the cloning , determine its spatiotemporal expression during...
Abstract The nuclei of rod photoreceptors in mice and other nocturnal species have an unusual inverted chromatin structure: the heterochromatin is centrally located to help focus light improve photosensitivity. To better understand this unique nuclear organization, we performed ultra-deep Hi-C analysis on murine retina at 3 stages development purified photoreceptors. Predicted looping interactions from data were validated with fluorescence situ hybridization (FISH). We discovered that a...
The retinal pigmented epithelial (RPE) cells maintain homeostasis, and alterations in their function contribute to non-exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD)
Development of the retina is regulated by sets proneural basic helix‐loop helix (bHLH) transcription factors that coordinate generation multiple cell types in a conserved sequence. These bHLH promote expression target genes regulate timing differentiation and maintain balance between proliferation differentiation. However, how these mediate effects remains incompletely understood. The objective this study was to identify characterize novel factors. We identified vexin ( vxn ) as gene for...