News
2013 Chancellor’s Award for Research
Nov. 15, 2013—This award recognizes faculty members for excellence in research, scholarship or creative expression. Dr. Casagrande won this award for a ground-breaking paper in Nature Neuroscience, in which a novel linkage was identified between primary visual cortex of the brain and the thalamus, which controls the ability of the visual system to focus. Remarkably, when a...
Invitation for Applications: Assistant Professor
Nov. 15, 2013— Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.The Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center invites applications for a tenure-track faculty appointment at the rank of Assistant Professor. We seek an outstanding investigator whose research program is focused on Cell Division. We are particularly interested in candidates who employ innovative and quantitative approaches...
The Purkinje neuron acts as a central regulator of spatially and functionally distinct cerebellar precursors
Nov. 11, 2013—The Purkinje neuron acts as a central regulator of spatially and functionally distinct cerebellar precursors Jonathan T. Fleming, Wenjuan He, Chuanming Hao, Tatiana Ketova, Fong C. Pan, Christopher C.V. Wright, Ying Litingtung, Chin Chiang Highlights •Purkinje neurons signal bidirectionally to expand functionally divergent cell types •Nascent white matter harbors molecularly distinct but lineally related astroglia...
The Purkinje neuron is a central regulator of cerebellar neurogenesis
Nov. 11, 2013—The Purkinje Neuron Acts as a Central Regulator of Spatially and Functionally Distinct Cerebellar Precursors Jonathan T. Fleming, Wenjuan He, Chuanming Hao, Tatiana Ketova, Fong C. Pan, Christopher C.V. Wright, Ying Litingtung, Chin Chiangemail DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2013.10.008 Highlights •Purkinje neurons signal bidirectionally to expand functionally divergent cell types •Nascent white matter harbors molecularly...
Wnt signaling drives synovial sarcoma development: implications for treatment
Nov. 3, 2013—Targeting the Wnt Pathway in Synovial Sarcoma Models Whitney Barham1, Andrea L. Frump5, Taylor P. Sherrill3, Christina B. Garcia7, Kenyi Saito-Diaz5, Michael N. VanSaun2, Barbara Fingleton1, Linda Gleaves3, Darren Orton6, Mario R. Capecchi8, Timothy S. Blackwell3, Ethan Lee4,5, Fiona Yull1 and Josiane E. Eid1 Abstract Synovial sarcoma is an aggressive soft-tissue malignancy of children and...
LCCS1 pathology linked to defects in Gle1 oligomerization and mRNA export disregulation
Oct. 24, 2013—Summary The conserved multifunctional protein Gle1 regulates gene expression at multiple steps: nuclear mRNA export, translation initiation, and translation termination. A GLE1 mutation (FinMajor) is causally linked to human lethal congenital contracture syndrome-1 (LCCS1); however, the resulting perturbations on Gle1 molecular function were unknown. FinMajor results in a proline-phenylalanine-glutamine peptide insertion within the uncharacterized Gle1...
Retinotopic maps in the pulvinar of bush baby
Oct. 15, 2013—Retinotopic maps in the pulvinar of bush baby (otolemur garnettii) K. Li1, J. Patel2, G. Purushothaman2, R.T. Marion3 andV.A. Casagrande1,2,3,4,* Article first published online: 23 AUG 2013 DOI: 10.1002/cne.23358 Abstract Despite its anatomical prominence, the function of the primate pulvinar is poorly understood. A few electrophysiological studies in simian primates have investigated the functional organization...
CK1 is required for a mitotic checkpoint that delays cytokinesis
Oct. 7, 2013—CK1 is required for a mitotic checkpoint that delays cytokinesis Alyssa E. Johnson, Jun-Song Chen, Kathleen L. Gould Highlights •Dma1’s FHA domain binds to a pTXXpS phosphomotif on Sid4 •CK1 is required for Dma1-dependent Sid4 ubiquitination •CK1 phosphorylation of Sid4 is required for the Dma1-dependent mitotic checkpoint •CK1 concentrates at SPBs and phosphoprimes Sid4 for...
An oligomeric switch that modulates cytokinetic formin function
Oct. 1, 2013—SIN-dependent phosphoinhibition of formin multimerization controls fission yeast cytokinesis K. Adam Bohnert1, Agnieszka P. Grzegorzewska2,3,6, Alaina H. Willet1, Craig W. Vander Kooi4,5, David R. Kovar2,3 and Kathleen L. Gould1,7 Abstract Many eukaryotes accomplish cell division by building and constricting a medial actomyosin-based cytokinetic ring (CR). In Schizosaccharomyces pombe, a Hippo-related signaling pathway termed the septation...
Generalized ideal observer model for decoding sensory neural responses
Sep. 19, 2013—A Generalized ideal observer model for decoding sensory neural responses Gopathy Purushothaman and Vivien A. Casagrande Front. Psychol., 19 September 2013 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00617 Abstract We show that many ideal observer models used to decode neural activity can be generalized to a conceptually and analytically simple form. This enables us to study the statistical properties...
Post-doc Publication: CRISPR/Cas9 method in zebrafish
Aug. 14, 2013—A simple and robust method for targeted mutagenesis in zebrafish has long been sought. Previous methods generate monoallelic mutations in the germ line of F0 animals, usually delaying homozygosity for the mutation to the F2 generation. Generation of robust biallelic mutations in the F0 would allow for phenotypic analysis directly in injected animals. Recently the...
Faculty Appointment: Jason MacGurn, Ph.D.
Jul. 8, 2013—I am very pleased to announce the appointment of Jason MacGurn, Ph.D., to the rank of Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology on the tenure track, effective August 1, 2013. Jason is currently a Post Doctoral Fellow in Scott Emr’s Lab at Cornell University Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology. He was jointly...
Lab Publication: Insights into the mitotic phosphoproteome
Jun. 3, 2013—Mol Cell Proteomics. 2013 May;12(5):1074-86. doi: 10.1074/mcp.M112.025924. Epub 2013 Jan 7. Comprehensive proteomics analysis reveals new substrates and regulators of the fission yeast clp1/cdc14 phosphatase. Chen JS, Broadus MR, McLean JR, Feoktistova A, Ren L, Gould KL. ‡Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, 1161...
Publication: Scribble implicated in control of vesicle traffic
Apr. 4, 2013—The Scribble polarity protein stabilizes E-cadherin/p120-catenin binding and blocks retrieval of E-cadherin to the Golgi. Lohia M, Qin Y, Macara IG. Source Department of Microbiology, Ctr for Cell Signaling, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA, USA. Abstract Several polarity proteins, including Scribble (Scrb) have been implicated in control of vesicle traffic, and in...