Patterning Embryos with Genetic Oscillations
Event details
| Date | 28.05.2015 |
| Hour | 14:00 |
| Speaker | Prof. Andrew C. Oates, The Francis Crick Institute, London (UK) |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
BIOENGINEERING SEMINAR
Abstract:
How do spatio-temporal patterns emerge at the tissue level from noisy cellular and molecular interactions? We are exploring these questions using a population of genetic oscillators in the vertebrate embryo termed the segmentation clock. This multi-cellular clock drives the rhythmic, sequential, and precise formation of embryonic body segments with a period of about 30 minutes, and exhibits a rich set of spatial and temporal phenomena spanning from molecular to tissue scales. Defects in this clock underlie human congenital mal-segmentation disorders (hereditary scoliosis). Tissue patterning by cellular oscillations is a recent concept, and the mechanisms and molecules responsible for this astonishing activity are just beginning to be understood. I will present and discuss our progress in this area with a special focus on how the rhythm of the process is controlled in the zebrafish embryo.
Bio:
1992 BSc Biochemistry (Honours) University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
1998 PhD Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
2001 Postdoctoral, Princeton University, USA
2003 Postdoctoral, University of Chicago, USA
2003 Junior Group Leader, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany
2008 W2 Senior Group Leader, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany
2012 Professor of Vertebrate Developmental Genetics, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, UK
2015 Group Leader, the Francis Crick Institute, London, UK
Abstract:
How do spatio-temporal patterns emerge at the tissue level from noisy cellular and molecular interactions? We are exploring these questions using a population of genetic oscillators in the vertebrate embryo termed the segmentation clock. This multi-cellular clock drives the rhythmic, sequential, and precise formation of embryonic body segments with a period of about 30 minutes, and exhibits a rich set of spatial and temporal phenomena spanning from molecular to tissue scales. Defects in this clock underlie human congenital mal-segmentation disorders (hereditary scoliosis). Tissue patterning by cellular oscillations is a recent concept, and the mechanisms and molecules responsible for this astonishing activity are just beginning to be understood. I will present and discuss our progress in this area with a special focus on how the rhythm of the process is controlled in the zebrafish embryo.
Bio:
1992 BSc Biochemistry (Honours) University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
1998 PhD Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
2001 Postdoctoral, Princeton University, USA
2003 Postdoctoral, University of Chicago, USA
2003 Junior Group Leader, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany
2008 W2 Senior Group Leader, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany
2012 Professor of Vertebrate Developmental Genetics, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, UK
2015 Group Leader, the Francis Crick Institute, London, UK
Practical information
- Informed public
- Free