Unequal Cleavage and D Quadrant Specification in the Leech Helobdella

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。胚胎发育需要精心策划的细胞分裂和其他过程，从一个单一的细胞，受精卵，到成人的形式。在发育的每个阶段产生的细胞注定要通过相互作用的内在因素（从其祖先遗传）和外在线索（如相邻细胞产生的信号分子）对下一阶段做出特定的贡献。我们知道，影响这些“命运决定”的细胞和分子机制的基本“工具包”在物种之间是高度保守的。因此，了解工具包如何在各种物种中部署，包括相对简单，更容易研究的物种，如水蛭，可以有助于了解不同种类的动物如何进化出不同的成年身体计划，细胞命运过程如何在人类发育中发挥作用，以及功能障碍如何导致癌症和出生缺陷等疾病。这项建议是研究发生在2-细胞水蛭胚胎，测试假设之间的相互作用内在因素（局部升高的钙离子浓度）和外在信号（一个高度保守的蛋白质称为WNT从相邻的细胞分泌）导致受体细胞分裂不平等，产生一个子细胞注定要贡献肌肉，神经和皮肤发育的胚胎，和另一个注定主要是肠道。Weisblat博士的研究还为博士后研究人员，本科生和研究生提供了细胞和发育生物学技术以及分析思维和写作的关键技能方面的严格和具有成本效益的培训，其中许多人已经进入医学，生物技术，科学政策，教学和研究领域。除了招募和指导一个多元化的研究小组，Weisblat博士是NSF REU网站计划的负责人，该计划旨在改善从代表性不足的少数民族到博士的生物科学学生的招聘。问题研究他还通过在巴西、爱沙尼亚、印度、墨西哥和尼日利亚等发展中国家教书，努力促进科学善意。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Embryonic development entails exquisitely orchestrated cell divisions and other processes leading from a single cell, the fertilized egg, to the adult form. Cells arising at each stage of development become fated to make a particular contribution to the next stage via interacting intrinsic factors (inherited from their progenitors) and extrinsic cues (such as signaling molecules produced by neighboring cells). We know that a basic "toolkit" of cellular and molecular mechanisms influencing these "fate decisions" is highly conserved from species to species. Thus, understanding how the toolkit is deployed in various species, including comparatively simple, more easily studied ones such as the leech, can contribute to understanding how diverse kinds of animals evolved their distinct adult body plans, how cell fating processes function in human development and how malfunctions can result in disorders such as cancer and birth defects.This proposal is to study a particular cell division occurring in the 2-cell leech embryo, testing the hypothesis that interactions between intrinsic factors (locally elevated calcium ion concentrations) and extrinsic signals (a highly conserved protein called WNT secreted from the adjacent cell) cause the recipient cell to divide unequally, yielding one daughter cell fated to contribute muscle, nerves and skin to the developing embryo, and another fated to contribute mainly to the gut. Dr. Weisblat's research also provides rigorous and cost-effective training in cell and developmental biology techniques and in the critical skills of analytical thinking and writing for postdoctoral researchers, undergraduate and graduate students, many of whom have gone on to studies in medicine, biotechnology, science policy, teaching and research. In addition to recruiting and mentoring a diverse research group, Dr. Weisblat is director for an NSF REU Site program aimed at improving the recruitment of bioscience students from underrepresented minorities to Ph.D. studies. He has also worked to promote scientific goodwill by teaching in developing nations such as Brazil, Estonia, India, Mexico and Nigeria.