Today's Messages

Please join the Biology Department and the Great Lakes Center for the seminar “Establishing asymmetry in the vertebrate embryo,” presented by Dr. Jeffery Amack on Monday, October 20, at 3:00 p.m. in SAMC 151. Attendees are welcome to arrive at 2:45 p.m. to enjoy coffee and cookies leading up to the seminar.

Research Seminar Abstract: The Amack Lab has a long-standing interest in understanding how organs take shape during embryonic development. Several projects are focused on investigating how internal organs develop asymmetries along the left-right (LR) body axis. This is a clinically significant problem because errors in establishing LR asymmetry during early embryogenesis can cause heterotaxy syndrome, which is characterized by a broad spectrum of birth defects that typically include a life-threatening heart malformation. In several vertebrates, a transient embryonic organ referred to as the ‘left-right organizer’ (LRO) functions to establish LR asymmetry. In the zebrafish embryo, the precursor cells that give rise to the LRO can be tracked and manipulated in living embryos. Interestingly, our work, and work from others, indicates LRO development is a complex multi-layered process that appears to be regulated by several mechanisms. By taking multiple approaches, which include quantitative live imaging, gene manipulation, and mathematical modeling, we are using the zebrafish LRO to identify and understand mechanisms that establish asymmetry in the vertebrate embryo.