Jeff Hardin
Professor of Zoology
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 1987
Postdoctoral Research: Duke University
Address: 327 Zoology Research
Telephone: 262-9634
E-mail: jdhardin@wisc.edu
Research Interests:
Morphogenesis and pattern formation during early development in c. elegans
Research Fields:
Developmental Genetics
C. elegans
Research Description: Our laboratory focuses on two major questions: (1) How do sheets of cells change shape and move during early embryonic development and (2) What controls those movements? Providing answers to these questions will have important implications for understanding human birth defects and cancer, both of which involve misregulation of these processes. We study the embryonic epidermis of the nematode, C. elegans as a model system. The epidermis is very simple, and we can visualize cell movements within it at the level of single cells. We have performed genome-wide functional screens and isolated mutants using forward genetics that identify genes required for three events in the epidermis: (1) a movement known as convergent extension in dorsal cells; (2) epiboly, or spreading of the epidermis, mediated by the ventral cells; and (3) elongation of the embryo, which requires actomyosin-based forces in lateral cells. We use "4-dimensional" microscopy (collecting multiple focal planes at each time point under computer control), and imaging of proteins tagged with the green fluorescent protein (GFP) to analyze these mutations at single-cell resolution. One major focus currently is on the cadherin complex, and how it is required for cell-cell adhesion during development.
Representative Publications:
Cox-Paulson, E., Walck-Shannon, E., Lynch, A., Yamashiro, S., Zaidel-Bar, R., Celeste C. Eno, C., Ono, S., and Hardin, J. (2012). Tropomodulin protects α-catenin-dependent junctional actin networks under stress during epithelial morphogenesis. Curr. Biol., in press.
Ikegami, R., Simokat, K., Zheng, H., Dixon, L., Garriga, G., Hardin, J. and Culotti, J. (2012). Semaphorin and Eph receptor signaling guide a series of cell movements for ventral enclosure in C. elegans. Curr. Biol. 22:1–11. PubMed
Zaidel-Bar, R., Joyce, M.J., Lynch, A.M., Witte, K., Audhya, A., and Hardin, J. (2010). The F-BAR domain of SRGP-1 facilitates cell-cell adhesion during C. elegans morphogenesis. J. Cell Biol. 191, 761-9.
Kwiatkowski, A.V., Maiden, S.L., Pokutta, S., Choi, H.-J., Benjamin, J.M., Lynch, A.M., Nelson, W.J., Weis, W.I., and Hardin, J. (2010). In vitro and in vivo reconstitution of the cadherin-catenin-actin complex from Caenorhabditis elegans. PNAS 107:14591-14596.
Grana, T.M., Cox, E.A., Lynch, A.M., and Hardin, J. (2010). SAX-7/L1CAM and HMR-1/cadherin function redundantly in blastomere compaction and non-muscle myosin accumulation. Dev. Biol. 344:731–744.
Professor of Zoology
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 1987
Postdoctoral Research: Duke University
Address: 327 Zoology Research
Telephone: 262-9634
E-mail: jdhardin@wisc.edu
Research Interests:
Morphogenesis and pattern formation during early development in c. elegans
Research Fields:
Developmental Genetics
C. elegans
Our laboratory focuses on two major questions: (1) How do sheets of cells change shape and move during early embryonic development and (2) What controls those movements? Providing answers to these questions will have important implications for understanding human birth defects and cancer, both of which involve misregulation of these processes. We study the embryonic epidermis of the nematode, C. elegans as a model system. The epidermis is very simple, and we can visualize cell movements within it at the level of single cells. We have performed genome-wide functional screens and isolated mutants using forward genetics that identify genes required for three events in the epidermis: (1) a movement known as convergent extension in dorsal cells; (2) epiboly, or spreading of the epidermis, mediated by the ventral cells; and (3) elongation of the embryo, which requires actomyosin-based forces in lateral cells. We use "4-dimensional" microscopy (collecting multiple focal planes at each time point under computer control), and imaging of proteins tagged with the green fluorescent protein (GFP) to analyze these mutations at single-cell resolution. One major focus currently is on the cadherin complex, and how it is required for cell-cell adhesion during development.
Cox-Paulson, E., Walck-Shannon, E., Lynch, A., Yamashiro, S., Zaidel-Bar, R., Celeste C. Eno, C., Ono, S., and Hardin, J. (2012). Tropomodulin protects α-catenin-dependent junctional actin networks under stress during epithelial morphogenesis. Curr. Biol., in press.
Ikegami, R., Simokat, K., Zheng, H., Dixon, L., Garriga, G., Hardin, J. and Culotti, J. (2012). Semaphorin and Eph receptor signaling guide a series of cell movements for ventral enclosure in C. elegans. Curr. Biol. 22:1–11. PubMed
Zaidel-Bar, R., Joyce, M.J., Lynch, A.M., Witte, K., Audhya, A., and Hardin, J. (2010). The F-BAR domain of SRGP-1 facilitates cell-cell adhesion during C. elegans morphogenesis. J. Cell Biol. 191, 761-9.
Kwiatkowski, A.V., Maiden, S.L., Pokutta, S., Choi, H.-J., Benjamin, J.M., Lynch, A.M., Nelson, W.J., Weis, W.I., and Hardin, J. (2010). In vitro and in vivo reconstitution of the cadherin-catenin-actin complex from Caenorhabditis elegans. PNAS 107:14591-14596.
Grana, T.M., Cox, E.A., Lynch, A.M., and Hardin, J. (2010). SAX-7/L1CAM and HMR-1/cadherin function redundantly in blastomere compaction and non-muscle myosin accumulation. Dev. Biol. 344:731–744.
