The tale of the tails: The crucial role of cilia in early development (John Wallingford)

John Wallingford began his research trying to figure out how a fertilized egg changes from a small cluster of cells to something with shape—a head and a tail. How do tissues organize themselves to create that shape? Cilia, the small tails once thought to be mainly for swimming, turn out to be crucial for communication—helping cells know where to go and what to do. When cilia break down, the consequences can be devastating for a developing fetus. Impaired cilia are responsible for a newly recognized class of human disorders—the ciliopathies. Wallingford is particularly interested in the role of cilia in neural tube defects. The basic discoveries now being made in frogs could one day lead to a better way to prevent these potentially devastating disorders in humans.

John Wallingford, Ph.D. - Associate Professor of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology
Affiliations - University of Texas at Austin; Howard Hughes Medical Institute Early Career Scientist
Biography

John Wallingford has identified some of the polarity genes responsible for embryo formation and is now trying to figure out how cells respond to cues from those genes. He takes his trainees out for coffee every day at 3 and encourages the playing of music in the lab. (Recent playlists have included Alejandro Escovedo, Neko Case, and The Rolling Stones.)

http://www.bio.utexas.edu/faculty/wallingford/

http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/v38/n3/abs/ng1753.html

http://dev.biologists.org/cgi/content/full/133/9/1767

http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/v40/n7/abs/ng.104.html

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• ciliopathies
• neural
• tube
• defects
• John
• Wallingford
• cilla
• egg
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• tail
• fertilize
• fetus
• reproduction
• swimming
• communication
• frogs
• embryo
• polarity gene
• University of Texas at Austin
• CASW
• NASW
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