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Steven W. Wang, Ph.D. 1995, University of California, Davis The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston |
Research Interests:
The retina serves as the best model organ to study the differentiation of the central nervous system. A mature mammalian retina contains six neuronal and one glial cell type organized in defined patterns. Our primary interest is to understand, at the cellular and molecular levels, the events leading to the establishment of the mammalian retina.
Our primary focus is on the molecular regulation of retinal cell type formation. Formation of different retinal cell types is a result of interplay between cell-extrinsic and cell-intrinsic molecules. Our research projects are designed 1) to establish the links between cell-extrinsic and cell-intrinsic molecules, and 2) to understand how different cell-intrinsic factors regulate the formation of each retinal cell type.
Another focus of our laboratory is on the molecular regulation of retinal stem cell formation. In the mammalian retina, isolated stem cells are not able to give rise to the complete spectrum of retinal cell types, especially retinal ganglion cells. Our projects are designed to understand the molecular mechanism that regulates retinal stem cell formation with the goal of generating retinal stem cells that are capable of giving rise to retinal ganglion cells.
A tutorial in our laboratory would provide experience in 1) using
mouse as a molecular genetic system for studying neuronal differentation; and
2) combining molecular biology, cell biology, and confocal microscopy to address
questions in neuron differentiation.
Selected Publications:
Moshiri, A., Gonzalez, E., Tagawa, K., Maeda, H., Wang, M., Frishman, L. J., and Wang, S. W. (2008). Near complete loss of retinal ganglion cells in the math5/brn3b double knockout elicits severe reductions of other cell types during retinal development. Developmental Biology 316, 214-227.
Wang, S. W., Hertzler, P. L., and Clark, W. H., Jr. (2008). Mesendoderm cells induce oriented cell division and invagination in the marine shrimp Sicyonia ingentis. Developmental Biology 320, 175-184. (First and corresponding author)
Bin Lin, Wang, S. W., and Masland, R. H. (2004). Retinal ganglion cell type, size and tiling can be specified independent of homotypic dendritic contacts. Neuron 43, 475-485.
Wang, S. W., Kim, B.-S., Ding, K., Wang, H., Sun, D., Johnson, R. L., Klein, W. H. (2001). Requirement for math5 in the development of retinal ganglion cells. Genes & Development 15, 24-29.
Program Affiliation:
Program in Neuroscience