The Dorey Lab
Role of growth factor signalling during development and regeneration
The Dorey Lab aims to understand how Receptors Tyrosine Kinases (RTKs) can elicit a precise cellular response in the complex environment of the organism. To this end, we are investigating the molecular mechanisms controlling the activity of intracellular signalling pathways downstream of RTKs during Xenopus development. We are particularly interested in the role of RTK signalling during gastrulation and during neural development and maturation. These are two very different systems, allowing us to ask complementary questions about the mechanisms of action of RTKs during embryonic development.
Fibroblast Growth Factor (FGF) plays an essential role for two very important developmental events during gastrulation: mesoderm specification and morphogenetic movements. It is therefore a relatively simple model to study how the same signal (FGF) is interpreted differently by mesodermic cells.
During motor neurons (MNs) development, we have recently reported that another RTK (TrkB and its ligand BDNF) has a crucial role in regulating axonal branching (Panagiotaki et al. 2011). Whilst axonal branching plays an essential role in allowing the formation, refinement, and maintenance of functional neural circuits, the mechanisms regulating branching are poorly understood. Our work places us in a unique position to elicidate how RTK signalling controls cell shape (or "unicellular morphogenesis"). In the longer term, we aim to use this knowledge to improve spinal cord repair and regeneration following injury.
Latest publications
Love N.R., Thuret R., Chen Y., Ishibashi S., Sabherwal N., Paredes R., Alves-Silva J., Dorey K., Noble A.M., Guille M.J., Papalopulu N., Sasai Y. and Amaya E. (2011) pTransgenesis: A cross-species, modular transgenesis resource Development 138 (24) 5451-5459.
Panagiotaki N., Dajas-Bailador F., Amaya E., Papalopulu N. and Dorey K. (2010) Regulation of axonal branching by Sprouty3 Development 137 (23), 4004-4015.
Dorey K. and Amaya E. (2010) FGF signalling: diverse roles during early embryogenesis Development 137 (22), 3731-3742.
Zhang Y., Forinash K.D., McGivern J., Fritz B., Dorey K. and Sheets M.D. (2009) Spatially restricted translation of the xCR1 mRNA in Xenopus embryos. Mol Cell Biol 29 (13), 3791-802.
Lea R., Papalopulu N., Amaya E. and Dorey K. (2009) Temporal and spatial expression of FGF ligands and receptors during Xenopus development. Developmental Dynamics 238 (6), 1467-79.
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