Didier Stainier | |
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| Born | 1963 (age 60–61) Liège, Belgium |
| Nationality | Belgian/American |
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| Doctoral advisor | Walter Gilbert |
| Other academic advisors | Mark Fishman |
Didier Stainier (born 1963) is a Belgian/American developmental geneticist who is currently a director at the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research in Bad Nauheim, Germany. [1] [2]
Didier Stainier studied biology in Wales (United World College of the Atlantic), Belgium (University of Liège) and the USA (Brandeis University) where he got a BA in 1984. He has a PhD in biochemistry and biophysics from Harvard University (1990). During his PhD work, he investigated axon guidance and target recognition in the developing mouse with Walter Gilbert. Subsequently, he initiated the studies on zebrafish cardiac development as a Helen Hay Whitney postdoctoral fellow with Mark Fishman at the Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston).
Together with the many students and postdocs in his laboratory, Stainier helped pioneer the use of the zebrafish model to study a wide range of questions pertaining to vertebrate organ development and function, [3] and has published extensively. [4] [5] [6] His forward genetic analyses of heart development revealed the unexpected role of several signaling pathways including sphingosine 1-phosphate signaling [7] and the discovery of the long-elusive sphingosine 1-phosphate transporter. [8] [9] Additional genetic screens led to the elucidation of transcriptional networks regulating endoderm formation [10] and endothelial cell specification [11] as well as extracellular signals regulating liver induction. [12] He pushed the frontiers of in vivo microscopy [13] to reveal new insights into cardiac valve formation [14] and cardiac trabeculation, and used cellular approaches to gain a detailed understanding of these processes. Stainier developed and used single-cell analyses to provide the first in vivo demonstration of the hemangioblast, [15] a formerly hypothetical cell that gives rise to both endothelial and blood cells, as well as the discovery of a new mode of blood vessel formation. [16] His studies on gut looping morphogenesis revealed the importance of tissue-level physical forces in shaping organs, [17] and his studies on gut lumen formation revealed the importance of fluid flow in this process. [18] He developed a number of cell ablation models that allowed him and others to gain new insights into the process of organ regeneration, with potential implications for novel disease therapies. [19] Most recently, he has also made significant contributions to the understanding of genetic compensation. [20] [21]
The zebrafish is a freshwater fish belonging to the minnow family (Cyprinidae) of the order Cypriniformes. Native to India and South Asia, it is a popular aquarium fish, frequently sold under the trade name zebra danio. It is also found in private ponds.
The Notch signaling pathway is a highly conserved cell signaling system present in most animals. Mammals possess four different notch receptors, referred to as NOTCH1, NOTCH2, NOTCH3, and NOTCH4. The notch receptor is a single-pass transmembrane receptor protein. It is a hetero-oligomer composed of a large extracellular portion, which associates in a calcium-dependent, non-covalent interaction with a smaller piece of the notch protein composed of a short extracellular region, a single transmembrane-pass, and a small intracellular region.
ROCK1 is a protein serine/threonine kinase also known as rho-associated, coiled-coil-containing protein kinase 1. Other common names are ROKβ and P160ROCK. ROCK1 is a major downstream effector of the small GTPase RhoA and is a regulator of the actomyosin cytoskeleton which promotes contractile force generation. ROCK1 plays a role in cancer and in particular cell motility, metastasis, and angiogenesis.
Cadherin-2 also known as Neural cadherin (N-cadherin), is a protein that in humans is encoded by the CDH2 gene. CDH2 has also been designated as CD325 . Cadherin-2 is a transmembrane protein expressed in multiple tissues and functions to mediate cell–cell adhesion. In cardiac muscle, Cadherin-2 is an integral component in adherens junctions residing at intercalated discs, which function to mechanically and electrically couple adjacent cardiomyocytes. Alterations in expression and integrity of Cadherin-2 has been observed in various forms of disease, including human dilated cardiomyopathy. Variants in CDH2 have also been identified to cause a syndromic neurodevelopmental disorder.
Sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 1, also known as endothelial differentiation gene 1 (EDG1) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the S1PR1 gene. S1PR1 is a G-protein-coupled receptor which binds the bioactive signaling molecule sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P). S1PR1 belongs to a sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor subfamily comprising five members (S1PR1-5). S1PR1 was originally identified as an abundant transcript in endothelial cells and it has an important role in regulating endothelial cell cytoskeletal structure, migration, capillary-like network formation and vascular maturation. In addition, S1PR1 signaling is important in the regulation of lymphocyte maturation, migration and trafficking.
Sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 2, also known as S1PR2 or S1P2, is a human gene which encodes a G protein-coupled receptor which binds the lipid signaling molecule sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P).
G protein-coupled receptor 126 also known as VIGR and DREG is a protein encoded by the ADGRG6 gene. GPR126 is a member of the adhesion GPCR family. Adhesion GPCRs are characterized by an extended extracellular region often possessing N-terminal protein modules that is linked to a TM7 region via a domain known as the GPCR-Autoproteolysis INducing (GAIN) domain.
Homeobox protein Nkx-2.5 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the NKX2-5 gene.
T-box transcription factor TBX5, is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TBX5 gene. Abnormalities in the TBX5 gene can result in altered limb development, Holt-Oram syndrome, Tetra-amelia syndrome, and cardiac and skeletal problems.
Gap junction alpha-4 protein, also known as Connexin-37 or Cx37, is a protein that in humans is encoded by the GJA4 gene. This protein, like other Connexin proteins, forms connections between cells known as gap junctions. Connexin 37 can be found in many tissues including the ovary, heart, and kidney.
Nodal homolog is a secretory protein that in humans is encoded by the NODAL gene which is located on chromosome 10q22.1. It belongs to the transforming growth factor beta superfamily. Like many other members of this superfamily it is involved in cell differentiation in early embryogenesis, playing a key role in signal transfer from the primitive node, in the anterior primitive streak, to lateral plate mesoderm (LPM).
EGF-like domain-containing protein 7 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the EGFL7 gene. Intron 7 of EGFL7 hosts the miR-126 microRNA gene.
Margaret Buckingham, is a British developmental biologist working in the fields of myogenesis and cardiogenesis. She is an honorary professor at the Pasteur Institute in Paris and emeritus director in the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS). She is a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization, the Academia Europaea and the French Academy of Sciences.
Many human blood cells, such as red blood cells (RBCs), immune cells, and even platelets all originate from the same progenitor cell, the hematopoietic stem cell (HSC). As these cells are short-lived, there needs to be a steady turnover of new blood cells and the maintenance of an HSC pool. This is broadly termed hematopoiesis. This event requires a special environment, termed the hematopoietic stem cell niche, which provides the protection and signals necessary to carry out the differentiation of cells from HSC progenitors. This niche relocates from the yolk sac to eventually rest in the bone marrow of mammals. Many pathological states can arise from disturbances in this niche environment, highlighting its importance in maintaining hematopoiesis.
Alexander F. Schier is a Professor of Cell Biology and the Director of the Biozentrum University of Basel, Switzerland.
Kenneth D. Poss is an American biologist and currently James B. Duke Professor of Cell Biology and director of the Regeneration Next Initiative at the Duke University School of Medicine.
Karina Yaniv is an Israeli scientist who is best known for her contributions to the field of vascular development. She is a Professor of Vascular Disease in the Department of Biological Regulation at the Weizman Institute of science, Rehovot, Israel. She has three kids, and lives in the Weizmann Institute.
Carl-Philipp Heisenberg is a German developmental biologist specializing in embryology, cell biology, and biophysics. He is the grandson of the physicist Werner Heisenberg and nephew of biologist Martin Heisenberg. He was born in Munich, Germany.
Eileen E. M. Furlong is an Irish molecular biologist working in the fields of transcription, chromatin biology, developmental biology and genomics. She is known for her work in understanding how the genome is regulated, in particular to how developmental enhancers function, how they interact within three dimensional chromatin topologies and how they drive cell fate decisions during embryogenesis. She is Head of the Department of Genome Biology at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). Furlong was elected a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) in 2013, the Academia Europaea in 2016 and to EMBO’s research council in 2018.
Andrea Pauli is a developmental biologist and biochemist studying how the egg transitions into an embryo, and more specifically the molecular mechanisms underlying vertebrate fertilisations, egg dormancy, and subsequent egg activation. Her lab uses zebrafish as the main model organism. Andrea Pauli is a group leader at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) at the Vienna Biocenter in Austria.
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