Cell fates and cell states: analysis of enhancer dynamics during angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis
- Research Opportunity
- PhD students, Honours students, Master of Biomedical Science
- Number of Honour Places Available
- 1
- Number of Master Places Available
- 1
| Primary Supervisor | Number | Webpage | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prof Ben Hogan | ben.hogan@petermac.org |
| Co-supervisor | Number | Webpage | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dr Lizzie Mason |
Summary The Hogan group investigates the development of lymphatic vasculature and the blood brain barrier, which play important roles in the metastatic spread of cancer and vascular disease. We use zebrafish and mice as model systems to study fundamental processes in the developing embryo. Current projects are focussed on signalling and transcriptional mechanisms that control lymphangiogenesis. We are also using large-scale genetic and genomic approaches to discover new genes essential for development of the blood brain barrier. In addition, we are interested in developing imaging tools to visualise key cell signalling events in real time in vascular development and disease models.
Project Details
Cellular fates are regulated by key transcription factors during vascular development, angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis. In recent decades, analysis of vascular cell fates, such as artery, vein and lymphatic fates, has uncovered key transcription factors and target enhancer elements that regulate tissue identity. Nevertheless, how transcription factors drive dynamic changes in vessel growth, dynamic enhancer activities, dynamic cell behaviours and cellular heterogeneity in the growing vasculature, remains to be determined. Live imaging reporters of enhancer activity during zebrafish vascular development offers a unique opportunity to approach these fundamental questions. This project will take advantage of a large-scale dataset recently generated in the Hogan lab using single cell ATAC-seq data to assess the developing vasculature of the zebrafish embryo. The project will clone and assess functional enhancers that are lineage specific, evolutionarily conserved and candidate elements that may control dynamic cell behaviours during new vessel formation. Transgenesis, molecular genetics and cellular resolution confocal imaging of zebrafish vasculature will be coupled with bioinformatics studies of enhancer conservation and prediction of key functional regulators.Research Opportunities
PhD students, Honours students, Master of Biomedical Science
Students who are interested in joining this project will need to consider their elegibility as well as other requirements before contacting the supervisor of this research
Key Contact
For further information about this research, please contact a supervisor.
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