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Craniofacial cartilage
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Compare to wild type (Top) mutant head skeleton (Bottom) is composed of shorter elements.
6 day old embryos stained with alcian blue.
Ventral view, anterior to the left.
m, meckel's; pq, palatoquadrate;
ch, ceratohyal; cb, ceratobranchial cartilages;
e eye. |
| We are focusing our current efforts on the mechanisms that shape the zebrafish
head skeleton. Craniofacial defects are among the most frequent
human congenital abnormalities, constituting 35% of all birth
defects. Those anomalies include oral clefts, which occur in
approximately 1 in every 700 live births, and other craniofacial
anomalies, which occur in 1 in every 1,600 newborns in the USA.
An understanding of the molecular mechanisms that control craniofacial
development may lead to the development of new ways to prevent,
diagnose, and treat craniofacial anomalies. |
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The role of non-canonical Wnt signaling
in cartilage morphogenesis is of our particularl interested. Mutants with altered non-canonical Wnt
signaling pathway exhibit similar cell behavior defects during
gastrulation and cartilage morphogenesis. We investigate the function
of non-canonical Wnt’s and their potential co-receptors glypicans in
chondrocytes differentiation and polarization. As initial steps in
craniofacial development are similar in all vertebrates, those studies
will help us understand the genetic basis for relatively frequent congenital
anomalies that cause abnormal development of the hard and soft tissue of
the head and neck.
This project is supported by the R01 DE016678 grant from NIH/National Institute of Dental & Craniofacial Research
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