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Mechanisms of Wnt5a‐Ror Signaling in Development and Disease
Author(s) -
Ho Henry
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.2021.35.s1.00097
Subject(s) - morphogenesis , biology , signal transduction , microbiology and biotechnology , biological pathway , model organism , wnt5a , organism , wnt signaling pathway , computational biology , neuroscience , genetics , gene , gene expression
How tissues and organs acquire their stereotypic shape during development is a fundamental but still poorly understood process. We are interested in how this process, generally known as tissue morphogenesis, is orchestrated at the molecular and cellular levels, and how defects in this process contribute to human diseases. To this end, my laboratory has focused on an evolutionarily conserved and clinically relevant signaling pathway called the Wnt5a‐Ror pathway. The Wnt5a‐Ror pathway regulates tissue morphogenesis as well as other developmental and regenerative processes, and dysfunction of the pathway causes a broad range of human diseases, including structural birth defects, neurodevelopmental disorders and metastatic diseases. We have taken an integrative approach combining mouse genetics, proteomics and cell based analysis to uncover novel components of the pathway and decipher how they mediate Wnt5a signaling to control cytoskeletal rearrangements and induce cell/tissue behavior changes. We have also developed novel Wnt5a‐Ror signaling reporters for reading out pathway activity, which will further facilitate both mechanism‐based research as well as screening of pharmacological modulators of the pathway.