Administration

Christopher Wylie, PhD

Title

William Schubert Professor of Pediatrics

Director, Division of Developmental Biology

Appointment

Professor of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine

Email

christopher.wylie@cchmc.org

Phone

513-636-2090

Fax

513-636-4317

Bio

After spending his early years in Kenya, Dr. Wylie moved to England. He attended University College Hospital Medical School, where he gained a BSc in Anatomy, and a PhD in Developmental Biology. He held faculty positions at University College London, and St. George's Hospital Medical School before taking the Frederick James Quick Chair of Biology at Cambridge University in 1989. In 1994, he accepted the Martin Lenz Harrison Chair of Development and Genetics at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine in 1994, where he led the University of Minnesota Developmental Biology Center. In 2000, he moved to the Cincinnati Children's Hospital to become the Director of the Developmental Biology Division, and the first William K. Schubert Professor in the Department of Pediatrics. He was the founding Editor of the International journal Development, and has served as President of the Society for Developmental Biology.

Credentials

PhD: University of London, UK

Awards and Honors

Scientific Advisory Board, Cornell University 2008-
Scientific Advisory Board, Children’s Research Institute, Medical College of Wisconsin 2008-
Scientific Advisory Board, RIKEN Institute for Cell and Developmental Biology, Kobe, Japan 2006-
Scientific Advisory Board, Princeton University Dept of Molecular Biology, 2003-
Damon Runyon/Walter Winchell Award Panel, 2000-2004
Burroughs Wellcome Foundation Career Award Panel, 2000-2004
President, Society for Developmental Biology, 1999-2000
Scientific Council, Stazione Zoologica, Naples, 1996-1999
Chair, Burroughs Wellcome Advisory Panel, 1996-1999
NIH study section CDF5 (HED2), 1996- 2000
Numerous site visit committees for UK Medical Research council and Science Research Council
Fellowship of Darwin College Cambridge, 1989-1994
University Grants Committee Medical Sciences Panel (a government committee set up to rank medical
Research in British Medical Schools, for funding purposes), 1992 and 2001
External Examiner for the Universities of Singapore, Cambridge, London, Glasgow, Oxford
Member of the UK Medical Research Council Cell Biology Grants Committee (Study Section), 1985-1989
Member of the Medical Research Council Training Awards Panel, 1989-93
First Class Honours in the University of London B.Sc. examination

Research

Research interests include: the migration of embryonic cells, the control of actin assembly in morphogenetic movements, the formation of the primary germ layers in vertebrate embryos, the scientific basis of spinal disorders, tendon differentiation

Visit the Wylie-Heasman Lab Site.

Research Grants and Contracts

NIH RO1 HD044764: The control of actin assembly in Xenopus embryos (to 2013) PI

NIH RO1 HD45737: Ectoderm formation in the early Xenopus embryo (to 2013) PI

NIH RO1 HD060578: The roles of Steel factor in germ cell behavior in the mouse (to 2011) PI

NIH RO1 AR056943: A developmentally based tissue engineering approach to improve tendon repair (to 2013) Co-PI

NIH T32 HD046387: Training grant in organogenesis (to 2010) PI

Publications, Most Recent

Gu Y, Runyan C, Shoemaker A, Surani A, Wylie C. Steel factor controls primordial germ cell survival and motility from the time of their specification in the allantois and provides a continuous niche throughout their migration. Development 2009;136:1296-303.

Nandadasa S, Tao Q, Menon N, Heasman J, Wylie C. N- and E-cadherins in Xenopus are specifically required in the neural and non-neural ectoderm, respectively, for F-actin assembly and morphogenetic movements. Development 2009;136:1327-38.

Dahia C, Mahoney E, Durrani A, Wylie C. Postnatal growth, differentiation, and ageing of the mouse intervertebral disc. Spine 2009;34:447-55.

Dahia C, Mahoney E, Durrani A, Wylie C. Intercellular pathways active during intervertebral disc growth, differentiation and ageing. Spine 2009;34:456-62.

Deng J, Lang S, Wylie C, Hammes S. The Xenopus laevis isoform of G protein-coupled receptor 3 (GPR3) is a constitutively active cell surface receptor that participates in maintaining meiotic arrest in X. laevis oocytes. Mol Endocrinol 2008;22:1853-65.

Cha SW, Tadjuidje E, Tao Q, Wylie C, Heasman J. Wnt5a and Wnt11 interact in a maternal Dkk1-regulated fashion to activate both canonical and non-canonical signaling in Xenopus axis formation. Development 2008;135: 3719-29.

Runyan C, Gu Y, Shoemaker A, Looijenga L, Wylie C. The distribution and behavior of extragonadal primordial germ cells in Bax mutant mice suggest a novel origin for sacrococcygeal germ cell tumors. Int J Dev Biol 2008;52:333-44.

Mir A, Kofron M, Heasman J, Mogle M, Lang S, Birsoy B, Wylie C. Long- and short-range signals control the dynamic expression of an animal hemisphere-specific gene in Xenopus. Dev Biol 2008;315(1):161-72.

Cha JY, Birsoy B, Kofron M, Mahoney E, Lang S, Wylie C, Heasman J. The role of FoxC1 in early Xenopus development. Dev Dyn 2007;236 :2731-41.

Tao Q, Nandadasa S, McCrea PD, Heasman J, Wylie C. G-protein-coupled signals control cortical actin assembly by controlling cadherin expression in the early Xenopus embryo. Development 2007;134:2651-61.

Mir A, Kofron M, Zorn AM, Bajzer M, Haque M, Heasman J, Wylie CC. FoxI1e activates ectoderm formation and controls cell position in the Xenopus blastula. Development 2007;134(4):779-88.

Kofron M, Birsoy B, Houston D, Tao Q, Wylie C, Heasman J. Wnt11/beta-catenin signaling in both oocytes and early embryos acts through LRP6-mediated regulation of axin. Development 2007;134:503-13.

Standley H, Destree O, Kofron M, Wylie C, Heasman J. Maternal XTcf1 and XTcf4 have distinct roles in regulating Wnt target genes. Dev Biol 2006;289:318-28.

Runyan C, Schaible K, Molyneaux K, Wang Z, Levin L, Wylie C. Steel factor controls midline cell death of primordial germ cells and is essential for their normal proliferation and migration. Development 2006;133:4861-9.

Liao G, Tao Q, Kofron K, Chen J, Schloemer A, Davis R, Hsieh J, Wylie C, Heasman J, Kuan C. The NH2-terminal kinase (JNK) prevents nuclear beta-catenin accumulation and regulates axis formation in Xenopus embryos. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2006;103:16313-8.

Birsoy B, Kofron M, Schaible K, Wylie C, Heasman J. Vg1 is an essential signaling molecule in Xenopus development. Development 2006;133(1):15-20.

Standley HJ, Destree O, Kofron M, Wylie C, Heasman J. Maternal XTcf1 and XTcf4 have distinct roles in regulating Wnt target genes. Dev Biol 2006;289(2):318-28.

Wylie C. IFITM1-mediated cell repulsion controls the initial steps of germ cell migration in the mouse. Dev Cell 2005;9(6):723-4.

Presentations, Most Recent

2009

Invited Speaker, German Genetics Society Annual Symposium, Cologne, Germany
Invited Speaker, Gordon Research Conference on Cell Contact and Adhesion, Waterville, New Hampshire
Invited Seminar Speaker, Temasek Life Sciences Institute, Singapore
Invited Seminar Speaker, University of Queensland, Australia

2008

Invited Platform Speaker, Kavli Inst. For Theoretical Physics Symposium “Growth and Form”
Keynote Speaker, Graduate Student Forum. Iowa State University
Invited Speaker, Nigel Holder Memorial Symposium in Developmental Biology. Kings College London
Invited speaker, and career guidance workshop organizer, Santa Cruz Dev. Bio. Meeting 2008
Keynote Speaker, Graduate Symposium, Washington University, St. Louis
Invited Speaker and Session Chair, International Xenopus meeting, Leiwen, Germany
Pleniary Speaker, Workshop on Animal Morphogenesis, Ohio State University

2007

Invited speaker, Developmental Biology Gordon Conference
Pleniary speaker, Northwestern Regional meeting of the SDB
Graduate student invitee: UNC Chapell Hill seminar series
Graduate student invitee: Iowa State Graduate Research Symposium
Pleniary Speaker: Combio 07, a combined symposium of the Australia and New Zealand societies of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Plant Sciences, and Cell and Developmental Biology
Invited seminar speaker, University of Brisbane
Invited seminar speaker, Murdoch Institute of the University of Melbourne

Keynote Speaker, 12th Annual Program in Dev. Biol. Retreat, Vanderbilt University
Invited Speaker, Pennington Biomedical Research Ctr, Louisiana State University

Professional Organization Memberships

Society for Developmental Biology
American Society for Cell Biology

Personal Statement

My goal as director of the Division of Developmental Biology is to enhance research in the fundamental mechanisms of development, using all embryo model systems and technologies, and to collaborate with faculty in clinical divisions at Children’s Hospital to use this information to identify the basis of childhood congenital birth defects.