Overview
Retinal neurons integrate and transmit essentially all visual information our eyes see to the brain. Defects in retinal cell determination or differentiation lead to abnormal vision. We wish to understand how retinal progenitor cells differentiate as neurons. Intriguingly, developing retinal cells are capable of choosing multiple fates, but ultimately become a single cell type. This has prompted us to investigate how distinct progenitor cells simultaneously give rise to different types of neurons. A better understanding of these principles will aid in the future design of more effective retinal disease therapies.
Our studies of the retinal center around these questions:
- How do growing optic progenitor cells know when to initiate retinal neuron formation?
- What roles do bHLH transcription factors play during retinal neurogenesis? How are these factors regulated?
- How do retinal ganglion cell (RGC) axons assemble into a nerve and find the correct tissue targets in the brain?
Our laboratory participates in pre- and post-doctoral training through the Molecular and Developmental Biology and Neuroscience Programs. Inquiries from interested trainees are always welcome.
Recent Publications
Nadean Brown's publications as listed by PubMed
Rowan S, Conley K, Le TT, Donner AL, Maas RL, Brown, NL. Notch signaling is required for mouse lens growth and differentiation. Developmental Biology Submitted.
Blackburn DC*, Conley K*, Platchetzki D, Kempler K, Battelle BA, Brown NL. Isolation and expression of Pax6 and atonal homologues in the American Horseshoe Crab, Limulus polyphemus. (*Co-First Authors) Developmental Dynamics 2008 In Revision.
Riesenberg AN, Le TT, Willardson MI, Blackburn DC, Vetter ML, Brown NL. Initiation of mouse retinal neurogenesis via Pax6 regulation of Math5 expression. Developmental Biology 2008 In Revision.
Willardson MI, Suli A, Marsh-Armstrong N, Chen CB, Moore KB, Brown NL, Vetter ML. Temporal regulation of Ath5 gene expression during eye development. Developmental Biology 2008 In Revision.
Hufnagel R, Riesenberg AN, Saul SM, Brown NL. Conserved regulation between Math5 and Math1 as revealed by Math5-GFP transgenes. Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience 2007; 36: 435-488.
Le TT, Wroblewski E, Patel S, Riesenberg AN, Brown NL. Math5 is required for both early retinal neuron determination and cell cycle progression. Developmental Biology 2006; 295:764-778.
Harzsch S., Vilpoux SK, Blackburn DC, Platchetzki D, Brown NL, Melzer R, Battelle BA. Evolution of arthropod visual systems: development of the eyes and central visual pathway of the horseshoe crab Limulus polyphemus. Developmental Dynamics 2006; 235:2641-2655.
Hutchenson D, Hanson M, Moore KB, Le TT, Brown NL, Vetter ML. bHLH-dependent and -independent modes of Ath5 gene regulation during retinal development. Development 2005;132:829-839.
Philips GT, Stair CN, Lee HY, Wroblewski E, Berberoglu MA, Brown NL, Mastick GS. Precocious retinal neurons: Pax6 regulates the timing of differentiation and the determination of cell type. Developmental Biology 2005; 279:308-321.
Brzezinski J*, Brown NL*, Tanikawa A, Bush RA, Sieving P, Vittaterna MH, Takahashi J, Glaser T. Abnormalities in circadian behavior and retinal electrophysiology in Math5 mutant mice. Invest Ophth Vis Sci 2005; 46:2540-2551. *Co-First Authors
Lee HY, Wroblewski E, Philips GT, Stair CN, Conley K, Reedy M, Mastick GS, Brown NL. Multiple requirements for Hes1 during early eye formation. Developmental Biology 2005; 284:464-478.
Contact Us
The Brown laboratory is part of the Division of Developmental Biology and the Department of Ophthalmology at Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation and the University of Cincinnati School of Medicine. Our lab is located in Location R (Research Foundation Building), Room 1455.
For more information, please contact Nadean Brown at 513-636-1963 (nadean.brown@cchmc.org).
