Overview
Blood vessel formation is tightly linked to different types of cancer in humans. Mechanisms controlling blood vessel formation de novo, vasculogenesis and blood vessel sprouting from the existing vessels, angiogenesis are still poorly understood. The zebrafish has recently emerged as an advantageous model organism to study how the evolutionary conserved network of vertebrate blood vessels arises during development. Transparent zebrafish embryos develop externally, so the finest details of blood vessel development can be easily observed in live embryos using light microscopy. Furthermore, zebrafish embryos can develop for several days in the complete absence of blood circulation, which enables accurate analysis of defects in vascular mutants.
Our lab utilizes zebrafish as a model to study molecular mechanisms of vasculogenesis and angiogenesis. We are investigating detailed mechanisms of angioblast formation, specification, differentiation and proliferation and identifying new genes participating in these processes. That includes making novel transgenic zebrafish lines, which will allow us to observe and study formation, migration and differentiation of endothelial progenitor cells in live zebrafish embryos. We are also dissecting transcriptional cascade which controls vasculature formation by utilizing microarray analysis combined with overexpression and gene knockdown studies. And finally, we are performing screens for novel potential regulators of vasculature formation followed by their characterization and functional studies.
Publications
Sumanas S, Gomez G, Zhao Y, Park C, Choi K, Lin S. (2008). Interplay between Etsrp/ER71, scl and alk8 signaling controls endothelial and myeloid cell formation. Blood 111, 4500-4510.
Sumanas S, Lin S. (2006). Ets1-related protein is a key regulator of vasculogenesis in zebrafish. PLOS Biol 4, e10.
Kim HJ, Sumanas S, Palencia-Desai S, Dong Y, Chen J-N, Lin S. (2006). Genetic analysis of early endocrine pancreas formation in zebrafish. Mol Endocrinol 20, 194-203.
Sumanas S, Jorniak T, Lin S. (2005). Identification of novel vascular endothelial-specific genes by the microarray analysis of the zebrafish cloche mutants. Blood 106, 534-541.
Sumanas S, Zhang B, Dai R, Lin S. (2005). 15-zinc finger protein Bloody Fingers is required for zebrafish morphogenetic movements during neurulation. Dev Biol 283, 85-96.
Kim HJ, Schleiffarth JR, Jessurun J, Sumanas S, Petryk A, Lin S, Ekker SC. (2005). Wnt5 Signaling in Vertebrate Pancreas Development. BMC Biol 3, 23.
Sumanas S, Lin S. (2004). Zebrafish as a model system for drug target screening and validation (Review). Drug Disc Today: Targets 3, 89-96.
Postdoctoral Fellows and Graduate Students Welcome
Please contact S. Sumanas about training opportunities.
Saulius Sumanas, PhD
Assistant Professor
Division of Developmental Biology
p: 513-803-0435
e: saulius.sumanas@cchmc.org
