Developmental Biology

Chiou-Fen Chuang, PhD

Appointment

Assistant Professor

Email

Chiou-Fen.Chuang@cchmc.org

Phone

513-803-0046 (office), 513-636-8117 (lab)

Credentials

Postdoctoral Fellow 2001-2006, University of California, San Francisco and Rockefeller University, New York with Dr. Cori Bargmann. Molecular mechanisms of neuronal diversification and circuit development in Caenorhabditis elegans.

PhD 1994-2000, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA with Dr. Elliot Meyerowitz. Molecular genetics of floral patterning in Arabidopsis thaliana.

MS 1990-1992, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.

Awards and Honors

2001-2004 Damon Runyon Postdoctoral Fellow

1992 Distinguished Master's Thesis Award, Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia, Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.

1992 Distinguished Graduate Award, Ministry of Education, Taiwan.

Research

Visit the Chuang Lab web page.

We are interested in understanding how the developing nervous system generates a tremendous diversity of cell types, a fundamental process allowing neurons to form complex circuits and networks. Molecular, genetic, cell biological, and electrophysiological approaches are used to address this question in the small roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans, which has a very simple nervous system containing only 302 neurons with reproducible functions and synaptic connections.

Publications, Most Recent

Gabel CV, Antonie F, Chuang C-F, Samuel AD, Chang C. Distinct cellular and molecular mechanisms mediate initial axon development and adult-stage axon regeneration in C. elegans.Development 2008;135:1129-36.

Chuang C-F, VanHoven MK, Fetter RD, Verselis VK, Bargmann CI. An innexin-dependent cell network establishes left-right neuronal asymmetry in C. elegans.Cell 2007;129:787-99. (Preview: Gap Junctions Provide New Links in Left-Right Patterning.Cell 2007;129:645-647.)

Chuang C-F, Bargmann CI. A Toll-interleukin 1 repeat protein at the synapse specifies asymmetric odorant receptor expression via ASK1 MAPKKK signaling. Genes & Dev. 2005;19:270-81.

Chuang C-F, Meyerowitz EM. Specific and heritable genetic interference by double-stranded RNA in Arabidopsis thaliana. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 2000;97:4985-90.

Chuang C-F, Running MP, Williams RW, Meyerowitz EM. The PERIANTHIA gene encodes a bZIP protein involved in the determination of floral organ number in Arabidopsis thaliana. Genes & Dev. 1999;13:334-44.

Special Interests

Cell-cell interactions and signaling events that specify neuronal diversity and assemble functional circuits.

Presentations

2006

CSHL Axon Guidance, Synaptogenesis & Neural Plasticity Meeting, New York
C. elegans Neuroscience Meeting, Wisconsin, Madison (new and notable talk)
Center for Research in Neuroscience, Montreal, Canada
Harvard Medical School Department of Neurobiology, Boston
University of Nevada Biology Department, Reno
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Research Foundation Division of Developmental Biology
Concordia University Biology Department, Montreal, Canada

2005

Hunter College Biology Department, New York
Carnegie Institution Department of Embryology, Baltimore, Maryland
National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan
National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
Institute of Molecular Biotechnology, Vienna, Austria
Max-Planck-Institute for Developmental Biology, Tuebingen, Germany
FASEB: American Association of Anatomists Annual Meeting at Experimental Biology, San Diego, California
University of Rochester Biology Department, New York