Janet Heasman, PhD
Appointment
Professor of Pediatrics
Email
heabq9@chmcc.org
Phone
513-636-8564
Fax
513-636-4317
Bio
Janet Heasman has always been interested in the question of how the single cell, the fertilized egg, develops into a complex embryo, that is intricately patterned both in terms of its tissue types and axes. Dr Heasman studies this in the frog Xenopus laevis. To read more of her background see the interview in J Cell Sci. 2004 117:1617-8 by Fiona Watt.
Credentials
BSc: University College, London, UK, 1974
PhD: University Of London, 1979
Lecturer, (assistant professor) Anatomy at St George's Hospital Medical School, London, 1979-87
Senior Lecturer, (associate professor with tenure) Anatomy, St George's HMS, London, 1987-88
Wellcome Senior Lecturer, Zoology, University of Cambridge, England, 1988-9
Lecturer, (with tenure) Zoology, University of Cambridge, England, 1991-94
Principal Scientist, Wellcome/CRC Institute, Cambridge, England, 1991-94
Professor, Genetics, Cell Biology and Development, University of Minnesota, 1994-00
Research
This lab is one of the leading lobratories in the world using antisense technologies to understand the function of genes involved in the development of the early vertebrate embryo. We are particularly interested in understanding the signaling pathways and transcriptional regulators that are responsible for tissue formation and for establishing the embryonic axes. We use the frog Xenopus laevis as the model organism to study these questions.
Visit the Wylie-Heasman Lab Site.
Research Grants and Contracts
Maternal control of tissue formation in Xenopus
Principal Investigator: Janet Heasman, BSc, PhD
Agency: National Institutes of Health
Type: R01 (HD38272-05), 1999-2009
Molecular basis of axis formation in Xenopus
Principal Investigator: Janet Heasman, BSc, PhD
Type: R01 (HD33002), 2001-2006
Publications, Most Recent
Janet Heasman's publications as listed by PubMed
Sundaram N., Tao Q., Wylie C., and Heasman J (2003) The role of maternal CREB in early embryogenesis of Xenopus laevis.Dev. Biol. 261, 337-52.
Kofron, M., Xanthos, J. and Heasman J (2003) Maternal VegT and catenin: Patterning the Xenopus blastula. In "The Vertebrate Organizer" p1-11Ed. H Grunz Springer
Kofron, M, Wylie, C and Heasman J (2004). The role of Mixer in patterning the early Xenopus embryo. Development 131 2431-41.
Kofron, M, Puck, H, Standley, H, Wylie, C, Old, R, Whitman, M and Heasman, J (2004). New roles for FoxH1 in patterning the early embryo. Development 131 5065-78.
Birsoy, B, Berg, L, Willliams, H, Smith, J, Wylie, C., Christian, J and Heasman, J (2005). XPACE4 is a localized proprotein convertase required for mesoderm induction and the cleavage of specific TGF-? proteins in Xenopus development.Development 132, 591-602.
Qinghua Tao, Chika Yokota, Helbert Puck, Matt Kofron, Bilge Birsoy, Dong Yan, Makoto Asashima, Christopher C. Wylie, Xinhua Lin and Janet Heasman (2005). Maternal Wnt11 activates the canonical Wnt signaling pathway required for axis formation in Xenopus embryos.Cell 120 857-871.
Birsoy, B, Wylie, C, and Heasman, J (2005). Vg1 is an essential signaling molecule in Xenopus development. Development 133 15-20.
Special Interests
Signaling pathways and transcription factors regulating germ layer formation
Presentations
- Organizer Cold Spring Harbor Xenopus course April 2005-8
- Organizer 10th Intertnational Xenopus meeting 2004
- British Society of Cell Biology Meeting Canterbury April 2004
- American Society of Developmental Biology meeting Calgary July 2004
- Washington University, St. Louis, MO, Invited lecture May 2004
- Miami Univeristy of Ohio Nov 2004
Duquesne Univ Oct 2004 - UCSF California Dec 2005
- Carnegie Mellon University November 2005
- Plenary Speaker Italian/German Xenopus meeting 2005
- Gordon Conference in Developmental Biology 2005
Platform presentations, 2000 only included:
- 2000 International Xenopus meeting
- 2000 Annual Meeting Society of Developmental Biology
- 2000 Keystone meeting on cell adhesion and communication
- 2000 International Developmental BIology meeting Santa Cruz
Activities
The PI and lab members regularly attend national and international meetings in developmental biology. The PI is an active member of the graduate program and is a member of the executive committee of the program. For 2005-7 we are organizing the Cold Spring Harbor Course in Xenopus Development. The lab actively collaborates with other labs in the Division of developmental biology and with other labs in England and Germany.
Related Areas
This person works in these other areas at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center:
