Cell Polarity in Development and Disease

Douglas Houston is a Professor at the University of Iowa. His research is focused on a central problem in developmental biology: how a single-celled egg differentiates into an organism containing many different cell and tissue types. Using frog embryos as a model organism, he and his lab have isolated numerous novel genes with potential roles in key pathways of ovum functions, including genes involved in PGC formation, morphogenesis, and TGF-beta and Wnt growth factor signaling.

• 1. Overview of cell polarity: insights from model organisms and cellular systems2. Cell polarity in the egg and early embyro- mammal3. Pluripotency and cell polarity4. The role of cell polarity in adult stem cell maintenance5. Integration of cell polarity and growth factor signaling6. Cell polarity and the onset and progression of cancer7. Cell division and cell polarity8. Polarized membrane/vesicle trafficking and disease9. Polarized microtubule transport and disease10. Regulation of cell polarity in cell/neuronal migration11. Apical and planar cell polarity in ciliated epithelia12. Renal epithelial cell polarity and disease13. Hepatic cell polarity and disease14. Epidermal cell polarity and disease15. Cell polarity and sensory cell defects