Page 14 - Rappaport Institute Magazine 2024

BIOCHEMISTRY
Dale Frank, PhD
Professor of Biochemistry and Developmental Biology
PhD, 1989 – The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
How do vertebrates make their embryonic nervous system?
My research group utilizes the amphibian Xenopus laevis model system to investigate the earliest processes regulating vertebrate nervous system development. Early embryonic development in all vertebrates depends on the same gene products regardless of species. The earliest process in early development is body axis formation. Cells must recognize these axes. Location-dependence of cell fate and differentiation is determined by each cell’s ability to monitor its position relative to the developing embryonic axes. In my lab, we investigate the genetic and cellular interactions determining how cells acquire these different neural axial cell fates during early development. Research projects in my lab: (1) Leveraging the frog embryo as a “simplified” system recapitulating the etiology of genetic diseases perturbing early human nervous system development. (2) Using neural inducing TALE and HOX homeodomain proteins as a paradigm to study evolution of neural inducing functions in metazoans. (3) Homeodomain protein interactions regulating initial neural pattern.
Selected Publications
ˆ Lichtig, H., Artamonov, A., Polevoy, H., Reid, C., Bielas, S. and Frank, D. (2020) Modeling Bainbridge-Ropers Syndrome in Xenopus laevis embryos. Front Physiol. doi:10.3389/fphys.2020.00075
ˆ Polevoy, H., H., Gutkovich, Y.E., Michaelov, A., Volovik, Y. Elkouby, Y.M. and Frank, D. (2019) New roles for Wnt and BMP signaling in neural anteroposterior patterning. EMBO Rep. 20, e45842. DOI 10.15252/embr.201845842
ˆ Elkouby, Y.M., Elias, S., Casey, E.M., Blythe, S.A., Tsabar, N., Klein, P.S., Root, H., Liu, K.J., and Frank, D. (2010) Mesodermal Wnt signaling organizes the neural plate via Meis3. Development 137, 1531-1541.
dale@technion.ac.il
Dale Frank Lab
Upper Panel: Normal tailbud stage embryo: Head: Right, Tail: Left
Bottom Panel: Embryo ectopically expressing Meis3 TALE-Class homeodomain protein loses “head” but having expanded hindbrain with concomitant loss of midbrain and forebrain phenotype.