Micah Temin

Abstract:

I will work at the Treisman Lab at NYU Langone, which strives to gain a better understanding of the Drosophila visual system. Drosophila were chosen as the model organism, because they are a classic model organism due to their easy breed-ability, capacity to be bred in large quantities, and their genome, which is 60% homologous to humans. The Drosophila's eye is mostly made up of photoreceptors, while the rest of it is composed of non-neuronal support cells responsible for other functions, including making the fly's lens. Recently, the Treisman lab has found that R7 photoreceptors require equal levels of the Loaf protein as their post-synaptic neurons in the brain. Additionally, the axon guidance molecule Plexin A was determined to help R7 axons find their appropriate layer in the eye.  Although each type of cell in the eye serves a unique function, they all come from the same pool of progenitors. The Treisman lab hopes to understand how cells from the same pool of progenitors develop into having their own distinct fates. While researching, the lab found that the transcription factor Glass, which promotes terminal differentiation of cells, is partly responsible for this. Glass interacts with Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) to determine eye-specific cell fates. The lens of the fly, made up of extracellular matrix, is usually curved, but when the transcription factor Blimp-1 is removed, the lens becomes flat. The Treisman lab is investigating this mutation, and the affected genes downstream, which include Lectins, Zona Pellucida, and a gene mutation in human's eyes. The Treisman lab hopes to learn more about the Drosophila eye, how distinct cell fates are determined, and how cells and neurons communicate with each other in the eye. The work has implications in human cancer research and  human eye dystrophies. 

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