Awards:

• 1/1/2002 Sci/Tech Web Award, Scientific American

Research Interests:

Temporal progression of transcription factor expression in isolated neuroblast clones

During Drosophila embryonic CNS development, the sequential neuroblast (NB) expression of five proteins, Hunchback, Kruppel, Pdm1 and 2 and Castor, identifies a transcription factor network regulating the temporal development of all ganglia. These studies indicate that once NBs initiate lineage development, no additional signaling between NBs and the neuroectoderm and/or mesoderm is required to trigger the temporal progression of gene expression during NB outgrowth. To identify dynamically expressed neural precursor genes, we have performed a differential cDNA hybridization screen on a stage specific embryonic head cDNA library and have examined the embryonic expression profiles of developmentally regulated neural precursor genes. Information about 2,394 genes identified in this screen is available on-line at BrainGenes: a search for Drosophila neural precursor genes.

Identification of the cis-regulatory elements that control coordinate gene expression is one of the longstanding goals of molecular biology. We have developed an integrated methodology and accompanying algorithms, including EvoPrinter and a new suite of cis-Decoder programs, to compare the conserved sequences within enhancers. This approach has revealed that enhancers regulating genes with overlapping expression patterns harbor sets of shared elements. The results thus far suggest that we can begin to decipher the cis-regulatory elements shared between enhancers of coordinately regulated genes.

For the last eleven years I have maintained the Web resource entitled The Interactive Fly: A Cyberspace Guide to Drosophila Development. Drosophila is a good starting place from which to design an interactive model of development, and cyberspace is the made-to-order medium.

Selected Publications:

• Brody T, Odenwald WF (2005) Regulation of temporal identities during Drosophila neuroblast lineage development, Curr Opin Cell Biol 17, 672-5. Full Text/Abstract
• Odenwald WF, Rasband W, Kuzin A, Brody T (2005) EVOPRINTER, a multigenomic comparative tool for rapid identification of functionally important DNA, Proc Natl Acad Sci 102, 14700-5. Full Text/Abstract
• Kuzin A, Brody T, Moore AW, Odenwald WF (2005) Nerfin-1 is required for early axon guidance decisions in the developing Drosophila CNS, Dev Biol 277, 347-65. Full Text/Abstract
• Kuzin A, Brody T, Moore AW, Odenwald WF (2005) Nerfin-1 is required for early axon guidance decisions in the developing Drosophila CNS, Dev Biol 277, 347-65. Full Text/Abstract
• Brody, T., Stivers, C., Nagle, J., and Odenwald, W. F. (2002) Identification of Novel Drosophila Neural Precursor Genes, Mech. Dev. 113, 41-59. Full Text/Abstract

All Selected Publications