Dr Penny Rashbass: Research
We are interested in the role of apical-basal polarity and the cell cycle in eye and neural development. The fundamental question we are trying to address is how a progenitor cell decides whether it is going to continue proliferating or whether it is going to start to differentiate. Our research combines developmental and cell biology with functional genomics and bioinformatics.
Epithelial sheets (also known as epithelia) line the whole body surface and all body cavities. They serve as boundaries between tissue compartments and control the directional exchange of molecules between these compartments.
As each side of the epithelia is different, the epithelial cells within the sheet need to polarised in order for the epithelia to function properly. During development, cells within epithelial sheets can either divide symmetrically within the plane of the sheet (to produce 2 similar daughter cells) or asymmetrically (to produce 2 different daughter cells).
Therefore during development epithelial cells must both be able to establish the apical-basal polarity and 'read' this polarity to decide whether they are going to divide to produce 2 similar or different daughter cells.
We are interested in the molecules involved in both these processes. The presumptive central nervous system (CNS) known as the neural tube and the lens in the eye are excellent examples of epithelial structures that require maintenance of polarity as well as an ability to reorganise their intrinsic apico-basal polarity in order to function and differentiate properly.
Section stained with Islet 1 (red) and Brn3b (green) to show retinal differentiation is already well advanced in mouse eye at 12.5 days gestation.