Developmental Biology, Models of Human Disease, Stem Cells
Robert A. Schulz     Professor, University of Notre Dame Chair in Biological Sciences PhD, Georgetown University Postdoctoral, Harvard University	e-mail | labpage

 

My research involves using the laboratory fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, to generate and study genetic models of human disease, especially as they relate to abnormalities in heart and blood cell development.  Drosophila is a superb model organism for these investigations because of its short generation time, the numerous experimental approaches available, the known DNA sequence of its genome, and the wealth of genetic and information resources on hand and emerging.  Studying problems in Drosophila development has clear ramifications for our understanding of human development and disease due to the substantial conservation of genes between the two species.  That is, greater than 60% of all Drosophila genes have homologues in humans, including many genes known to be causal of or associated with specific diseases.  Research projects ongoing in my lab include identification and analysis of (1) genes required for heart formation, relevant to the study of congenital heart defects in humans, (2) genes controlling blood cell development, with relevance to our understanding of human leukemias, and (3) genes regulating hematopoietic stem cell maintenance, relevant to our understanding of the functional nature of cancer stem cells potentially resident in diseased bone marrow.  Genetic, developmental, and cell biological approaches are used in these fundamental analyses.

 

 

Selected Publications

Gajewski K, Wang J, Molkentin JD, Chen EH, Olson EN, and Schulz RA (2003).

Requirement of the calcineurin subunit gene canB2 for indirect flight muscle formation in

Drosophila. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 100, 1040-1045.

 

Fossett N, Hyman K, Gajewski K, Orkin SH, and Schulz RA (2003). Combinatorial

interactions of Serpent, Lozenge, and U-shaped regulate crystal cell lineage commitment

during Drosophila hematopoiesis. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 100, 11451-11456.

 

Schulz RA and Yutzey KE (2004). Calcineurin signaling and NFAT activation in cardiovascular and skeletal muscle development. Dev. Biol. 266, 1-16.

 

Schulz RA and Fossett N (2005). Hemocyte development during Drosophila embryogenesis.

Methods Mol. Med. 105, 109-122.

 

Sorrentino RP, Gajewski K, and Schulz RA (2005). GATA factors in Drosophila heart and

blood cell development. Semin. Cell. Dev. Biol. 16, 107-116.

 

Wang JB, Tao Y, Reim I, Gajewski K, Frasch M, and Schulz RA (2005). Expression,

regulation, and requirement of the Toll transmembrane protein during dorsal vessel formation

in Drosophila. Mol. Cell. Biol. 25, 4200-4210.

 

Gajewski KM, Wang J, and Schulz RA (2006). Calcineurin function is required for

myofilament formation and troponin I isoform formation in Drosophila indirect flight muscle.

Dev. Biol. 289, 17-29.

Muratoglu S, Garratt B, Hyman K, Gajewski K, Schulz RA, and Fossett N (2006). Regulation of the Drosophila Friend of GATA gene u-shaped during hematopoiesis: A direct role for Serpent and Lozenge. Dev. Biol. 296, 561-579.

Schulz RA and Black BL (2007).  Model systems for the study of heart development and disease.  Semin. Cell Dev. Biol. 18, 1-2.

Tao Y and Schulz RA (2007).  Heart development in Drosophila.  Semin. Cell Dev. Biol. 18, 3-15.

Tao Y, Wang J, Tokusumi T, Gajewski KM, and Schulz RA (2007).  Requirement of the LIM homeodomain transcription factor Tailup for normal heart and hematopoietic organ formation in Drosophila.  Mol. Cell. Biol. 27, 3962-3969.

Sorrentino RP, Tokusumi T, and Schulz RA (2007).  The Friend of GATA protein U-shaped functions as a hematopoietic tumor suppressor in Drosophila.  Dev. Biol. 311, 311-323.

Tao Y, Christiansen AE, and Schulz RA (2007). Second chromosome genes required for heart development in Drosophila melanogaster. Genesis 45, 607-617.

Tokusumi T, Sorrentino RP, Russell M, Ferrarese R, Govind S and Schulz RA (2009). Characterization of a lamellocyte transcriptional enhancer located within the misshapen gene of Drosophila melanogaster. PLoS ONE 4, e6429.

Tokusumi T, Shoue D, Tokusumi Y, Stoller J and Schulz RA (2009). New hemocyte-specific enhancer-reporter transgenes for the analysis of hematopoiesis in Drosophia. Genesis, in press.