"You have made your way from worm to man, and much within you is still a worm" (Nieztsche)
Current Lab Members
Alexander Holmes
Alex did his PhD on membrane traffic and cell adhesion in C. elegans in the Pettit Lab at the University of Aberdeen, where he graduated in 2007. Following that, and in search of warmer climes, he did a post-doc at the Universite de Rennes 1 in France, were he studied the contribution of membrane traffic to EGF/Ras signalling during C. elegans vulval development. Missing the subtleties of the Scottish weather he returned to the UK in late 2010 when he joined the Gartner Lab.
Publications:
Holmes, A., A. Flett, et al. (2007). "C. elegans Disabled is required for cell-type specific endocytosis and is essential in animals lacking the AP-3 adaptor complex." Journal of Cell Science 120(15): 2741-2751.
Alper Akay
Translational Control by GLD-1
I am from Izmir, Turkey where, unlike Dundee, it is sunny and warm. I did my undergraduate in Biology at the Middle East Technical University and my MSc in Molecular Cell Biology and Bioinformatics at the Universiteit van Amsterdam. During my master's, I worked on miRNAs at the Netherlands Cancer Institute and mismatch repair system in zebrafish at Hubrecht Institute. I joined Anton Gartner's laboratory in 2007 as a PhD student. I am currently working on translational regulation in the germline of C. elegans.
Publications:
Feitsma, H., A. Akay, and E. Cuppen (2008), 'Alkylation damage causes MMR-dependent chromosomal instability in vertebrate embryos', Nucleic Acids Res.
Ana Agostinho
Apoptosis Regulation
University Degree 2008 Technical University of Lisbon
Publications:
C. MacKay, A. Déclais, C. Lundin, A. Agostinho, A. Deans, T. MacArtney, K. Hofmann, A. Gartner, S. West, T. Helleday, D. Lilley and J. Rouse (2010). Identification of KIAA1018/FAN1, a DNA repair nuclease recruited to DNA damage by monoubiquitinated FANCD2. Cell, 142(1)65-76
Bin Wang
Bin got his Ph.D. in 2007 at the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing. His thesis is focused on the fungal infection to nematode. From 2007 to 2010 h worked as a research assistant at Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences on the nematode sperm activation and cell motility. He joined the lab in late 2010.
Publications:
D. Chen, H. Xiao, K. Zhang, B. Wang, Z. Gao, Y. Jian, X. Qi, J. Sun, L. Miao, C. Yang. Retromer Is Required for Apoptotic Cell Clearance by Phagocytic Receptor Recycling. Science, 2010, 327:1261-1264.
W. Fang, W. Ding, B. Wang, H. Zhou, H. Ouyang, J. Ming, C. Jin. Reduced expression of the O-Mannosyltransferase 2 (AfPmt2) Leads to Deficient Cell Wall and Abnormal Polarity in Aspergillus fumigatus. Glycobiology, 2010, 20:542-552.
B. Wang, X. Liu, W. Wu, X. Liu, S. Li. Purification, characterization, and gene cloning of an alkaline serine protease from a highly virulent strain of the nematode-endoparasitic fungus Hirsutella rhossiliensis. Microbiological Research, 2009, 164:665-673.
W. Fang, X. Yu, B. Wang, H. Zhou, H. Ouyang, J. Ming, C. Jin.Characterization of the Aspergillus fumigatus phosphomannose isomerase Pmi1 and its impact on cell wall synthesis and morphogenesis. Microbiology, 2009, 155:3281-3293.
B. Wang, Z. Liu, L. Miao. Recent advances in the study of spermatogenesis and fertilization in Caenorhabditis elegans. Hereditas, 2008, 30:677-686.
B. Wang, W. Wu, X. Liu. Purification and characterization of a neutral serine protease with nematicidal activity from Hirsutella rhossiliensis. Mycopathologia, 2007, 163:169-176.
Bettina Meier
The C. elegans telomere length maintenance and DNA damage response
Post Doc since August 2005
Bettina did her PhD with Heidi Feldmann at the Genecenter in Munich and than did her first Post Doc with Shawn Ahmed lab in North Carolina.
Telephone Extension: 85788
Publications:
B. Meier, L. Barber, Y. Liu Y, I, Clejan, S. Boulton, A. Gartner*, S. Ahmed.* (2009), The MRT-1 nuclease is required for DNA cross link repair and telomerease activity in vivo in C. elegans, EMBO J. 28(22):3549-63.
Meier B. and Gartner A: Meiosis: checking chromosomes pair up properly. Curr Biol. 2006 Apr 4;16(7):R249-251 (review).
Meier B, Clejan I., Liu Y, Lowden M., Gartner A., Hodgkin J., Ahmed S.: Trt-1 Is the Caenorhabditis elegans Catalytic Subunit of Telomerase. PLoS Genet. 2006 Feb 10;2(2):e18
Roy R., Meier B, McAinsh A.D., Feldmann H.M., and S.P. Jackson (2004). Separation-of-function mutants of yeast Ku80 reveal a Yku80p-Sir4p interaction involved in telomeric silencing. The Journal of Biological Chemistry 279(1):86-94.
Meier B, and S. Ahmed (2001). Checkpoints: Meiotic chromosome pairing takes an unexpected twist. Current Biology 11: R865-R868 (review).
Meier B, Driller L., Jaklin S., and H.M. Feldmann (2001). New function of CDC13 in positive telomere length regulation. Molecular and Cellular Biology 21: 4233-4245.
Feldmann, H., Driller, L., Meier B, Mages, G., Kellermann, J., and E.L. Winnacker (1996). HDF2, the second subunit of the Ku homologue from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The Journal of Biological Chemistry 271:27765-27769.
Meier B, Barber L., Liu Y., Clejan I., Boulton S., Gartner A.#, and S. Ahmed#. The MRT-1 nuclease is required for DNA crosslink repair and telomerase activity in vivo in C. elegans. Manuscript under revision.
# These authors contributed equally as senior authors
Lowden M.R., Meier B, Lee T.W., Hall J., and S. Ahmed (2008). End-joining at Caenorhabditis elegans telomeres. Genetics 180(2):741-54.
Meier B. and Gartner A (2006). Meiosis: checking chromosomes pair up properly. Current Biology 16: R249-251 (review).
Meier B, Clejan I., Liu Y., Lowden M., Gartner A., Hodgkin J., Ahmed S (2006). Trt-1 Is the Caenorhabditis elegans Catalytic Subunit of Telomerase. PLoS Genetics 10;2(2):e18.
Ehsan Pourkarimi
Germ cell Apoptosis Regulation
2001-2007 M.Sc in Molecular Genetics, Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, Hungary
2007- PhD Student
Publications:
E. Pourkarimi, S. Greiss and A. Gartner (2011) Evidence that CED-9/Bcl2 and CED-4/Apaf-1 localization is not consistent with the current model for C. elegans apoptosis induction, Cell Death and Differentiation, (Epub) cdd.2011.104
Joerg Weiss
04/2011 - present
University of Dundee, UK External Diploma Thesis (9 months research:) "Whole Genome mutation profiling in C. elegans"
09/2009 - 09/2011
Acadia University, NS, Canada. Student Exchange
09/2007 - present
University of Freiburg, Germany. Diploma in Biology (MSc)
09/2005 - 08/2007
University of Hohenheim, Germany. First 2 years of undergraduate studies in biology.
Remi Sonneville
DNA replication/ Joint post doc with the lab of Julian Blow
Telephone Extension 85833
Publications:
Sonneville R. and Gonczy P. (2004). Zyg-11 and cul-2 regulate progression through meiosis II and polarity establishment in C. elegans. Development 131, 3527-3543.
Tahayato A., Sonneville R., Pichaud F., Wernet M.F., Papatsenko D., Beaufils P., Cook T. and Desplan C. (2003) Otd/Crx, a dual regulator for the specification of ommatidia subtypes in the Drosophila retina. Dev Cell 5, 391-402.
Cook T., Pichaud F., Sonneville R., Papatsenko D. and Desplan C. (2003) Distinction between color photoreceptor cell fates is controlled by Prospero in Drosophila. Dev Cell 4, 853-864.
R. Sonneville, M. Querenet. A. Craig, A. Gartner* and J. Blow (2011). The dynamics of replication licensing in live C. elegans embryos, Journal of Cell Biology in press *Co-corresponding author
Neda Masoudi
2003-2008 M.Sc in Molecular Genetics, Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, Hungary
2008- PhD Student
Ye Hong
2010.1-2011.1 - MPI for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, Germany
2005.9-2010.1 - State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Jinan, China
2001.9-2005.7 - Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong
Publications:
1. Hong Y, Chu M, Li Y, Ni J, Sheng D, Hou G, She Q, Shen Y. Dissection of the functional domains of an archaeal Holliday junction helicaseDNA repair,(2011) Nov 6. [Epub ahead of print]
2. Hong Y, Wu L, Liu B, Peng C, Sheng D, Ni J, Shen Y. Characterization of a glucan phosphorylase from the thermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus tokodaii strain 7.J. Mol. Catal. B: Enzy. (2008), 54, 27-34
3. Ma X, Hong Y, Han W, Sheng D, Ni J, Hou G, Shen Y Single-stranded DNA binding activity of XPBI, but not XPBII, from Sulfolobus tokodaii causes double-stranded DNA melting Extremophiles.(2011) 15, 67-76.
4. Wu L, Liu B, Hong Y, Sheng D, Shen Y, Ni J. Residue Tyr224 is critical for the thermostability of Geobacillus sp. RD-2 lipase. Biotechnol Lett. (2010),32,107-12.
5. Liu B, Wu L, Liu T, Hong Y, Shen Y, Ni J.A MOFRL family glycerate kinase from the thermophilic crenarchaeon, Sulfolobus tokodaii, with unique enzymatic properties. Biotechnol Lett. (2009),31(12):1937-41.
6. Liu B, Hong Y, Wu L, Li Z, Ni J, Sheng D, Shen Y A unique highly thermostable 2-phosphoglycerate forming glycerate kinase from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus horikoshii: gene cloning, expression and characterization. Extremophiles. (2007), 11(5):733-9.
7. Liu B, Li Z, Hong Y, Ni J, Sheng D, Shen Y. Cloning, expression and characterization of a thermostable exo-beta-D-glucosaminidase from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus horikoshii. Biotechnol Lett. 2006, 28(20):1655-60. “