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HANS BODE , Ph.D.
Professor

Ph.D., Yale University, 1966

4242 McGaugh Hall
Irvine, CA 92697-2300
Tel: (949) 824-5959
Fax: (949) 824-4709
hrbode@uci.edu

Lab:
4109 McGaugh Hall
Tel: (949) 824-5498

(Profile)


	RESEARCH INTEREST: Pattern formation; Stem Cells Evidence is rapidly accumulating that the same genes are used by different organisms to regulate similar developmental processes. This raises the issue of the evolution of developmental mechanisms. Which mechanisms arose early and were conserved through evolution, and which arose later? Since coelenterates, of which hydra is a member, arose very early in metazoan evolution, the organism is strategically placed to examine this issue. Further, the processes governing pattern formation and cell fate determination are well understood in hydra at a tissue and cellular level. Because the body plan is simple, the patterning processes are few, and there is a reasonable chance of understanding the entire circuitry required underlying the pattern forming events in hydra in terms of signals and cell response genes. Similarly the cell-cell interactions governing stem cells that give rise to several differentiation products is well-understood. The current emphasis is on understanding the commitment of a stem cell to a particular cell fate. With the assumption that fundamental regulatory elements of development arose early in metazoan evolution, we are focusing on classes of transcription factors and signals known to play similar roles in higher metazoans. A number of homeobox genes have been isolated and their role in hydra patterning and cell fate processes are being characterized.

RESEARCH INTEREST: Pattern formation; Stem Cells
Evidence is rapidly accumulating that the same genes are used by different organisms to regulate similar developmental processes. This raises the issue of the evolution of developmental mechanisms. Which mechanisms arose early and were conserved through evolution, and which arose later? Since coelenterates, of which hydra is a member, arose very early in metazoan evolution, the organism is strategically placed to examine this issue. Further, the processes governing pattern formation and cell fate determination are well understood in hydra at a tissue and cellular level. Because the body plan is simple, the patterning processes are few, and there is a reasonable chance of understanding the entire circuitry required underlying the pattern forming events in hydra in terms of signals and cell response genes. Similarly the cell-cell interactions governing stem cells that give rise to several differentiation products is well-understood. The current emphasis is on understanding the commitment of a stem cell to a particular cell fate. With the assumption that fundamental regulatory elements of development arose early in metazoan evolution, we are focusing on classes of transcription factors and signals known to play similar roles in higher metazoans. A number of homeobox genes have been isolated and their role in hydra patterning and cell fate processes are being characterized.