Cell and Developmental Biology University of Michigan

Research

Developmental neurobiology, molecular neurobiology studies of developing neuronal cell and synapses of the inner ear; neuronal regeneration in the inner ear; studies of Neurofibromatosis 1; stem cell studies of neuronal, Schwann cell and heart development

This laboratory works on four different developmental problems. We are interested in the early development of neuronal lineages from the embryonic neural crest; which appears transiently during development and which is a source of peripheral nervous system neurons, among many other cell types. We use specific monoclonal antibodies and no-flow cytometry to isolate neural crest subpopulations. We also study the role of the neurofibromatosis I gene (a tumor suppressor gene) in neural crest development and neuronal/ melanocyte/Schwann cell lineage specification and apoptosis, using mouse embryonic stem cells. An additional line of research examines the role of the embryonic hindbrain, periotic mesenchyme and neural crest in shaping inner ear development and the roles of transcription factor and growth factor genes (e.g. BMPs) and their antagonists, such as Noggin, Chordin and DAN, in axis formation and development of the embryonic otocyst. We examine these issues in four model systems:, chick/quail; mouse/ immortalized inner ear cell lines from the Immortomouse and the zebrafish.

Lab Members

• Yu-Chi Shen
  Research Investigator
• Andrew Chervenak
  Graduate Student
• Stephanie Linn
  Graduate Student
• Poornapriya Ramamurthy
  Graduate Student
• Matthew Wyatt
  Graduate Student
• Ibrahim Hakim
  Undergradate Student
• Brooks Kristina
  Undergradate Student

Publications

Representative Publications

• Gerlach-Bank, L.M., Cleveland, A.R. and Barald, K.F. (2004). DAN Directs Endolymphatic Sac and Duct Outgrowth in the Avian Inner Ear. DEVELOPMENTAL DYNAMICS 229:219-230.
• Barald, K.F. and Kelley, M.W. (2004). From Placode to Polarization: New Tunes in Development of the Inner Ear. Development 131: 4119-4130.
• Germiller, J.A., Smiley, E. C., Ellis, A.D., Hoff, J.S., Deshmukh, I., Allen, S.J. and Barald, K.F. (2004) Molecular characterization of conditionally-immortalized cell lines derived from early mouse embryonic inner ear. Developmental Dynamics In press.
• Thompson, D., Gerlach-Bank, L.M., Barald, K.F. and Koenig, R.J. (2003). Retinoic Acid Repression of BMP4 in Inner Ear Development. Molecular and Cellular Biology. 23: 2277-2286.
• Warner, S.J., Hutson, M.H., Oh, S.-H., Gerlach-Bank, L.M., Lomax, M.I. and Barald, K.F (2003). Expression of ZIC Genes in the Development of the Chick Inner Ear and Nervous System. Developmental Dynamics 226: 702-711.
• Gerlach-Bank, L.M., Ellis, A.D., Noonen, B. and Barald, K.F. (2002). Cloning and expression analysis of the chick DAN gene, an antagonist of the BMP family of growth factors. Dev. Dynam. 224: 109-115.
• Hutson MR, Lewis JE, Nguyen-Luu D, Lindberg KH, Barald KF: Expression of Pax-2 and patterning of chick inner ear. J. Neurocytol. 1999 Oct;28(10/11):795-807.
• Gerlach LM, Hutson MR, Germiller JA, Nguyen-Luu D, Barald KF: Addition of the BMP4 antagonist, noggin disrupts avian inner ear development. Development 127: 45-54, 2000. (published on the web, Dec. 8, 1999)
• Fritzsch B, Barald KF and Lomax MI: Early embryology of the vertebrate ear. In Rubel, E.W., Popper, A.N. and Fay, R.R., eds Development of the Auditory System. Springer Handbook of Auditory Research, 1997. pp. 80-145.
• Barald KF, Lindberg KH, Hardiman K, Kavka AI, Lewis JE, Victor JC, Gardner CA, Poniatowski A: Immortalized cell lines from embryonic avian and murine otocysts: tools for molecular studies of the developing inner ear. Int J Dev Neurosci. 1997 Jul;15(4-5):523-40.
• Shen, Y.-c., Jeyabalan, A.K., Wu, K.L., Hunker, K.L., Kohrman, D.C., Thompson, D.L., Liu, D. and Barald, K.F. (2008). The transmembrane inner ear (tmie) gene contributes to vestibular and lateral line development and function in the zebrafish (Danio rerio) Dev. Dynam. 237: 941-952.
• Shen, Y.-c., Li, D., Al-Shoaibi, A., Bersano-Begey, T., Chen, H., Ali, S., Flak, E.N., Perrin, C., Winslow, W.M., Shah, H., Ramamurthy, P., Schemdlen, R.H., Takayama, S. and Barald, K.F. (2009). Student team in a University of Michigan Biomedical Engineering design course constructs a microfluidic bioreactor for studies of zebrafish development. Zebrafish 6 (2): 201-213.
• Holmes, K.E., Shen, Y.-c., Wyatt, M. J., Thompson, D. L. and Barald, K.F. (2011). Injection and Electroporation of Morpholinos to the cytokine MIF into the Zebrafish inner ear affect inner ear sensory and neuronal development. J. Vis. Exp. http://www.jove.com/index/Details.stp?ID=2466. doi:10.3791/2466.
• Mosadegh B, Agarwal M, Tavana H, Bersano-Begey T, Torisawa YS, Morell M, Wyatt MJ, O'Shea KS, Barald KF, Takayama S. (2010). Uniform cell seeding and generation of overlapping gradient profiles in a multiplexed microchamber device with normally-closed valves. Lab Chip. 10(21):2959-64. Epub 2010 Sep 9.
• Shen, Y.-c., Thompson, D.L, Kuah, M-K, Wong, K-L, Wu, K.L., Linn, S.A., Jewett, E.M, Shu-Chien, A.C. Barald, KF. (2012). The cytokine macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) acts as a neurotrophin in the developing inner ear of the zebrafish, Danio rerio. Dev. Biol 363(1):84-94. Epub 2011 Dec 22.
• Bank LM, Bianchi LM, Ebisu F, Lerman-Sinkoff D, Smiley EC, Shen YC, Ramamurthy P, Thompson DL, Roth TM, Beck CR, Flynn M, Teller RS, Feng L, Llewellyn GN, Holmes B, Sharples C, Coutinho-Budd J, Linn SA, Chervenak AP, Dolan DF, Benson J, Kanicki A, Martin CA, Altschuler R, Koch AE, Jewett EM , Germiller JA , Barald KF. (2012). Development. 2012 Dec;139(24):4666-4674.