Cell and Developmental Biology University of Michigan

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.

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.