Jeremy Nance
Position title: Professor
Email: jfnance@wisc.edu
Address:
Cell and Regenerative Biology
How cell interactions regulate organ formation during embryogenesis, using C. elegans as a genetic model system.
- Address
- 1525 Linden Drive, 321 Bock Labs
- Lab Website
- https://nancelab.crb.wisc.edu/research/
Research Description:
The animal body plan develops during the early stages of embryogenesis, when cells move to appropriate positions and assemble into tissues and organs. Our laboratory uses the model organism C. elegans to investigate these early developmental events, focusing on how interactions between cells regulate cell polarity and morphogenesis. Our research addresses how contacts between cells in the early embryo induce an apicobasal polarity that is important for gastrulation movements; how cells hollow their cytoplasm to form tiny tubes; and how interactions between primordial germ cells and their surrounding niche regulate early germ cell development and mitochondrial content. These studies take advantage of high-resolution live microscopy and the powerful genetic approaches that are possible in C. elegans, including CRISPR, cell-specific protein depletion, and genetic screening combined with whole genome sequencing to identify mutations. Our lab is located within the University of Wisconsin’s Center for Quantitative Cell Imaging – a multidisciplinary collaborative center for imaging of molecules, cells, and tissues, and for the development of imaging technology – and is a member of the Department of Cell and Regenerative Biology.
Representative Publications:
D. Klompstra, D. C. Anderson, J. Y. Yeh, Y. Zilberman, and J. Nance (2015). An instructive role for C. elegans E-cadherin in translating cell contact cues into cortical polarity. Nature Cell Biology 17: 726-735. PMC4449804.
J. Abrams and J. Nance (2021). A polarity pathway for exocyst-dependent intracellular tube extension. eLife 10:e65169. PMC8021397.
A. Z. A. Schwartz and J. Nance (2022). Independent regulation of mitochondrial DNA quantity and quality in Caenorhabditis elegans primordial germ cells. eLife 11: e80396. PMC9536838.
D. C. McIntyre and J. Nance (2023). Niche cells regulate primordial germ cell quiescence in response to basement membrane signaling. Development 150: dev201640. PMC10445801
A. E. Hall, D. Klompstra, and J. Nance (2024). C. elegans Afadin is required for epidermal morphogenesis and functionally interfaces with the cadherin-catenin complex and RhoGAP PAC-1/ARHGAP21. Developmental Biology 511:12-25. doi: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2024.03.007. PMC10402129