Cordula Schulz
Research Investigator
Ph.D. Maximilian Ludwig
University of Munich, 1995
Tissue replenishment from stem cells, Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor, germ
cell tumor,
stem cell self-renewal
email cschulz@cshl.edu, phone
(516) 367 8881, fax (516) 367 8880
Tissue Replenishment from stem cells
Many highly differentiated cells, such as blood, skin and sperm, are
short-lived and must be constantly reproduced from stem cells. Stem cell
populations have to maintain a delicate balance between self-renewal
and differentiation. Upsetting this balance typically has disastrous
consequences, such as tumor-like growth or loss of the stem cell population.
Signaling through the Epidemal Growth Factor Receptor
In the male gonad of Drosophila melanogaster, stem cell self-renewal
and stem cell daughter differentiation depends on interactions with
the microenvironment. As in mammalian testes – germ cells are
embedded in somatic support cells. Signaling from germ cells to somatic
support cells through the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) is
essential for somatic support cells to enclose the germ cells, and
for normal behavior of the embedded germ cells. My research focuses
on three aspects of EGFR signaling: 1) how is the EGFR activated by
its ligands, 2) which adaptor proteins are involved in transducing
the signal, 3) what is the role of the mammalian EGFR signal transduction
pathway in tissue replenishment from stem cells.
Stem cell self-renewal
In another project, I study pathways that are specifically required for
stem cell self-renewal. Currently, I am focusing on two Drosophila
mutants – sodom and alderan – in which germ line stem cells
are lost after one initial round of spermatogenesis. The gene products
of sodom and alderan appear to be essential for intracellular trafficking,
indicating that they are stem cell intrinsic factors.
Selected Publications
Jones, D. L., Y. Yamashita, C. Schulz, and M. T. Fuller. 2004. Regulation
of stem cell self-renewal versus differentiation by a stem cell niche: Lessons
from the Drosophila male germ line. In Handbook of Embryonic Stem Cells, (R.
Lanza, J. Gearhart, B. Hogan, R. McKay, D. Melton, R. Pedersen, J. Thomson,
and M. West, eds.). Academic press.
Schulz ,C., C. G. Wood, D. L. Jones, S. Tazuke, and M. T. Fuller. 2002. Signaling
from germ cells mediated by the rhomboid homologue stet organizes encapsulation
by somatic support cells. Development 129, 4523-4534.
Schulz, C., L. Perezgasga, and M. T. Fuller. 2002. Genetic analysis of dPsa,
the Drosophila orthologue of puromycin-sensitive aminopeptidase, suggests redundancy
of aminopeptidases. Dev., Genes & Evol.211, 581-588.
Tazuke, S. I, C. Schulz, L. Gilboa, A. P. Mahowald, A. Guichard, A. Ephrussi,
M. Fogarty, C. Wood, R. Lehmann and M. T. Fuller. 2002. Gap junctions between
germ line and soma maintain early germ cell differentiation. Development 129,
2529-2539.
Kiger, A. A., D. L. Jones, C. Schulz, M. B. Rogers, and M. T. Fuller. 2001.
Signaling from a support cell niche specifies stem cell self-renewal via the
JAK-STAT pathway. Science 294, 2542-2545.
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