A large variety of diseases, both inherited and acquired, affect muscle tissues in humans. In order to prevent and/or treat such disease, it is necessary to understand the pathology at the cellular and molecular level. Because each step of muscle specification and differentiation translates to a progressive refinement of functional physiology, studying muscle development may lead to therapeutic insights. THE GOAL OF OUR LABORATORY IS TO ELUCIDATE THE SIGNALING NETWORKS THAT UNDERLIE MUSCLE MORPHOGENESIS.

Education

Ph.D., University of Washington, 2000

Research interests

Muscle Development and Morphogenesis in Zebrafish

A large variety of diseases, both inherited and acquired, affect muscle tissues in humans. In order to prevent and/or treat such disease, it is necessary to understand the pathology at the cellular and molecular level. Because each step of muscle specification and differentiation translates to a progressive refinement of functional physiology, studying muscle development may lead to therapeutic insights. THE GOAL OF OUR LABORATORY IS TO ELUCIDATE THE SIGNALING NETWORKS THAT UNDERLIE MUSCLE MORPHOGENESIS.

We study skeletal muscle morphogenesis during zebrafish development. Skeletal muscle is comprised of segmentally reiterated myotomes. Like the mammalian tendon, the zebrafish myotome boundary transduces force from muscle to the skeletal system. Thus, myotome boundary formation, as well as skeletal muscle morphogenesis, is critical for normal development and muscle function. Our research investigates the morphogenetic signaling networks that underlie skeletal muscle and myotome boundary formation.

The zebrafish is an excellent model system with which to integrate the genetic, molecular, and cell biological mechanisms that underlie muscle development. Because the signaling networks that regulate muscle development are remarkably conserved among vertebrates, our studies may lead to novel insights into development of therapeutics for muscle and tendon diseases.

Cell and molecular mechanisms that underlie fast muscle cell elongation

TMuscle precursor cells begin as rounded cells that elongate to form long muscle fibers. This elongation is necessary for efficient actin-mediated contractility and thus normal muscle function. However, it is not known either how muscle precursor cells elongate or what proteins are required for muscle cell elongation. We are studying this important question.

Cell and molecular mechanisms that underlie myotome boundary morphogenesis

The myotome boundary functions as the major attachment site for skeletal muscle fibers and transmits force to the skeletal system. Despite its critical importance, myotome boundary morphogenesis is not well understood. We are currently investigating signaling pathways involved in myotome boundary morphogenesis.

Publications

• Snow, C.J. and Henry, C.A. (2009) Dynamic formation of microenvironments at the myotendinous junction correlates with muscle fiber morhogenesis in zebrafish. Gene Expression Patterns, 9:37-42.
• Snow, C.J., Goody, M., Kelly, M.W., Oster, E.C., Jones, R., Khalil, A., and Henry, C.A. (2008) Time-lapse analysis and mathematical characterization elucidate novel mechanisms underlying muscle morphogenesis. PLoS Genetics, 4(10):e1000219
• Snow, C.J., Peterson, M.T., Khalil, A., and Henry, C.A. (2008) Muscle development is disrupted in zebrafish embryos deficient for Fibronectin. Developmental Dynamics, 237 (9): 2542-53
• Kok, F.O., Oster, E., Mentzer, L., Hsieh, J., Henry, C.A., Sirotkin, H.I. (2007) The role of the SPT6 chromatin remodeling factor in zebrafish embryogenesis. Developmental Biology, 307: 214-226
• Henry, C.A., Poage, C.T., McCarthy, M.B., Campos-Ortega, J., and Cooper, M.S. (2005) Segmentation is Regionally Autonomous within the Zebrafish Presomitic Mesoderm Zebrafish, 2(1):7-14.
• Henry, C.A., McNulty, I.M., Durst, W.A., Munchel, S.E., and Amacher, S.L. (2005) Interactions Between Muscle Fibers and Segment Boundaries in Zebrafish. Developmental Biology, 287(2): 346-60
• Henry, C.A., and Amacher, S.L. (2004) Zebrafish slow muscle migration induces a wave of fast muscle morphogenesis. Developmental Cell 7 (6) 917-923
• Crawford, B.C., Henry, C.A., Todd, C., and Hille, M.B. (2003) Roles for Paxillin, Focal Adhesion Kinase, and Cadherin in early morphogenesis of Zebrafish embryos. Molecular Biology of the Cell, 14: 3065-3081.
• Henry, C.A., Urban, M.K., Dill, K.K., Merlie, J.P., Page, M.F., Kimmel, C.B., and Amacher, S.L. (2002) Two linked hairy/Enhancer of split-related zebrafish genes, her1 and her7, function together to refine alternating somite boundaries. Development 129:3693-3704
• Henry, C.A., Crawford, B.D., Yan, Y., Postlethwait, J., Cooper, M.S., and Hille, M.B. (2001) Roles for Zebrafish Focal Adhesion Kinase in Notochord and Somite Morphogenesis. Developmental Biology 240, 474-487
• Henry, C.A., Hall, L.A., Hille, M.B., Solnica-Krezel, L., and Cooper, M.S. (2000) Somites in zebrafish doubly mutant for knypek and trilobite form without internal mesenchymal cells or compaction. Current Biology 10: 1063-1066
• Cooper, M.S., DAmico, L.A., and Henry, C.A. (1999) Confocal Microscopic Analysis of Morphogenetic Movements. In Methods in Cell Biology vol 59.
• Cooper, M.S., DAmico, L.A., and Henry, C.A. (1999) Analyzing Morphogenetic Cell Behaviors in Vitally Stained Zebrafish Embryos. In Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 122: Confocal Microscopy and Protocols.

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