I am interested in understanding the regulation of growth.
Growth is one of the defining properties of life. Defective growth can lead to various disorders with different aetiologies. Examples in humans include the Human Growth Hormone (HGH) deficiency, Cushing’s syndrome, Intra-uterine Growth Retardation (IUGR), Russell Silver Syndrome, achondroplasia, and nutritional short stature. Thus investigating the basis of growth and its regulation is of great importance for better understanding of growth disorders and eventually for their treatment.
Growth is generally characterised by an increase in body size, the growth rate (time required to reach adulthood), and the progress of developmental differentiation. These independent events need to be tightly regulated and coordinated in order to ensure the successful completion of growth. A number of signalling mechanisms have been implicated in the regulation of different aspects of growth in C. elegans. We recently identified a substantial growth defect in worms with compromised IP3 signalling, in particular, we found that itr-1 regulates growth rate and size.
In order to understand how IP3 regulates growth we are performing suppressor/enhancer screens to identify genetic interactors, using RNAi and mutegenesis. The nature of these interactions will help us to define the physiological nature of the growth mechanism.
In addition, we are defining the site of action of itr-1 in the regulation of growth using a variety of genetic and transgenic techniques. Information from this approach together with information obtained from the screens will give valuable insights into the mechanistic basis of growth control.