Image Carousel with 13 slides
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Slide 1: Tarsal depressor MN dendrites
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Slide 2: Series of embryos with Hox-Exd binding sites successively mutated in a reporter gene
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Slide 3: ""
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Slide 4: bithorax fly; photo credit: Nicolas Gompel
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Slide 5: ""
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Slide 8: Stochastic flybow labeling of individual neuropil glia
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Slide 9: Human towers of Catalonia by David Oliete
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Slide 10: A fly leg imaginal disc
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Slide 11: Four x-ray structures of AbdB-Exd bound to four different binding sites
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Slide 12: Single serotonergic neurons in the fly VNC
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Slide 13: bithorax fly side view; photo by Nicolas Gompel
Active Research Projects
The Control of Transcription Factor Specificity and Activity
We study how transcription factors bind to the correct DNA sequences and regulate the correct target genes in vivo, with a focus on the Hox family of homeodomain proteins.
Motor Neuron Development and Circuitry
We are studying how the neural circuitry that is required for coordinated walking in adult flies is constructed during development, and how it functions in the adult.
Recent Publication
Transcription factor paralogs orchestrate alternative gene regulatory networks by context dependent cooperation with multiple cofactors
News
Two papers by Siqian Feng
Here is a very brief summary of two recent papers, published by Siqian Feng.
Brain Games: How the Mind Performs Under Pressure
A genomics perspective on the famous four-winged fly
In the 1950s and 1960s, Ed Lewis of Caltech discovered the homeodomain encoding genes we now refer to as the Hox genes. One of the most famous mutants that Lewis described is a mutant of the Hox gene Ultrabithorax (Ubx) where the third thoracic (T3) segment of the fly, which normally has a small pair of balancing appendages called halteres, is entirely transformed into a second copy of the second thoracic (T2) segment, with a complete pair of extra wings and second thoracic notum.
Photos
Neuropils of the Drosophila VNC
Dendrites and cell bodies of a pair of tarsal depressor motor neurons
Image from Manntastic event, June 14, 2019