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protein, sonic hedgehog and the Vitamin A derivative, retinoic
acid, in regulating the differentiation of rod and cone
photoreceptors. The aim is to better define the sources of these
factors in the developing retina and determine their effects on
photoreceptors and other retinal cells by using gain-of-function
and loss-of-function
approaches, including the
examination of specific zebrafish mutants and the creation of
transgenic zebrafish with inducible genes. This project receives
funding from the National Eye Institute.
Two other projects in the lab are receiving support from two
foundations: The Glaucoma Foundation, for the study of ganglion
cell regeneration in zebrafish; and The American Health
Assistance Foundation, for the pursuit of a zebrafish model for
age-related macular degeneration. These are both exciting new
directions for the laboratory as they apply knowledge of factors
involved in development of retinal cells to the analysis and
treatment of human visual disorders.
The laboratory also participates in an NSF-funded Research
Experience for Undergraduates program emphasizing computational
neuroscience. This program is highly interdisciplinary,
involving faculty from Biological Sciences, Electrical
Engineering and Computer Science. In summer 2004, 16
undergraduates from around the Northwest participated in the
program. Dr. Stenkamp is the director of the Neuroscience
Graduate Program at UI, and is on the Editorial Review Board for
Molecular Vision,
www.molvis.org/molvis, a
peer-reviewed and award-winning online journal of vision
research.
Biographical Information
Deborah L. Stenkamp is a
Northwest native (Boise, Idaho), and earned her BA degree in Biology from
Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA (1987), and received her Ph.D. degree in
Neuroscience from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD
(1993). From 1993-1997 she worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department
of Anatomy & Cell Biology, at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI. In
1997 she joined the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of
Idaho in Moscow, ID, and has been adjunct faculty with the VCAPP Neuroscience
graduate program.
Selected Publications
Prabhudesai SN, Cameron DA,
Stenkamp DL. 2005. Targeted effects of retinoic acid
signaling upon photoreceptor development in zebrafish.
Developmental Biology. 287(1):157-67
Stenkamp DL, Calderwood JL,
Van Niel EE, Daniels LM, and Gonzalez-Fernandez F. 2005. The
interphotoreceptor retinoid binding protein (IRBP) of the
chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus). Molecular Vision
11:833-845
S hupe
JM, Kristan DM, Austad SN, Stenkamp DL. 2006. The eye
of the laboratory mouse remains anatomically adapted for natural
conditions. Brain, Behavior and Evolution. 67:39-52
Stenkamp DL
and Frey RA. 2003. Extraretinal and retinal hedgehog signaling
sequentially regulate retinal neurogenesis in zebrafish.
Developmental Biology. 258(2):349-63
Stenkamp DL,
Frey RA, Mallory DE and Shupe EE. 2002. Embryonic retinal gene
expression in sonic-you mutant zebrafish.
Developmental Dynamics. 225:344-350.
Stenkamp DL, Powers MK,
Carney LH and Cameron DA. 2001. Evidence for two distinct
mechanisms of neurogenesis and cellular pattern formation in
regenerated goldfish retinas. Journal of Comparative
Neurology 431:363-381.
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