Guoqiang Gu, Ph.D.

Professor

guoqiang.gu@vanderbilt.edu

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Faculty Appointments
Professor of Cell & Developmental Biology
Education
Ph.D., Molecular Genetics, Columbia University, New York, New YorkM.S., Protein Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, ChinaB.S., Biochemistry, Jilin University, Changchun, China
Office Address
2213 Garland Avenue, MRB4, Rm 9415
Nashville, TN 37232-8240
Research Description
We study how pancreatic islet beta cells are made and how they function and survive over a long life-span. We use mouse and human donor islets as models.
Four major islet cell types reside in the pancreatic islets. They are alpha, beta, delta, and PP cells that secrete glucagon, insulin, somatostatin, and pancreatic polypeptide, respectively. Dysfunction of islet cells, especially the insulin secreting beta cells, results in diabetes. Paradoxically, insulin secretion per se makes beta cells vulnerable to secretion-induced death and dysfunction, presumably via over-activation of stress response genes (SRGs). Our goals are to unravel the molecular and cellular mechanisms that allow the generation and maintenance of sufficient functional beta-cell mass in each individual to prevent the development of diabetes.
Our current studies focus on:
1. Establishing how genetic and epigenetic factors pre-determine postnatal functional ß-cell mass and the risk of diabetes. It is well established that several metabolic diseases, including diabetes, is greatly influenced by the maternal environments, best known as “Developmental Origin of Health and Disease – DOHaD”. We have shown that modulating the DNA enhancer methylation patterns in islet progenitors can impact the proliferation and secretion capacity of postnatal beta cells. Our current studies are to define the specific epigenetic modifications that predetermine postnatal beta-cell fitness (i.e., the ability to enhance their proliferation and secretion under stimulation).

2. Determining how ß-cells selectively repress failure-causing SRGs. For sustainable function, each ß cell has to synthesize millions of proinsulin molecules, with ~20% of these misfolded in the ER, causing ER stress and dysfunction. High glucose metabolism, the trigger of insulin secretion, will induce overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that cause beta-cell dysfunction. Thus, beta cells activate stress responses to remove misfolded proteins and ROS. However, the SRGs cannot be overactivated, which would have caused cell dysfunction and/or death. We have shown that a family of transcription factors, (Myelin transcription factors or Myt TFs) guards against SRG overactivation. Our current studies is test if eliminating the Myt TF protection predisposes human ß cells to workload-induced failure and diabetes.

3. Determining the mechanisms and physiological roles of MT regulation in ß cells. Microtubules (MTs) are tubulin-assembled biopolymers that act as a high way for long-range vesicular transport. Thus, the conventional view is that the ß cells use MTs growing out of the centrosome to transport insulin vesicles from the cell interior to underneath the plasma membrane for secretion. In contrast, we recently showed that the beta-cell MTs form a non-directional meshwork that is unsuitable for directional cargo transport, but they act as a “trap” for insulin vesicles to present over secretion. Our current studies are examining the molecular players that can regulate MT activities and how MT-deregulation causes ß-cell failure and diabetes, including study the roles of several motor proteins and microtubule associated proteins in this process.

Clinical Description
We study pancreatic beta cell development and function. One of our main interests is to examine the gene expression alteration when beta cells are subject to stress and dysfunction. We further determine whether such markers, such as miRNA, can be leaked into plasma as biomarkers.
Research Keywords
Single-cell RNAseq, Pseudo time, trajectory analysis, beta cells, insulin, pancreatic development, diabetes, stem cells, CHIP, RNAseq, Stress response, lineage tracing, microRNAs, vesicle transport and docking, microtubules, epigenetics, DNA methylation, Developmental Origin of Health and Disease, Alzheimer's disease, hypothalamus.
Clinical Research Keywords
Diabetes, hyperglycemia, Alzheimer's disease.
Publications
Altman MK, Schaub CM, Dadi PK, Dickerson MT, Zaborska KE, Nakhe AY, Graff SM, Galletta TJ, Amarnath G, Thorson AS, Gu G, Jacobson DA. TRPM7 is a crucial regulator of pancreatic endocrine development and high-fat-diet-induced ß-cell proliferation. Development [print-electronic]. 2021 Aug 8/15/2021; 148(16): PMID: 34345920, PII: 271182, DOI: 10.1242/dev.194928, ISSN: 1477-9129.

Osipovich AB, Dudek KD, Greenfest-Allen E, Cartailler JP, Manduchi E, Potter Case L, Choi E, Chapman AG, Clayton HW, Gu G, Stoeckert CJ, Magnuson MA. A developmental lineage-based gene co-expression network for mouse pancreatic ß-cells reveals a role for Zfp800 in pancreas development. Development. 2021 Mar 3/21/2021; 148(6): PMID: 33653874, PMCID: PMC8015253, PII: dev.196964, DOI: 10.1242/dev.196964, ISSN: 1477-9129.

West HL, Corbin KL, D'Angelo CV, Donovan LM, Jahan I, Gu G, Nunemaker CS. Postnatal maturation of calcium signaling in islets of Langerhans from neonatal mice. Cell Calcium [print-electronic]. 2021 Mar; 94: 102339. PMID: 33422769, PII: S0143-4160(20)30181-0, DOI: 10.1016/j.ceca.2020.102339, ISSN: 1532-1991.

Hu R, Zhu X, Yuan M, Ho KH, Kaverina I, Gu G. Microtubules and Gao-signaling modulate the preferential secretion of young insulin secretory granules in islet ß cells via independent pathways. PLoS One. 2021; 16(7): e0241939. PMID: 34292976, PMCID: PMC8297875, PII: PONE-D-20-33149, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241939, ISSN: 1932-6203.

Sanavia T, Huang C, Manduchi E, Xu Y, Dadi PK, Potter LA, Jacobson DA, Di Camillo B, Magnuson MA, Stoeckert CJ, Gu G. Temporal Transcriptome Analysis Reveals Dynamic Gene Expression Patterns Driving ß-Cell Maturation. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2021; 9: 648791. PMID: 34017831, PMCID: PMC8129579, DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2021.648791, ISSN: 2296-634X.

Ho KH, Yang X, Osipovich AB, Cabrera O, Hayashi ML, Magnuson MA, Gu G, Kaverina I. Glucose Regulates Microtubule Disassembly and the Dose of Insulin Secretion via Tau Phosphorylation. Diabetes [print-electronic]. 2020 Sep; 69(9): 1936-47. PMID: 32540877, PMCID: PMC7458041, PII: db19-1186, DOI: 10.2337/db19-1186, ISSN: 1939-327X.

Yang X, Graff SM, Heiser CN, Ho KH, Chen B, Simmons AJ, Southard-Smith AN, David G, Jacobson DA, Kaverina I, Wright CVE, Lau KS, Gu G. Coregulator Sin3a Promotes Postnatal Murine ß-Cell Fitness by Regulating Genes in Ca2+ Homeostasis, Cell Survival, Vesicle Biosynthesis, Glucose Metabolism, and Stress Response. Diabetes [print-electronic]. 2020 Jun; 69(6): 1219-31. PMID: 32245798, PMCID: PMC7243292, PII: db19-0721, DOI: 10.2337/db19-0721, ISSN: 1939-327X.

Hu R, Walker E, Huang C, Xu Y, Weng C, Erickson GE, Coldren A, Yang X, Brissova M, Kaverina I, Balamurugan AN, Wright CVE, Li Y, Stein R, Gu G. Myt Transcription Factors Prevent Stress-Response Gene Overactivation to Enable Postnatal Pancreatic ß Cell Proliferation, Function, and Survival. Dev Cell [print-electronic]. 2020 May 5/18/2020; 53(4): 390-405.e10. PMID: 32359405, PMCID: PMC7278035, PII: S1534-5807(20)30270-7, DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2020.04.003, ISSN: 1878-1551.

Bracey KM, Ho KH, Yampolsky D, Gu G, Kaverina I, Holmes WR. Microtubules Regulate Localization and Availability of Insulin Granules in Pancreatic Beta Cells. Biophys J [print-electronic]. 2020 Jan 1/7/2020; 118(1): 193-206. PMID: 31839261, PMCID: PMC6950633, PII: S0006-3495(19)30881-1, DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2019.10.031, ISSN: 1542-0086.

Trogden KP, Zhu X, Lee JS, Wright CVE, Gu G, Kaverina I. Regulation of Glucose-Dependent Golgi-Derived Microtubules by cAMP/EPAC2 Promotes Secretory Vesicle Biogenesis in Pancreatic ß Cells. Curr Biol [print-electronic]. 2019 Jul 7/22/2019; 29(14): 2339-2350.e5. PMID: 31303487, PMCID: PMC6698911, PII: S0960-9822(19)30759-6, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.06.032, ISSN: 1879-0445.

Liu J, Banerjee A, Herring CA, Attalla J, Hu R, Xu Y, Shao Q, Simmons AJ, Dadi PK, Wang S, Jacobson DA, Liu B, Hodges E, Lau KS, Gu G. Neurog3-Independent Methylation Is the Earliest Detectable Mark Distinguishing Pancreatic Progenitor Identity. Dev Cell. 2019 Jan 1/7/2019; 48(1): 49-63.e7. PMID: 30620902, PMCID: PMC6327977, PII: S1534-5807(18)31032-3, DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2018.11.048, ISSN: 1878-1551.

Bankaitis ED, Bechard ME, Gu G, Magnuson MA, Wright CVE. ROCK-nmMyoII, Notch and Neurog3 gene-dosage link epithelial morphogenesis with cell fate in the pancreatic endocrine-progenitor niche. Development. 2018 Sep 9/21/2018; 145(18): PMID: 30126902, PMCID: PMC6176929, PII: dev.162115, DOI: 10.1242/dev.162115, ISSN: 1477-9129.

Huang C, Walker EM, Dadi PK, Hu R, Xu Y, Zhang W, Sanavia T, Mun J, Liu J, Nair GG, Tan HYA, Wang S, Magnuson MA, Stoeckert CJ, Hebrok M, Gannon M, Han W, Stein R, Jacobson DA, Gu G. Synaptotagmin 4 Regulates Pancreatic ß Cell Maturation by Modulating the Ca2+ Sensitivity of Insulin Secretion Vesicles. Dev Cell [print-electronic]. 2018 May 5/7/2018; 45(3): 347-361.e5. PMID: 29656931, PMCID: PMC5962294, PII: S1534-5807(18)30233-8, DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2018.03.013, ISSN: 1878-1551.

Sasaki A, Nagatake T, Egami R, Gu G, Takigawa I, Ikeda W, Nakatani T, Kunisawa J, Fujita Y. Obesity Suppresses Cell-Competition-Mediated Apical Elimination of RasV12-Transformed Cells from Epithelial Tissues. Cell Rep. 2018 Apr 4/24/2018; 23(4): 974-82. PMID: 29694905, PMCID: PMC6314181, PII: S2211-1247(18)30480-7, DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2018.03.104, ISSN: 2211-1247.

Kim DS, Song L, Wang J, Wu H, Gu G, Sugi Y, Li Z, Wang H. GRP94 Is an Essential Regulator of Pancreatic ß-Cell Development, Mass, and Function in Male Mice. Endocrinology. 2018 Feb 2/1/2018; 159(2): 1062-73. PMID: 29272356, PMCID: PMC5793778, PII: 4764023, DOI: 10.1210/en.2017-00685, ISSN: 1945-7170.

Petrenko V, Saini C, Giovannoni L, Gobet C, Sage D, Unser M, Heddad Masson M, Gu G, Bosco D, Gachon F, Philippe J, Dibner C. Pancreatic a- and ß-cellular clocks have distinct molecular properties and impact on islet hormone secretion and gene expression. Genes Dev [print-electronic]. 2017 Feb 2/15/2017; 31(4): 383-98. PMID: 28275001, PMCID: PMC5358758, PII: gad.290379.116, DOI: 10.1101/gad.290379.116, ISSN: 1549-5477.

Huang C, Gu G. Effective Isolation of Functional Islets from Neonatal Mouse Pancreas. J Vis Exp. 2017 Jan 1/6/2017; (119): PMID: 28117808, PMCID: PMC5408776, DOI: 10.3791/55160, ISSN: 1940-087X.

Conrad E, Dai C, Spaeth J, Guo M, Cyphert HA, Scoville D, Carroll J, Yu WM, Goodrich LV, Harlan DM, Grove KL, Roberts CT, Powers AC, Gu G, Stein R. The MAFB transcription factor impacts islet a-cell function in rodents and represents a unique signature of primate islet ß-cells. Am. J. Physiol. Endocrinol. Metab [print-electronic]. 2016 Jan 1/1/2016; 310(1): E91-E102. PMID: 26554594, PMCID: PMC4675799, PII: ajpendo.00285.2015, DOI: 10.1152/ajpendo.00285.2015, ISSN: 1522-1555.

Gross S, Balderes D, Liu J, Asfaha S, Gu G, Wang TC, Sussel L. Nkx2.2 is expressed in a subset of enteroendocrine cells with expanded lineage potential. Am. J. Physiol. Gastrointest. Liver Physiol [print-electronic]. 2015 Dec 12/15/2015; 309(12): G975-87. PMID: 26492922, PMCID: PMC4683302, PII: ajpgi.00244.2015, DOI: 10.1152/ajpgi.00244.2015, ISSN: 1522-1547.

Zhu X, Hu R, Brissova M, Stein RW, Powers AC, Gu G, Kaverina I. Microtubules Negatively Regulate Insulin Secretion in Pancreatic ß Cells. Dev. Cell. 2015 Sep 9/28/2015; 34(6): 656-68. PMID: 26418295, PMCID: PMC4594944, PII: S1534-5807(15)00554-7, DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2015.08.020, ISSN: 1878-1551.

Kao DI, Lacko LA, Ding BS, Huang C, Phung K, Gu G, Rafii S, Stuhlmann H, Chen S. Endothelial cells control pancreatic cell fate at defined stages through EGFL7 signaling. Stem Cell Reports [print-electronic]. 2015 Feb 2/10/2015; 4(2): 181-9. PMID: 25601205, PMCID: PMC4325230, PII: S2213-6711(14)00385-3, DOI: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2014.12.008, ISSN: 2213-6711.

Chera S, Baronnier D, Ghila L, Cigliola V, Jensen JN, Gu G, Furuyama K, Thorel F, Gribble FM, Reimann F, Herrera PL. Diabetes recovery by age-dependent conversion of pancreatic d-cells into insulin producers. Nature [print-electronic]. 2014 Oct 10/23/2014; 514(7523): 503-7. PMID: 25141178, PMCID: PMC4209186, PII: nature13633, DOI: 10.1038/nature13633, ISSN: 1476-4687.

Yanger K, Knigin D, Zong Y, Maggs L, Gu G, Akiyama H, Pikarsky E, Stanger BZ. Adult hepatocytes are generated by self-duplication rather than stem cell differentiation. Cell Stem Cell [print-electronic]. 2014 Sep 9/4/2014; 15(3): 340-9. PMID: 25130492, PMCID: PMC4505916, PII: S1934-5909(14)00251-3, DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2014.06.003, ISSN: 1875-9777.

Sancho R, Gruber R, Gu G, Behrens A. Loss of Fbw7 reprograms adult pancreatic ductal cells into a, d, and ß cells. Cell Stem Cell. 2014 Aug 8/7/2014; 15(2): 139-53. PMID: 25105579, PMCID: PMC4136739, PII: S1934-5909(14)00295-1, DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2014.06.019, ISSN: 1875-9777.

Baeyens L, Lemper M, Leuckx G, De Groef S, Bonfanti P, Stangé G, Shemer R, Nord C, Scheel DW, Pan FC, Ahlgren U, Gu G, Stoffers DA, Dor Y, Ferrer J, Gradwohl G, Wright CV, Van de Casteele M, German MS, Bouwens L, Heimberg H. Transient cytokine treatment induces acinar cell reprogramming and regenerates functional beta cell mass in diabetic mice. Nat. Biotechnol [print-electronic]. 2014 Jan; 32(1): 76-83. PMID: 24240391, PMCID: PMC4096987, PII: nbt.2747, DOI: 10.1038/nbt.2747, ISSN: 1546-1696.

Arcidiacono B, Iiritano S, Chiefari E, Brunetti FS, Gu G, Foti DP, Brunetti A. Cooperation between HMGA1, PDX-1, and MafA is Essential for Glucose-Induced Insulin Transcription in Pancreatic Beta Cells. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2014; 5: 237. PMID: 25628604, PMCID: PMC4292585, DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2014.00237, ISSN: 1664-2392.

Liu J, Willet SG, Bankaitis ED, Xu Y, Wright CV, Gu G. Non-parallel recombination limits Cre-LoxP-based reporters as precise indicators of conditional genetic manipulation. Genesis [print-electronic]. 2013 Jun; 51(6): 436-42. PMID: 23441020, PMCID: PMC3696028, DOI: 10.1002/dvg.22384, ISSN: 1526-968X.

Takuya Sugiyama, Cecil M. Benitez, Amar Ghodasara, Lucy Liu, Graeme W. McLean, Jonghyeob Lee, Timothy A. Blauwkamp, Roeland Nusse, Christopher V. E. Wright, Guoqiang Gu, and Seung K. Kima,. Reconstituting pancreas development from purified progenitor cells reveals genes essential for islet differentiation. 2013.

Maia AR, Zhu X, Miller P, Gu G, Maiato H, Kaverina I. Modulation of Golgi-associated microtubule nucleation throughout the cell cycle. Cytoskeleton (Hoboken) [print-electronic]. 2013 Jan; 70(1): 32-43. PMID: 23027431, PMCID: PMC3574797, DOI: 10.1002/cm.21079, ISSN: 1949-3592.

He W, Xie Q, Wang Y, Chen J, Zhao M, Davis LS, Breyer MD, Gu G, Hao CM. Generation of a tenascin-C-CreER2 knockin mouse line for conditional DNA recombination in renal medullary interstitial cells. PLoS ONE. 2013; 8(11): e79839. PMID: 24244568, PMCID: PMC3823583, PII: PONE-D-13-32413, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0079839, ISSN: 1932-6203.

Magenheim J, Klein AM, Stanger BZ, Ashery-Padan R, Sosa-Pineda B, Gu G, Dor Y. Ngn3(+) endocrine progenitor cells control the fate and morphogenesis of pancreatic ductal epithelium. Dev Biol [print-electronic]. 2011 Nov 11/1/2011; 359(1): 26-36. PMID: 21888903, PMCID: PMC3746519, PII: S0012-1606(11)01193-6, DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2011.08.006, ISSN: 1095-564X.

Ray KC, Bell KM, Yan J, Gu G, Chung CH, Washington MK, Means AL. Epithelial tissues have varying degrees of susceptibility to Kras(G12D)-initiated tumorigenesis in a mouse model. PLoS ONE. 2011; 6(2): e16786. PMID: 21311774, PMCID: PMC3032792, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0016786, ISSN: 1932-6203.

Zhao A, Ohara-Imaizumi M, Brissova M, Benninger RK, Xu Y, Hao Y, Abramowitz J, Boulay G, Powers AC, Piston D, Jiang M, Nagamatsu S, Birnbaumer L, Gu G. Gao represses insulin secretion by reducing vesicular docking in pancreatic beta-cells. Diabetes [print-electronic]. 2010 Oct; 59(10): 2522-9. PMID: 20622165, PMCID: PMC3279551, PII: db09-1719, DOI: 10.2337/db09-1719, ISSN: 1939-327X.

Wang S, Yan J, Anderson DA, Xu Y, Kanal MC, Cao Z, Wright CV, Gu G. Neurog3 gene dosage regulates allocation of endocrine and exocrine cell fates in the developing mouse pancreas. Dev. Biol [print-electronic]. 2010 Mar 3/1/2010; 339(1): 26-37. PMID: 20025861, PMCID: PMC2824035, PII: S0012-1606(09)01398-0, DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2009.12.009, ISSN: 1095-564X.

Wang S, Jensen JN, Seymour PA, Hsu W, Dor Y, Sander M, Magnuson MA, Serup P, Gu G. Sustained Neurog3 expression in hormone-expressing islet cells is required for endocrine maturation and function. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A [print-electronic]. 2009 Jun 6/16/2009; 106(24): 9715-20. PMID: 19487660, PMCID: PMC2701002, PII: 0904247106, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0904247106, ISSN: 1091-6490.

Artner I, Hang Y, Guo M, Gu G, Stein R. MafA is a dedicated activator of the insulin gene in vivo. J. Endocrinol [print-electronic]. 2008 Aug; 198(2): 271-9. PMID: 18515495, PMCID: PMC3787904, PII: JOE-08-0063, DOI: 10.1677/JOE-08-0063, ISSN: 1479-6805.

Means AL, Xu Y, Zhao A, Ray KC, Gu G. A CK19(CreERT) knockin mouse line allows for conditional DNA recombination in epithelial cells in multiple endodermal organs. Genesis. 2008 Jun; 46(6): 318-23. PMID: 18543299, PMCID: PMC3735352, DOI: 10.1002/dvg.20397, ISSN: 1526-968X.

Wang S, Hecksher-Sorensen J, Xu Y, Zhao A, Dor Y, Rosenberg L, Serup P, Gu G. Myt1 and Ngn3 form a feed-forward expression loop to promote endocrine islet cell differentiation. Dev. Biol [print-electronic]. 2008 May 5/15/2008; 317(2): 531-40. PMID: 18394599, PMCID: PMC2423199, PII: S0012-1606(08)00179-6, DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2008.02.052, ISSN: 1095-564X.

Wang S, Zhang J, Zhao A, Hipkens S, Magnuson MA, Gu G. Loss of Myt1 function partially compromises endocrine islet cell differentiation and pancreatic physiological function in the mouse. Mech. Dev [print-electronic]. 2007 Nov; 124(11-12): 898-910. PMID: 17928203, PMCID: PMC2141686, PII: S0925-4773(07)00147-5, DOI: 10.1016/j.mod.2007.08.004, ISSN: 0925-4773.

Gu G, Yuan J, Wills M, Kasper S. Prostate cancer cells with stem cell characteristics reconstitute the original human tumor in vivo. Cancer Res. 2007 May 5/15/2007; 67(10): 4807-15. PMID: 17510410, PII: 67/10/4807, DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-06-4608, ISSN: 0008-5472.

Johansson KA, Dursun U, Jordan N, Gu G, Beermann F, Gradwohl G, Grapin-Botton A. Temporal control of neurogenin3 activity in pancreas progenitors reveals competence windows for the generation of different endocrine cell types. Dev. Cell. 2007 Mar; 12(3): 457-65. PMID: 17336910, PII: S1534-5807(07)00061-5, DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2007.02.010, ISSN: 1534-5807.

Xu Y, Xu G, Liu B, Gu G. Cre reconstitution allows for DNA recombination selectively in dual-marker-expressing cells in transgenic mice. Nucleic Acids Res [print-electronic]. 2007; 35(19): e126. PMID: 17893102, PMCID: PMC2095822, PII: gkm559, DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkm559, ISSN: 1362-4962.

Xu Y, Wang S, Zhang J, Zhao A, Stanger BZ, Gu G. The fringe molecules induce endocrine differentiation in embryonic endoderm by activating cMyt1/cMyt3. Dev. Biol [print-electronic]. 2006 Sep 9/15/2006; 297(2): 340-9. PMID: 16920096, PII: S0012-1606(06)00753-6, DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2006.04.456, ISSN: 0012-1606.

Nikolova G, Jabs N, Konstantinova I, Domogatskaya A, Tryggvason K, Sorokin L, Fässler R, Gu G, Gerber HP, Ferrara N, Melton DA, Lammert E. The vascular basement membrane: a niche for insulin gene expression and Beta cell proliferation. Dev. Cell. 2006 Mar; 10(3): 397-405. PMID: 16516842, PII: S1534-5807(06)00061-X, DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2006.01.015, ISSN: 1534-5807.

Emtage L, Gu G, Hartwieg E, Chalfie M. Extracellular proteins organize the mechanosensory channel complex in C. elegans touch receptor neurons. Neuron. 2004 Dec 12/2/2004; 44(5): 795-807. PMID: 15572111, PII: S0896627304007251, DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2004.11.010, ISSN: 0896-6273.

Gu G, Wells JM, Dombkowski D, Preffer F, Aronow B, Melton DA. Global expression analysis of gene regulatory pathways during endocrine pancreatic development. Development [print-electronic]. 2004 Jan; 131(1): 165-79. PMID: 14660441, PII: dev.00921, DOI: 10.1242/dev.00921, ISSN: 0950-1991.

Gu G, Brown JR, Melton DA. Direct lineage tracing reveals the ontogeny of pancreatic cell fates during mouse embryogenesis. Mech. Dev. 2003 Jan; 120(1): 35-43. PMID: 12490294, PII: S0925477302003301, ISSN: 0925-4773.

Lammert E, Gu G, McLaughlin M, Brown D, Brekken R, Murtaugh LC, Gerber HP, Ferrara N, Melton DA. Role of VEGF-A in vascularization of pancreatic islets. Curr. Biol. 2003; 13((June 17)): 1070-4.

Gu G, Reyes PE, Golden GT, Woltjer RL, Hulette C, Montine TJ, Zhang J. Mitochondrial DNA deletions/rearrangements in parkinson disease and related neurodegenerative disorders. J. Neuropathol. Exp. Neurol. 2002 Jul; 61(7): 634-9. PMID: 12125742, ISSN: 0022-3069.

Gu G, Dubauskaite J, Melton DA. Direct evidence for the pancreatic lineage: NGN3+ cells are islet progenitors and are distinct from duct progenitors. Development. 2002 May; 129(10): 2447-57. PMID: 11973276, ISSN: 0950-1991.

Jiang P, Song J, Gu G, Slonimsky E, Li E, Rosenthal N. Deletion of the MLC1f/3f downstream enhancer results in precocious MLC expression and mesoderm ablation. Dev. Biol. 2002; 243((Mar. 15)): 281-93.

Hall DH, Gu G, García-Añoveros J, Gong L, Chalfie M, Driscoll M. Neuropathology of degenerative cell death in Caenorhabditis elegans. J. Neurosci. 1997 Feb 2/1/1997; 17(3): 1033-45. PMID: 8994058, ISSN: 0270-6474.

Gu G, Caldwell GA, Chalfie M. Genetic interactions affecting touch sensitivity in Caenorhabditis elegans. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 1996 Jun 6/25/1996; 93(13): 6577-82. PMID: 8692859, PMCID: PMC39067, ISSN: 0027-8424.

Du H, Gu G, William CM, Chalfie M. Extracellular proteins needed for C. elegans mechanosensation. Neuron. 1996 Jan; 16(1): 183-94. PMID: 8562083, PII: S0896-6273(00)80035-5, ISSN: 0896-6273.

Huang M, Gu G, Ferguson EL, Chalfie M. A stomatin-like protein necessary for mechanosensation in C. elegans. Nature. 1995 Nov 11/16/1995; 378(6554): 292-5. PMID: 7477350, DOI: 10.1038/378292a0, ISSN: 0028-0836.

Available Postdoctoral Position Details
Posted: 9/22/2014
One postdoctoral position available for studying endocrine islet cell development. Available projects includes: 1) characterizing genes expression during mouse pancreas development; 2) generating transgenic and knockout mice to evaluate gene function for endocrine islet development, beta cell maturation, and functional maintenance; 3) using chicken embryos to screen for genes required for endocrine cell differentiation, and 4) using cell lineage tracing methods to understand islet homeostasis and adult pancreatic stem/progenitor cells.