August 2009: GDCB Faculty Clark Coffman and Jo Anne Powell-Coffman Receive CIAG Award

A Center for Integrated Animal Genomics (CIAG) grant entitled, “Investigating Links Between Hypoxia Signaling Networks and the Regulation of Cell Migration and Death During Animal Development” has been awarded to Professors Clark Coffman and Jo Anne Powell-Coffman.

Oxygen is critical to animal life. Hypoxic (low oxygen) conditions occur in normal tissues, during heart attacks and strokes, and in tumor formation. Cells must adapt to low oxygen in order to survive. The hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) has been shown to be the “master regulator” of oxygen-sensitive changes in gene expression in animals, and understanding how HIF is regulated has been one of the major goals of Dr. Powell-Coffman’s research group over the past several years. This collaborative project investigates the roles of hypoxia and HIF in the experimental system that Dr. Coffman and his colleagues have developed. The Coffman group employs the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster as a powerful genetic model system to study the genetic and cellular underpinnings of animal development and disease. Developing germ cells share certain key traits of metastatic cancer cells: they migrate across epithelial sheets to target tissues, and many germ cells are subject to programmed cell death. Elizabeth Asque (pictured here with Professors Coffman, left, and Powell-Coffman, right), a graduate student in the Interdepartmental Genetics program, will spearhead this project that will provide insights into how cells respond and adapt to low oxygen levels during migration, development, and disease.