Research Interests

The Blair laboratory studies developmental patterning, using as a model system the wing of the fruitfly, Drosophila melanogaster. The laboratory uses a combination of molecular genetic and biochemical techniques to examine the roles of cell lineage and cell signaling in the choice of cell fate in the developing wing epithelium. In recent years our work has centered around 1) the bases of “compartmental” lineage restrictions; 2) the extracellular modulation of the BMP and Hedgehog signaling pathways by novel ligand-binding proteins, and 3) the regulation of growth, proximo-distal patterning and planar cell polarity by the large protocadherins Dachsous and Fat.

Teaching

Courses:

Zoology 151 - Introductory Biology
Zoology 523 - Neurobiology
Zoology 625 - Development of the Nervous System
Zoology 965 - Seminars in Developmental Biology

Graduate students currently supervised:

Dave Olson ( djolson2@students.wisc.edu )
    Zoology Ph.D. student - The identification and characterization of detached mutations, and their roles in crossvein development and BMP signaling in Drosophila.

Andrei S. Avanesov ( avanesov@wisc.edu )
   Genetics Ph.D. student - Hedgehog signaling and compartmentalization during wing disc development in the wing of Drosophila.

Jun Chen ( jchen24@wisc.edu )
   Genetics Ph.D. student - The role of cv-2 and cv-d mutants in BMP signaling in the formation of the crossveins of Drosophila.

Graduate students supervised who earned graduate degrees:

Craig Micchelli (Ph.D. Neuroscience Training Program, 1999)
     Mechanisms of pattern formation in the wing imaginal disc of Drosophila : A study of cell signaling at the dorso-ventral boundary using genetic mosaic analysis.

Catherine Conley (Ph.D. Zoology, 2000) Abstract
     Molecular and genetic analysis of cross vein patterning in the wing of Drosophila melanogaster.

Amy Ralston (Ph.D. Zoology, 2004) Abstract
     The role of signaling pathways in the specification of veins and lineage boundaries in the wing of Drosophila .

Catherine A. Miller (Ph.D. CMB, 2004)
    shifted , the Drosophila homolog of the human Wnt inhibitory factor 1, is involved in the Hedgehog signaling pathway.

W. Elizabeth Jones (M.S. CMB, 2004)
    The cv-d and det loci: mapping and characterization of genetic interactions with the crossveinless loci cv, cv-2 and cv-c”.

Selected Publications

• O'Connor, M.B., Umulis, D., Othmer, H. and Blair, S.S. (2006). Shaping BMP morphogen gradients in the Drosophila embryo and pupal wing. Development 133, 183-193

• Shimmi, O.*, Ralston, A.*, Blair, S.S., and O'Connor, M.B. (2005). The crossveinless gene encodes a new member of the Twisted gastrulation family of BMP binding proteins which, with Short gastrulation, promotes BMP signaling in the crossveins of the Drosophila wing. Dev. Biol. 282, 70-83. (*co-first authors)

• Serpe, M., Ralston, A., Blair, S.S., and O'Connor, M.B. (2005). Matching catalytic activity to developmental function: Tolloid-related processes Sog to help specify the posterior crossvein in the Drosophila wing. Development 132, 2645-2656.

• Ralston, A., and Blair, S.S. (2005). Long-range Dpp signaling is regulated to restrict BMP signaling to a crossvein competent zone. Dev. Biol. 280, 187-200.

• Blair, S.S. (2005). Cell Signaling: Wingless and Glypicans together again. Curr. Biol. 15, R92-R94.

• Glise, B.*, Miller, C.A.*, Crozatzier, M., Halbisen, M.A., Wise, S., Olson, D., Vincent, A., and Blair, S.S. (2005). Shifted, the Drosophila orthologue of Wnt Inhibitory Factor-1, controls the distribution and movement of Hedgehog. Dev. Cell 8, 255-266. (*co-first authors)

• Blair, S.S. (2004). Developmental biology: Notching the hindbrain. Curr. Biol. 14, R570-R572.

• Matakatsu, H. and Blair, S.S. (2004). Interactions between Fat and Dachsous and the regulation of planar cell polarity in the Drosophila wing. Development 131, 3785-3794.

• Blair, S.S. (2003). Mosaic techniques in Drosophila . Development , 130, 5065-5072.

• Blair, S.S. (2003). Boundary lines. Nature 424, 379-381.

• Blair, S.S. (2003). Lineage compartments in Drosophila . Curr. Biol . 14, R548-R551.

• Blair, S.S. (2003). Imaginal discs. In The Encyclopedia of Insects (ed. V.H. Resh and R. Cardé), pp. 552-555, Academic Press, San Diego.

• Blair, S.S. (2001). Cell lineage: Compartments and Capricious (invited Dispatch). Curr. Biol . 11, R1017-1021.

• Blair, S.S. (2001a) . Wnts, signaling and sulfates. Science STKE (online 9/25/01).

• Blair, S.S. (2000b). Notch signaling: Fringe really is a glycosyltransferase (invited Dispatch). Current Biol. 10, R608-612.

• Conley, C.A., Silburn, R., Singer, M.A., Ralston, A., Rohwer-Nutter, D., Olson, D.J., Gelbart, W. and Blair, S.S. (2000). Crossveinless 2 contains cysteine-rich domains and is required for high levels of BMP-like activity during the formation of the cross veins in Drosophila . Development 127, 3947-3959.

• Micchelli, C.A. and Blair, S.S. (1999). Dorso-ventral lineage restriction in wing imaginal discs requires Notch. Nature 401, 473-476.

• Blair, S.S. (1999). Drosophila imaginal disc development: patterning the adult fly. In Development-Genetics, Epigenetics and Environmental Regulation , (V.E.A. Russo, D. Cove, L. Edgar, R. Jaenisch, F. Salamini, eds), Chpt. 21, pp. 347-370. Springer, Heidelberg.