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lab profile
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Kimberly Cooper University of California San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
NSB 6117
La Jolla, CA 92093-0380
United States
kcooper@ucsd.edu
6177332387
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| PI: |
YES |
| Taxa Studied: |
Vertebrate Animals |
| Techniques Employed: |
Solexa (Illumina) Sequencing, Bioinformatics/Sequence Analysis, In Situ Hybridization, Antibody Staining, Sectioning for Histology, Epifluoresence Microscopy, Confocal Microscopy, Transgenesis, Other, lentiviral misexpression |
| Research Description: |
We use the three-toed jerboa and its close relative, the laboratory mouse, to understand mechanisms of morphological evolution in the vertebrate limb skeleton. The jerboa has three rather than five toes on its hind feet, fused and dramatically elongated metatarsals, and lacks all intrinsic foot muscles. We are focused on the mechanisms that give rise to these unique morphologies at the level of tissue architecture, cell behaviors, and underlying genetic control. Our goal is to understand the molecular pathways that generate morphological diversity in the limb and to identify transcription factor binding sites responsible for differences in how these genes are deployed to function in building a jerboa foot that is unique in its form and function compared to the mouse. |
| Lab Web Page: |
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| Willing to Host Undergraduates: |
NO |
| Actively Seeking Undergraduates: |
NO |
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