Allan Spradling is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and director emeritus of the Department of Embryology. His laboratory studies the biology of reproduction particularly egg cells, which are able to reset the normally irreversible processes of differentiation and aging that govern all somatic cells—those that turn into non-reproductive tissues. Spradling uses the fruit fly Drosophila because the genes and processes studied are likely to be similar to those in other organisms including humans. In the 1980s he and his colleague, Gerald Rubin, showed how jumping genes could be used to identify and manipulate fruit fly genes. Their innovative technique helped establish Drosophila as one of the most useful organisms with which to study development, genetics, and disease.

Spradling focuses on several aspects of oogenesis—the process of forming eggs. His scientific accomplishments span a wide range of areas, but he is best known for his work on stem cells in living tissues and the “niches” or specialized microenvironments in which stem cells grow. In 1990 Spradling’s group described the first stem cell niche using Drosophila ovary tissue. He went on to define the molecular pathways that regulate stem cell behavior within their niches. His work on Drosophila stem cells and niches has helped guide mammalian stem cell research.

Among Spradling’s major, original contributions are: early demonstration of the plasticity of genomes through gene amplification; the development of P-element insertional mutagenesis as a tool for studying gene structure, function, and location; leadership in the Drosophila genome project, including genome annotation and the establishment of a freely available library of strains with specific P-element gene disruptions.

Spradling has received many awards for his work including the Gruber Foundation Medal in Genetics, 2008; M.C. Chang Award (Reproductive Biology) 2007; E.F. Conklin Medal, Society for Developmental Biology, 2003; George W. Beadle Award, Genetics Society of America, 2003;Genetics Society of America Medal, 1989; Molecular Biology Award, National Academy of Sciences, 1985;AAAS Newcomb Cleveland Prize, 1983; Passano Foundation Young Scientist Award, 1982; and  Maryland Distinguished Young Scientist Award, 1982. He was president of the Genetics Society of America, 2007.

Spradling received  an A.B. in physics from  The University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. in cell biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was also a research associate and postdoctoral fellow. Before coming to Carnegie as a staff scientists in 1980, he was a postdoctoral fellow of the Helen Hay Whitney Foundation. He became director in 1994. For more see the Spradling lab

 

Scientific Area: 
Genetics & Developmental Biology
Project(s): 
The biology of reproduction studying ovarian stem cells of the fruitfly

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Heart Reef in Australia's Great Barrier Reef, public domain.
CRISPR helps researchers uncover how corals adjust to warming oceans
December 21, 2020

Baltimore, MD— The CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing system can help scientists understand, and possibly improve, how corals respond to the environmental stresses of climate change. Work led by Phillip Cleves—who joined Carnegie’s Department of Embryology this fall—details how the revolutionary, Nobel Prize-winning technology can be deployed to guide conservation efforts for fragile reef ecosystems.

Cleves’ research team’s findings were recently published in two papers in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Orange peyssonnelid algal crusts courtesy of Peter Edmunds.
Caribbean coral reefs under siege from aggressive algae
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Baltimore, MD—Human activity endangers coral health around the world. A new algal threat is taking advantage of coral’s already precarious situation in the Caribbean and making it even harder for reef ecosystems to grow.

Just-published research in Scientific Reports details how an aggressive, golden-brown, crust-like alga is rapidly overgrowing shallow reefs, taking the place of coral that was damaged by extreme storms and exacerbating the damage caused by ocean acidification, disease, pollution, and bleaching.

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How an egg cell’s “operating manual” sets the stage for fertility
October 8, 2020

Baltimore, MD— Recently published work from Carnegie’s Allan Spradling and Wanbao Niu revealed in unprecedented detail the genetic instructions immature egg cells go through step by step as they mature into functionality. Their findings improve our understanding of how ovaries maintain a female’s fertility.

The general outline of how immature egg cells are assisted by specific ovarian helper cells starting even before a female is born is well understood. But Spradling and Niu mapped the gene activity of thousands of immature egg cells and helper cells to learn how the stage is set for fertility later in life.

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Quality control mechanism closes the protein production “on-ramps”
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Baltimore, MD— Recent work led by Carnegie’s Kamena Kostova revealed a new quality control system in the protein production assembly line with possible implications for understanding neurogenerative disease.

The DNA that comprises the chromosomes housed in each cell’s nucleus encodes the recipes for how to make proteins, which are responsible for the majority of the physiological actions that sustain life. Individual recipes are transcribed using messenger RNA, which carries this piece of code to a piece of cellular machinery called the ribosome. The ribosome translates the message into amino acids—the building blocks of proteins.

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Mechanisms of cell division, homeostasis, aging, and cell fate

The Zheng lab studies cell division including the study of stem cells, genome organization, and lineage specification. They study the mechanism of genome organization in development, homeostasis—metabolic balance-- and aging; and the influence of cell morphogenesis, or cell shape and steructure,  on cell fate decisions. They use a wide range of tools and systems, including genetics in model organisms, cell culture, biochemistry, proteomics, and genomics.

 
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The biology of reproduction studying ovarian stem cells of the fruitfly

The Spradling laboratory studies the biology of reproduction. By unknown means eggs reset the normally irreversible processes of differentiation and aging. The fruit fly Drosophila provides a favorable multicellular system for molecular genetic studies. The lab focuses on several aspects of egg development, called oogenesis, which promises to provide insight into the rejuvenation of the nucleus and surrounding cytoplasm. By studying ovarian stem cells, they are learning how cells maintain an undifferentiated state and how cell production is regulated by microenvironments known as niches. They are  also re-investigating the role of steroid and prostaglandin hormones in controlling

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The role of organelles in the cell nucleus that synthesize and process RNA

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Johanna Teske

Johanna Teske became the first new staff member to join Carnegie’s newly named Earth and Planets Laboratory (EPL) in Washington, D.C., on September 1, 2020. She has been a NASA Hubble Fellow at the Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, CA, since 2018. From 2014 to 2017 she was the Carnegie Origins Postdoctoral Fellow—a joint position between Carnegie’s Department of Terrestrial Magnetism (now part of EPL) and the Carnegie Observatories.

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Phillip Cleves

Phillip Cleves’ Ph.D. research was on determining the genetic changes that drive morphological evolution. He used the emerging model organism, the stickleback fish, to map genetic changes that control skeletal evolution. Using new genetic mapping and reverse genetic tools developed during his Ph.D., Cleves identified regulatory changes in a protein called bone morphogenetic protein 6 that were responsible for an evolved increase in tooth number in stickleback. This work illustrated how molecular changes can generate morphological novelty in vertebrates.

Cleves returned to his passion for coral research in his postdoctoral work in John Pringles’ lab at Stanford

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Brittany Belin

Brittany Belin joined the Department of Embryology staff in August 2020. Her Ph.D. research involved developing new tools for in vivo imaging of actin in cell nuclei. Actin is a major structural element in eukaryotic cells—cells with a nucleus and organelles —forming contractile polymers that drive muscle contraction, the migration of immune cells to  infection sites, and the movement of signals from one part of a cell to another. Using the tools developed in her Ph.D., Belin discovered a new role for actin in aiding the repair of DNA breaks in human cells caused by carcinogens, UV light, and other mutagens.

Belin changed course for her postdoctoral work, in

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Moises Exposito-Alonso

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