1. ORGAN REPAIR AND REMODELING
While many organs use active stem cells to replenish and repair tissues, other highly regenerative organs lack active stem cells. Our lab uses genetic, genomic, and cell biological approaches to understand how organ repair and remodeling occur through the use of inducible repair mechanisms. Our model tissue, the Drosophila hindgut, possesses quiescent adult cells that can be induced to repair the tissue following injury. Further, during metamorphosis, this tissue undergoes a natural “injury” that prompts whole-scale organ regeneration.

2. POLYPLOIDY, CHROMOSOMAL INSTABILITY, AND CANCER
Chromosomal instability is a hallmark of cancer, yet its origins are poorly understood. One model for the origin and retention of instability and subsequent tumor aneuploidy is the formation of polyploid cells, which undergo error-prone division in vitro. During hindgut metamorphosis, polyploid cells divide as part of normal fly development. Strikingly, these polyploid divisions are also highly error-prone. Our lab characterizes polyploid cell cycles to identify the origins of this cancer-enabling phenomenon.

2011 Losick VL, Morris LX, Fox DT, and Spradling AC. Drosophila stem cell niches: A decade of discovery suggests a unified view of stem cell regulation. Developmental Cell 21:159-171.

2010 Fox DT, Gall JG, and Spradling AC. Error-prone polyploid mitosis during normal Drosophila development. Genes and Development 24: 2294-2302 (Faculty of 1000 Must Read).

2009 Fox DT and Spradling AC. The Drosophila hindgut lacks constitutively active adult stem cells but proliferates in response to tissue damage. Cell Stem Cell, 5(3)290-97 (Featured in preview article).

2009 Fox DT, Morris LX, Nystul T, and Spradling, AC. Lineage Analysis of Stem Cells. In Stembook, ed. Melton, D, Girard, L, http://www.stembook.org/node/542

2008 Spradling AC, Nystul T, Lighthouse D, Morris L, Fox DT, Cox R, Tootle T, Frederick R, and Skora, A. Stem Cells and Their Niches: Integrated Units That Maintain Drosophila Tissues. Cold Spring Harbor Sem Quant Biol 73, 49-57.