Tiffany Cook

Biography

Our lab is focused on understanding the molecular basis of normal eye development, and how these processes are disrupted in disease states. For this, we take advantage of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, a system that allows us to readily combine cellular, molecular, biochemical, and genetic approaches to dissect transcriptional events underlying cell type specification in various ocular tissues. Our studies have revealed that many of the same factors involved in retinogenesis and lens formation in the fly are also necessary for vertebrate eye development. For instance, Crx in humans is a transcription factor implicated in retinal degenerative diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa (RP), Leber amaurosis, and cone-rod dystrophy, and is important for controlling a wide range of processes necessary for the differentiation of different photoreceptor subtypes. Crx is highly similar to the Drosophila protein Otd, and like Crx, Otd is critical for many aspects of photoreceptor differentiation. Therefore, our studies on Otd and Crx will help address many basic developmental questions related to how different retinal cell types develop, and should aid efforts to develop therapies against otherwise blinding human diseases. Similarly, our studies on fly lens development have provided some of the first evidence that lens development is conserved between vertebrate camera-like eyes and invertebrate compound eyes. These functions in part involve the transcription factor Prospero. Since Prospero has recently been identified as a tumor suppressor and is critical for neural stem cell maintenance, our work should not only impact our studying diseases that affect lens function, such as cataracts, but should also serve as a useful model for better understanding the role of Prospero-related factors during neural development and cancer.

Research Interest

Molecular basis of eye development; retinal degenerative diseases; photoreceptor biology; cell-specific transcriptional regulatory mechanisms; evolutionary conservation of retina and lens formation between vertebrates and invertebrates; Drosophila genetics