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Scott Selleck, M.D., Ph.D.

Professor


Mailing Address:
University of Minnesota
Department of Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development
6-160 Jackson
321 Church St. SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455
USA


Education:
M.D., Ph.D. Washington University School of Medicine, 1989

Honors:
Harrison Chair 2002-present
Office:
5-245G Moos Tower
P: 612-624-4659
F: 612-626-5652

Email:
selle011@umn.edu

Lab:
5-140 Moos Tower
P: 612-624-5673

Areas of Research Strength:

Regulation of growth factor signaling
Proteoglycan modulation of morphogen function
Nervous system assembly and synapse development

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Research Techniques:

Molecular Genetics
Confocal and conventional light microscopy
Electrophysiology of carbohydrate structures

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Research Interests:

The Selleck laboratory is interested in how growth factor signaling shapes
the development and function of the nervous system. These studies range
from exploring the molecular determinants of signaling molecule gradients
to the genetics of behavioral disorders in children. Their principal model
system is the fruitfly, Drosophila melanogaster, which provides a wide
array of powerful genetic, molecular and cellular methods to understand
gene function. In addition to providing a system to identify novel genes
affecting nervous system assembly, they employ Drosophila to understand
the function of candidate disease genes identified from human genetic studies.

A principal effort in the lab is to understand how heparan sulfate proteoglycans,
an abundant class of cell surface and matrix molecules, affect nervous system
patterning and assembly. Initial studies demonstrated that a GPI-linked
heparan sulfate proteoglycan encoded by division abnormally delayed (dally)
was responsible for controlling cell cycle progression and growth factor signaling
in the visual system (Nakato et al. 1995; Jackson et al. 1997). More recent work
has established that glypicans pattern the nervous system by both controlling
cell responses to Wnt and BMP-related ligands as well as dictating the levels
of these signaling molecules in the matrix (Tsuda et al. 1999; Fujise et al.
2001; Kirkpatrick et al. 2004). The lab has also discovered that two distinct
Drosophila HSPGs, a glypican and a syndecan, are expressed at high levels
on axons and play distinct roles in axon guidance in the Drosophila visual
system (Rawson et al. 2005).

The neuromuscular junction in Drosophila has provided a system to understand
the molecular control of synapse development and plasticity. The Selleck lab was
one of several groups to demonstrate that BMP signaling is essential for normal NMJ
assembly and physiological function (Rawson et al. 2003). Current work
examines the requirements for HSPGs in synapse assembly and function.

The lab’s recent human genetic studies were initiated by the identification
of a large kindred with autism and developmental delay through the University
of Minnesota clinics. They have identified a region of chromosome 10 susceptible
to rearrangements that can contribute to abnormal behavioral development
in children. Their studies now include detailed genomic and genetic mapping
of chromosome 10 contributions to autism and the analysis of candidate genes
using Drosophila.

Other studies in the lab examine the function of HSPGs in vascular and blood
development using the zebrafish, Danio rerio, in collaboration with
Dr. Steve Ekker (Chen et al. 2005).

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Selected Publications:

Kirkpatrick, C., and Selleck, S.B.  (2007).  Heparan sulfate proteoglycans at a glance. J Cell Sci. 2007 Jun 1;120(Pt 11):1829-32

Sun, M., Thomas, M.J., Herder, R., Selleck, S.B., and O’Connor, M.B. (2007).  Presynapatic contributions of Chordin to hippocampal plasticity and spatial learning. J Neurosci. 2007 Jul 18;27(29):7740-50


Dasgupta, U., Dixit, B.L., Rusch, M., Selleck, S.B., The, I. (2007). Functional conservation of the human EXT1 tumor suppressor gene and its Drosophila homolog tout velu.  Dev. Genes & Evo. (in press).


Knox,S. M.* , Ge,H.*, Dimitroff, B.D., Ren, Y., Howe, K., Easterday, M., Arsham,A. M., Neufeld,T. P., & O’Connor, M., Selleck, S. B. (2007)
Mechanisms of TSC-mediated Control of Synapse Assembly and Axon Guidance PLoS ONE Apr 18;2:e375. * contributed equally. 

Balciuniene*, J. Feng*, N-P., Iyadurai, K. , Hirsch, B., Charnas, L., Bill, B., Staaf, J., Oseth L., Roberts, W., Avramopoulos, D., Borg Å, Valle, D., Schimmenti, L., Selleck,, S.B. (2007). Recurrent 10q22-23 deletions: A Genomic disorder on 10q associated with cognitive and behavioral abnormalities. AJHG 80(5):938-47. * contributed equally

Kirkpatrick C.A., Knox S.M., Staatz W.D., Fox B., Lercher D.M., Selleck, S.B. (2006) The function of a Drosophila glypican does not depend entirely on heparan sulfate modification. Dev Biol. 300: 570-582

Pan, C. Nelson, M.S., Reyes, M., Koodie, L., Brazil, J.L., Stephenson, E.J., Zhao, R.C., Peters, C., Selleck, S.B., Stringer, S. and Gupta, P. (2005) Functional abnormalities in heparan sulfate mucopolysaccharidosis-1 are associated with defective biological activity of FGF-2 on human multipotent progenitor cells.  Blood 15;106(6): 1956-64

Chen, E., Stringer, S.E., Rusch, M.A., Selleck, S.B.* and Ekker, S.E.* (2005) A unique role for 6-O sulfation modification in zebrafish vascular development.  Dev Biol 284(2): 364-76. *joint corresponding authors.

Rawson, J. M., Johnson, K. B.,Ge, X., Van Vactor, D., and Selleck, S.B. (2005) The Heparan Sulfate Proteoglycans Dally-like and Syndecan Have Distinct but Overlapping Functions in Axon Guidance and Visual System Assembly in Drosophila. Curr Biol 15(9): 833-838.

Lee, J-S., von der Hardt,S., Rusch, M.*, Stringer,S.*, Stickney,H., Talbot, W., Geisler, R., Nusslein-Volhardt, C., Selleck, S.B., Chien, C-B., and Roehl, H. Axon sorting in the optic tract requires HSPG synthesis by EXT2/dackel and EXTL3/boxer. Neuron 44(6):947-960.

Ledin, J., Staatz, W., Gotte, M., Selleck, S.B., Kjellen, L., and Spillmann, D. (2004) Heparan sulfate structure in mice with genetically modified heparan sulfate production. JBC 279(41):42732-42741.

Kirkpatrick, C., Dimitroff, B., Rawson, J. and Selleck, S.B. (2004) dally-like, a Drosophila glypican, controls the distribution and signaling of the Wingless morphogen. Dev. Cell. 7(4): 513-523.

Bornemann, D.J., Duncan, J.E., Staatz, W., Selleck, S.B. and Warrior, R. (2004) Abrogation of heparan sulfate synthesis in Drosophila disrupts Wingless, Hedgehog and Decapentaplegic signaling pathways. Development 131(9):1927-1938.

Rawson, J., Lee, M. and Selleck, S.B. (2003) Drosophila neuromuscular synapse assembly and function require the TGF-ß type I receptor Saxophone and the transcription factor Mad. J. Neurobio 55(2):134-150.

Nakato, H., Fox, B., and Selleck, S.B. 2002. dally, a Drosophila member of the glypican family
of integral membrane proteoglycans, affects cell cycle progression and morphogenesis via a Cyclin
A-mediated process. J. Cell Sci. 115: 123-130.




To view these and other publications visit http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed
search menu should say PubMed
type Selleck SB in the avaliable line

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dally-like mutant photoreceptor projections to the Drosophila brain, showing one axon bundle with an ectopic process (arrow).

dally-like mutants show ectopic assembly of mechanosensory bristles (arrows, lower panel) on the margin of the wing blade, a consequence of elevated levels of Wingless signaling.

Fluorescence in situ hybridization mapping of a deletion affecting
behavioral development in children (nl=normal chromosome,
del=deleted chromosome).