The Fan laboratory studies the molecular mechanisms that govern mammalian development, using the mouse as a model. They use a combination of biochemical, molecular and genetic approaches to identify and characterize signaling molecules and pathways that control the development and maintenance of the musculoskeletal and hypothalamic systems.

The musculoskeletal system provides the mechanical support for our posture and movement. How it arises during embryogenesis pertains to the basic problem of embryonic induction. How the components of this system are repaired after injury and maintained throughout life is of biological and clinical significance. They study how this system is generated and maintained.

The hypothalamus is an essential brain center that maintains a balance in multiple physiological processes by modulating pituitary hormone secretions. Two centers of the hypothalamus, called the paraventricular and supraoptic nuclei (PVN and SON), contain various hormone-producing neurons. Studies of these hormones have been instrumental to our understanding of endocrine balance, including the maintenance of bodily fluids and the balance of energy metabolism. Despite the importance of PVN and SON function, molecules that control their embryonic specification, neuronal differentiation, nucleus formation, and neuronal connections are largely unknown.  The lab’s novel approach  to studying embryonic development of the PVN and SON has identified a genetic contributor to feeding regulation and obesity in rodents and humans. These developmental studies of the suggest a new avenue for finding genetic determinants of homeostasis regulation.

Scientific Area: 
Genetics & Developmental Biology
Reference to Person: 
Chen-Ming Fan
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Fetal Oocyte Attrition prevention, courtesy Marla Tharp and Navid Marvi.
Jumping genes threaten egg cell quality; understanding their activity has implications for fertility and health of future generations.
January 16, 2020

Baltimore, MD— A woman’s supply of eggs is finite, so it is crucial that the quality of their genetic material is ensured. New work from Carnegie’s Marla Tharp, Safia Malki, and Alex Bortvin elucidates a mechanism by which, even before birth, the body tries to eliminate egg cells of the poorest quality. Their findings describing this mechanism are published by Nature Communications.

“Some organisms produce a large number of offspring, many of which don’t survive to adulthood; females in these species continually produce new egg cells throughout their reproductive lives,” Bortvin explained. “But in mammals, females are born with a fixed

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Patellar tendon 30 days after an injury courtesy of Tyler Harvey.
Tendon stem cells could revolutionize injury recovery
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Baltimore, MD—The buildup of scar tissue makes recovery from torn rotator cuffs, jumper’s knee, and other tendon injuries a painful, challenging process, often leading to secondary tendon ruptures. New research led by Carnegie’s Chen-Ming Fan and published in Nature Cell Biology reveals the existence of tendon stem cells that could potentially be harnessed to improve tendon healing and even to avoid surgery.

“Tendons are connective tissue that tether our muscles to our bones,” Fan explained. “They improve our stability and facilitate the transfer of force that allows us to move. But they are also particularly susceptible to injury and damage.

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Kamena Kostova, courtesy Navid Marvi, Carnegie Institution for Science
Carnegie’s Kamena Kostova recognized by NIH for early career excellence
October 1, 2019

Baltimore, MD— Carnegie biologist Kamena Kostova has been selected for the Director’s Early Independence Award from the National Institutes of Health, which is designed to provide “exceptional junior scientists” with the opportunity to “skip traditional post-doctoral training and move immediately into independent research positions.”

Kostova is one of 13 recipients of the 2019 Early Independence Award. The recognition is part of a suite of four that comprise the NIH Director’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research Program, which honors “highly innovative biomedical or behavioral research proposed by extraordinarily creative scientists.

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GDNF repairs aged muscle stem cells courtesy of Liangji Li.
Possible therapeutic target for slow healing of aged muscles discovered
September 30, 2019

Washington, DC— An age-related decline in recovery from muscle injury can be traced to a protein that suppresses the special ability of muscle stem cells to build new muscles, according to work from a team of current and former Carnegie biologists led by Chen-Ming Fan and published in Nature Metabolism.

Skeletal muscles have a tremendous capacity to make new muscles from special muscle stem cells. These “blank” cells are not only good at making muscles but also at generating more of themselves, a process called self-renewal. But their amazing abilities diminish with age, resulting in poorer muscle regeneration from muscle trauma.

The research team—

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

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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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Kamena Kostova

Staff Associate Kamena Kostova joined the Department of Embryology in November 2018. She studies ribosomes, the factory-like structures inside cells that produce proteins. Scientists have known about ribosome structure, function, and biogenesis for some time. But, a major unanswered question is how cells monitor the integrity of the ribosome itself. Problems with ribosomes have been associated with diseases including neurodegeneration and cancer. The Kostova lab investigates the fundamental question of how cells respond when their ribosomes break down using mass spectrometry, functional genomics methods, and CRISPR genome editing.

Kostova received a B.S. in Biology from the

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Sally June Tracy

Sally June Tracy applies cutting-edge experimental and analytical techniques to understand the fundamental physical behavior of materials at extreme conditions. She uses dynamic compression techniques with high-flux X-ray sources to probe the structural changes and phase transitions in materials at conditions that mimic impacts and the interiors of terrestrial and exoplanets. She is also an expert in nuclear resonant scattering and synchrotron X-ray diffraction. She uses these techniques to understand novel behavior at the electronic level.  Tracy received her Ph.D. from the California Institute of

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William Ludington

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