Akam, Michael - University of Cambridge

个人简介

In 1989, he moved as a founding member to the Wellcome/CRC Institute for Cancer and Developmental Biology in Cambridge (now the Gurdon Institute). In 1997 he became Director of the University Museum of Zoology, and in 2010, 1866 Professor of Zoology. He was Head of the Department of Zoology from 2010 to 2016. He has been a Fellow of Darwin College since 2006.

研究领域

I am interested in the evolution of developmental mechanisms ("Evo-Devo"), and how changes in development lead to changes in the form and function of organisms. Most of our work is with arthropods. We have a long standing interest in the role of the "Hox" family of developmental regulatory genes: How their regulation and expression leads to the range of different segment morphologies in Drosophila; how changes in the role of Hox genes may be related to the pattern of segment diversity in other insects, in basal hexapods, in crustaceans and in myriapods. We also use a range of species including beetles, centipedes and onychophorans to study the mechanisms that lead to axial patterning and segmentation in species that develop in ways very different from the well studied Drosophila. We use a range of genetic and embryological techniques including comparative genomics, molecular embryology, 4D live imaging, gene knockdown by RNAi and transgenesis. We have been members of the Marie Curie training networks Zoonet and most recently Evonet, consortia of laboratories across Europe studying the evolution of development and gene regulatory networks. We are members of the Strigamia maritima genome consortium, which sequenced and annotated the first myriapod genome (that of a centipede), now published at http://metazoa.ensembl.org/Strigamia_maritima)

近期论文

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Clark, E. and Akam, M. (2016) Odd-paired controls frequency doubling in Drosophila segmentation by altering the pair-rule gene regulatory network. eLife 10.7554/eLife.18215 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.18215 Chipman, A. D., Ferrier, D. E. K., Brena, C., [99 others], Akam, M. and Richards, S. (2014) The first myriapod genome sequence reveals conservative arthropod gene content and genome organisation in the centipede Strigamia maritima. PLOS Biology 12(11): e1002005. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1002005 Hunnekuhl, V. S. and Akam, M. (2014) An anterior medial cell population with an apical-organ-like transcriptional profile that pioneers the central nervous system in the centipede Strigamia maritima. Dev. Biol. 396:136-149. doi:10.1016/j.ydbio.2014.09.020 Konopova, B. and Akam, M. (2014) The Hox genes Ultrabithorax and abdominal-A specify three different types of abdominal appendage in the springtail Orchesella cincta (Collembola). EvoDevo 5: 2. doi:10.1186/2041-9139-5-2 Brena, C. and Akam, M. (2013) An analysis of segmentation dynamics throughout embryogenesis in the centipede Strigamia maritima. BMC Biology 11:112. DOI: 10.1186/1741-7007-11-112 Green, J. E. and Akam, M. (2013) Evolution of the pair-rule gene network: Insights from a centipede. Dev. Biol. 382:235-245. doi: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2013.06.017 Benton, M. A., Akam, M. and Pavlopoulos, A. (2013) Cell and tissue dynamics during Tribolium embryogenesis revealed by versatile fluorescence labeling approaches. Development 140:3210-3220 doi:10.1242/dev.096271 Brena, C. and Akam, M. (2012) The embryonic development of the centipede Strigamia maritima. Dev. Biol. 363:290-307. doi: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2011.11.006 Pavlopoulos, A. and Akam, M. (2011). The Hox gene Ultrabithorax subtly regulates distinct sets of target genes at successive stages of haltere morphogenesis and differentiation. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 108:2855-2860. Garcia-Solache, M., Jaeger, J. and Akam, M. (2010) A systematic analysis of the gap gene system in the moth midge Clogmia albipunctata. Dev. Biol. 344, 306-318 Chipman, A. D. and Akam, M. (2008) The segmentation cascade in the centipede Strigamia maritima: Involvement of the Notch pathway and pair-rule gene homologues. Dev. Biol. 319, 160-169. Peel, A. D., Chipman, A. D. and Akam, M. (2005). Arthropod segmentation: Beyond the Drosophila paradigm. Nature Rev. Genet. 6, 905-916