Michael A. Dyer, Ph.D.
Associate Member, Department of Developmental Neurobiology
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
The role of the Rb family in retinal development and retinoblastoma

To advance our understanding of the coordination of cell proliferation and differentiation in development and disease, Dr. Michael Dyer conducts research that bridges the fields of developmental neurobiology and cancer genetics. In this seminar, Dr. Dyer will present results from two recent projects that highlight how multidisciplinary research can lead to unexpected discoveries. First, Dr. Dyer will discuss how his laboratory’s investigation of the role of tumor suppressor genes in the developing retina led to the first report that mature neurons can divide while maintaining all of their differentiated features including neurites and synapses. This discovery has fundamentally changed our view of neurogenesis in the mammalian CNS and may someday lead to new approaches to regenerating neurons without the use of stem cells or progenitor cells. Dr. Dyer will also present how his group resolved a 12-year-old paradox in the retinoblastoma field and generated the first knockout mouse model of human retinoblastoma. Finally, Dr. Dyer will describe the comprehensive, translational retinoblastoma research program that he has launched involving drug discovery using high-throughput screening, comprehensive preclinical trials that required the adaptation of classic clinical diagnostic imaging and functional assessment testing to mouse models, and a clinical trial in pediatric patients with retinoblastoma. These studies highlight the importance of bridging disciplines to uncover the mechanisms that coordinate proliferation and differentiation during embryogenesis and tumorigenesis.