The research in my laboratory focuses on the mechanisms by which peptide growth factor signaling pathways regulate the process of organogenesis in vertebrate animals. We are taking genetic approaches using the mouse as a model system.

The major area of focus is the development of the vertebrate eye, which is a classical experimental model to study inductive tissue interactions, patterning, and cell differentiation during embryogenesis. Our previous studies have uncovered important roles of bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), members of the TGF-beta superfamily of growth factors, during early eye induction in the mouse. More recently, using tissue-specific conditional gene inactivation approaches, we have shown that BMP signaling regulates multiple independent cellular and developmental programs during eye development. Among a series of eye-specific mutants that lack components of the BMP signaling pathway, one class of mutants display abnormality in the patterning of the retina, which later leads to aberrant axon guidance and connection patterns of optic nerve with the visual center of the brain. In other classes of mutants, we have found that loss or reduction of BMP signaling affects cell proliferation, programmed cell death, and differentiation and maintenance of multiple neuronal cell types within the developing retina. Current studies are aimed at identifying downstream genetic pathways controlled by BMP signaling using various genetic and molecular approaches, including gene expression profiling of multiple classes of mutants displaying these distinct ocular phenotypes. These approaches will identify genetic pathways controlling fundamental processes underlying the development of functional vision.

We anticipate that these studies will contribute to the elucidation of genetic mechanisms underlying various forms of congenital birth defects. The principles learned from these in vivo studies will provide insights into the mechanisms for tumor formation, progression, metastasis, tissue damage and regeneration, in which tissue interactions mediated by peptide growth factors apparently play important roles.

Recent publications

• Ikeya M, Kawada M, Kiyonari H, Sasai N, Nakao K, Furuta Y, Sasai Y. (2006) Essential pro-Bmp roles of crossveinless 2 in mouse organogenesis. Development 133:4463-4473.
  
  
• Murali, D., Yoshikawa, S., Plas, D., Corrigan, R., Lyons, K.M., Crair, M., Oliver., G.C., Mishina, Y., and Furuta, Y. (2005) Multiple developmental programs that require different levels of Bmp signaling during retinal development. Development 132:913-923.
  
  
• Furuta, Y. and Behringer, R.R. (2005) Recent Innovations in Tissue-Specific Gene Modifications in the Mouse. Birth Defects Research (Part C) 75:43-57.
  
  
• Furuta, Y., Lagutin, O., Hogan, B.L.M. and Oliver G. (2000) Retina- and ventral forebrain-specific Cre recombinase activity in transgenic mice. genesis 26:130-132.
  
  
• Furuta, Y. and Hogan, B.L.M. (1998) Bmp4 is essential for lens induction in the mouse embryo. Genes & Development 12:3764-3775.