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Ruth Lehmann

Ruth Lehmann, PhD

Chair, Department of Cell Biology

Director, Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine

Adjunct Professor, Department of Cell Biology

Keywords
germ cell development, translational regulation, RNA localization and transport, germ plasm assembly, cell migration, germ line stem cells, piRNAs, transposable elements, Wolbachia, cancer, developmental genetics, genome integrity, RNA biology, stem cell biology
Summary

In most organisms, primordial germ cells (PGCs) are set-aside early during embryogenesis. Subsequently, PGCs migrate through the embryo, associate with somatic gonadal cells and form the gonad. While PGCs seem highly specialized, their products are the ultimate stem cells that generate a complete organism generation after generation. Our long-term goal is to functionally dissect the germ cell life cycle in Drosophila. Projects in the lab focus on three areas. 1) PGC specification. Early Drosophila germ cells form in a specialized germplasm and upon formation are transcriptionally silent. We are interested how RNAs localized to germ plasm are regulated and contribute to germ cell formation and fate, how gene expression is regulated during germ cell development and how the reproductive success of individual PGCs is determined. 2) PGC migration. Taking advantage of in vitro migration assays and live imaging, we study molecular and cellular aspects of germ cell migration to understand how the migratory program is established, how phospholipid signals contribute guidance cues to PGCs and how PGCs cease migration once they reach the somatic gonad. 3) Germ cell genome protection. Germ cells give rise to a new generation, thus integrity of the germ cell genome has to be protected while at the same time there has to be room for improvement via mutation and recombination. We study how host mechanisms evolved to protect the genome against transposable elements and how other intruders such as bacteria influence germ line function and reproductive success.

Phone

212-263-2989

Academic office

540-562 First Avenue, Skirball Institute

Fourth Floor

New York, NY 10016

Lab Website
Lehmann Lab
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Positions

Adjunct Professor, Department of Cell Biology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine

Chair, Department of Cell Biology

Director, Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine

Graduate Education

PhD from University Tubingen

Fly Cell Atlas: A single-nucleus transcriptomic atlas of the adult fruit fly

Li, Hongjie; Janssens, Jasper; De Waegeneer, Maxime; Kolluru, Sai Saroja; Davie, Kristofer; Gardeux, Vincent; Saelens, Wouter; David, Fabrice P A; Brbić, Maria; Spanier, Katina; Leskovec, Jure; McLaughlin, Colleen N; Xie, Qijing; Jones, Robert C; Brueckner, Katja; Shim, Jiwon; Tattikota, Sudhir Gopal; Schnorrer, Frank; Rust, Katja; Nystul, Todd G; Carvalho-Santos, Zita; Ribeiro, Carlos; Pal, Soumitra; Mahadevaraju, Sharvani; Przytycka, Teresa M; Allen, Aaron M; Goodwin, Stephen F; Berry, Cameron W; Fuller, Margaret T; White-Cooper, Helen; Matunis, Erika L; DiNardo, Stephen; Galenza, Anthony; O'Brien, Lucy Erin; Dow, Julian A T; Jasper, Heinrich; Oliver, Brian; Perrimon, Norbert; Deplancke, Bart; Quake, Stephen R; Luo, Liqun; Aerts, Stein; Agarwal, Devika; Ahmed-Braimah, Yasir; Arbeitman, Michelle; Ariss, Majd M; Augsburger, Jordan; Ayush, Kumar; Baker, Catherine C; Banisch, Torsten; Birker, Katja; Bodmer, Rolf; Bolival, Benjamin; Brantley, Susanna E; Brill, Julie A; Brown, Nora C; Buehner, Norene A; Cai, Xiaoyu Tracy; Cardoso-Figueiredo, Rita; Casares, Fernando; Chang, Amy; Clandinin, Thomas R; Crasta, Sheela; Desplan, Claude; Detweiler, Angela M; Dhakan, Darshan B; Donà, Erika; Engert, Stefanie; Floc'hlay, Swann; George, Nancy; González-Segarra, Amanda J; Groves, Andrew K; Gumbin, Samantha; Guo, Yanmeng; Harris, Devon E; Heifetz, Yael; Holtz, Stephen L; Horns, Felix; Hudry, Bruno; Hung, Ruei-Jiun; Jan, Yuh Nung; Jaszczak, Jacob S; Jefferis, Gregory S X E; Karkanias, Jim; Karr, Timothy L; Katheder, Nadja Sandra; Kezos, James; Kim, Anna A; Kim, Seung K; Kockel, Lutz; Konstantinides, Nikolaos; Kornberg, Thomas B; Krause, Henry M; Labott, Andrew Thomas; Laturney, Meghan; Lehmann, Ruth; Leinwand, Sarah; Li, Jiefu; Li, Joshua Shing Shun; Li, Kai; Li, Ke; Li, Liying; Li, Tun; Litovchenko, Maria; Liu, Han-Hsuan; Liu, Yifang; Lu, Tzu-Chiao; Manning, Jonathan; Mase, Anjeli; Matera-Vatnick, Mikaela; Matias, Neuza Reis; McDonough-Goldstein, Caitlin E; McGeever, Aaron; McLachlan, Alex D; Moreno-Roman, Paola; Neff, Norma; Neville, Megan; Ngo, Sang; Nielsen, Tanja; O'Brien, Caitlin E; Osumi-Sutherland, David; Özel, Mehmet Neset; Papatheodorou, Irene; Petkovic, Maja; Pilgrim, Clare; Pisco, Angela Oliveira; Reisenman, Carolina; Sanders, Erin Nicole; Dos Santos, Gilberto; Scott, Kristin; Sherlekar, Aparna; Shiu, Philip; Sims, David; Sit, Rene V; Slaidina, Maija; Smith, Harold E; Sterne, Gabriella; Su, Yu-Han; Sutton, Daniel; Tamayo, Marco; Tan, Michelle; Tastekin, Ibrahim; Treiber, Christoph; Vacek, David; Vogler, Georg; Waddell, Scott; Wang, Wanpeng; Wilson, Rachel I; Wolfner, Mariana F; Wong, Yiu-Cheung E; Xie, Anthony; Xu, Jun; Yamamoto, Shinya; Yan, Jia; Yao, Zepeng; Yoda, Kazuki; Zhu, Ruijun; Zinzen, Robert P

Science. 2022 03 04; 375(6584):eabk2432

Large Drosophila germline piRNA clusters are evolutionarily labile and dispensable for transposon regulation

Gebert, Daniel; Neubert, Lena K; Lloyd, Catrin; Gui, Jinghua; Lehmann, Ruth; Teixeira, Felipe Karam

Molecular cell. 2021 Oct 07; 81(19):3965-3978.e5

Model organism databases are in jeopardy

Bellen, Hugo J; Hubbard, E J A; Lehmann, Ruth; Madhani, Hiten D; Solnica-Krezel, Lila; Southard-Smith, E Michelle

Development. 2021 10 01; 148(19):

A single-cell atlas reveals unanticipated cell type complexity in Drosophila ovaries

Slaidina, Maija; Gupta, Selena; Banisch, Torsten U; Lehmann, Ruth

Genome research. 2021 Oct; 31(10):1938-1951

A transitory signaling center controls timing of primordial germ cell differentiation

Banisch, Torsten U; Slaidina, Maija; Gupta, Selena; Ho, Megan; Gilboa, Lilach; Lehmann, Ruth

Developmental cell. 2021 Jun 21; 56(12):1742-1755.e4

In Memoriam: Kathryn V. Anderson (1952-2020)

Joyner, Alex; Lehmann, Ruth; Niswander, Lee

Developmental biology (Orlando). 2021 Feb 19; 472:125-126

Angelika Amon (1967-2020)

Lehmann, Ruth; Peters, Jan-Michael

Cell. 2021 Jan 07; 184(1):10-14

Foreword

Lehmann, Ruth

Annual review of cell & developmental biology. 2020 Oct 06; 36:v-vi

See All Publications (103)

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