The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research

Dr Anne Voss

Details

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Division: Development and Cancer

Research Overview

During development from a fertilised egg to an entire organism, for example a human or a mouse, a single cell must proliferate very extensively and retain the ability to differentiate into mature cell types. At each step of development transient stem cell populations provide a reservoir for proliferation. One can easily see that if too many cells were to differentiate at an early stage of development, then there would be insufficient cells for the subsequent steps in development. Conversely, if proliferation of the stem cell population proceeded unchecked, it would be impossible for normal organogenesis to take place. Not surprisingly, many of the proteins promoting rapid cell proliferation during development are also involved in the pathogenesis of cancer.

The aim of my laboratory is to understand how the balance between proliferation and differentiation of stem cells is maintained. We are primarily studying this process in development of the central nervous system, particularly in the progenitor cell population of the cerebral cortex, but also in other stem cell populations, such as haematopoietic stem cells. We have identified several genes that regulate different aspects of stem cell biology. By comparing the action of these genes in different stem cell populations we determine common underlying features of stem cell biology.

Research Interests

• MYST family histone acetyltransferases in nervous system development and neural stem cells
• C3G: a signal transduction protein integrating extracellular signals to control neural progenitor proliferation

Selected Publications

1. Voss AK, Collin C, Dixon MP, Thomas T. Moz and retinoic acid coordinately regulate H3K9 acetylation, Hox gene expression, and segment identity. Dev Cell. 2009 Nov;17(5):674-86. PMID: 19922872 [PubMed - in process]
2. Thomas T, Dixon MP, Kueh AJ, Voss AK. Mof (MYST1, KAT8) is essential for progression of embryonic development past the blastocyst stage and required for normal chromatin architecture. Mol Cell Biol. 2008 Jun 9; [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 18541669 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
3. Voss AK, Britto JM, Dixon MP, Sheikh BN, Collin C, Tan SS, Thomas T. C3G regulates cortical neuron migration, preplate splitting and radial glial cell attachment. Development. 2008 Jun;135(12):2139-49 PMID: 18506028 [PubMed - in process]
4. Merson TD, Dixon MP, Collin C, Rietze RL, Bartlett PF, Thomas T, Voss AK. The transcriptional coactivator Querkopf controls adult neurogenesis. J Neurosci. 2006 Nov 1;26(44):11359-70 PMID: 17079664 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
5. Loughran SJ, Kruse EA, Hacking DF, de Graaf CA, Hyland CD, Willson TA, Henley KJ, Ellis S, Voss AK, Metcalf D, Hilton DJ, Alexander WS, Kile BT. The transcription factor Erg is essential for definitive hematopoiesis and the function of adult hematopoietic stem cells. Nat Immunol. 2008 Jul;9(7):810-9 PMID: 18500345 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
6. Voss AK, Krebs DL, Thomas T. C3G regulates the size of the cerebral cortex neural precursor population. EMBO J. 2006 Aug 9;25(15):3652-63 PMID: 16858399 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
7. Thomas T, Corcoran LM, Gugasyan R, Dixon MP, Brodnicki T, Nutt SL, Metcalf D, Voss AK. Monocytic leukemia zinc finger protein is essential for the development of long-term reconstituting hematopoietic stem cells. Genes Dev. 2006 May 1;20(9):1175-86 PMID: 16651658 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
8. Rietze RL, Valcanis H, Brooker GF, Thomas T, Voss AK, Bartlett PF. Purification of a pluripotent neural stem cell from the adult mouse brain. Nature. 2001 Aug 16;412(6848):736-9 PMID: 11507641 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
9. Voss AK, Thomas T, Petrou P, Anastassiadis K, Schöler H, Gruss P. Taube nuss is a novel gene essential for the survival of pluripotent cells of early mouse embryos. Development. 2000 Dec;127(24):5449-61 PMID: 11076765 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
10. Thomas T, Voss AK, Chowdhury K, Gruss P. Querkopf, a MYST family histone acetyltransferase, is required for normal cerebral cortex development. Development. 2000 Jun;127(12):2537-48 PMID: 10821753 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
11. Voss AK, Thomas T, Gruss P. Mice lacking HSP90beta fail to develop a placental labyrinth. Development. 2000 Jan;127(1):1-11 PMID: 10654595 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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Current Laboratory Members

Laboratory Head: Tim Thomas BSc(Hons) Melbourne PhD Melbourne

Laboratory Head: Anne Voss BVSc Hannover PD Goettingen PhD Hannover

Senior Postdoctoral Fellow: Isobel Lawrenson BSc(Hons) Newcastle PhD Leeds

Research Assistant: Natalie Downer BSc(Hons) Melbourne

Research Assistant: Lisa Sampurno BBiomedSc(Hons) Melbourne

Postgraduate Student: Farrah El-Saafin BMedSc LaTrobe BSc(Hons) Melbourne

Postgraduate Student: Andrew Kueh BSc(Hons) Melbourne MB BS Melbourne

Postgraduate Student: Bilal Sheikh BBiomedSc(Hons) Melbourne

Postgraduate Student: Hannah Vanyai BA Melbourne BSc(Hons) Melbourne

Scientific Coordinator: Rhiannon Jones BSc(Hons) Adelaide PhD Adelaide