Andrea Streit
Towards a gene regulatory network for inner ear specification
13th February 2015
ABSTRACT
The vertebrate inner ear arises early in development from a thickened epithelium, the otic placode.
Specification towards an otic fate requires diverse signals and complex transcriptional inputs that act
sequentially and/or in parallel. To uncover and integrate novel genes with known molecular players
in the gene regulatory network (GRN) underlying otic development, we have performed
transcriptome analyses of the presumptive otic region at sequential stages of commitment toward
inner ear identity. These results reveal dynamic changes in gene expression as a function of time
during the transition from progenitor to committed otic state. Modulation of otic inducing signals and
of known otic transcription factors establishes a genetic hierarchy amongst these genes that
underlies this critical transition. In a complementary approach, we have identified the regulatory
regions that integrate such diverse inputs. Our results not only provide an in depth characterization
of the otic transcriptome, but also identify new links in the GRN that controls otic specification.
BIOSKETCH
As an undergraduate, Andrea Streit studied biology at the University of Cologne, Germany. She
obtained her PhD in neurobiology from the University of Heidelberg, Germany in 1990. As a
postdoctoral fellow she worked at the University of Turku (1991-1992) and at the University of
Oxford (1992-1994). Andrea then moved to the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia
University, New York, USA, first as a postdoctoral fellow and then as an associate research scientist.
In 2000, she joined the Department of Craniofacial Development as a Lecturer and has been
Professor of Developmental Neurobiology since 2011. In 2012 Andrea was appointed as Associate
Dean for Research of the Dental Institute.