The Fuhrmann Laboratory
Sabine Fuhrmann received her Ph.D. from the University of Freiburg in Germany and postdoctoral training at the University of Washington/Seattle, investigating the role of tissue-tissue interactions during early eye development. In 2000, she joined the faculty at the Moran Eye Center. Her laboratory studies the role of extra cellular signaling pathways in regulating patterning and differentiation of ocular tissues such as the neural retina and pigmented epithelium. The molecular signals that mediate these patterning events are largely unknown. Multiple congenital eye disorders, including anophthalmia, micropthalmia, aniridia, coloboma, and retinal dysplasia, stem from disruptions in early eye development. It is thus critical to define the signals that regulate normal patterning and development of the optic vesicle. The goal of Dr. Fuhrmann’s research is to elucidate the cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate the patterning and differentiation of ocular tissues using chick and mouse as model organisms.
During development, complex patterning events generate distinct tissue components of the eye. Dr. Fuhrmann’s lab has recently shown that tissues surrounding the embryonic eye control this development. Since signaling molecules like “TGFbeta” and “Wnts” control early patterning and differentiation of the brain and spinal cord, they are studying the role of these signaling molecules during early eye development using molecular genetics technologies, tissue culture and animal models.
Education: Ph.D., University of Freiburg, Germany
Academic Appointments: Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences—University of Utah School of Medicine; Adjunct Assistant Professor of Neurobiology & Anatomy
Factors from surrounding tissues initiate patterning of the vertebrate eye.
Patient Care Significance
Multispectral image of mouse eye and retina.
Many inherited and some induced eye defects arise in utero and lead to devastating blindnesses. At present there is neither any cure for such defects, nor are they easy to detect in advance. Dr. Fuhrmann’s research is critical to the process of identifying genes associated with such events, and is the first step in defining points of potential intervention. The Fuhrmann Laboratory is the Moran Eye Center’s lead team in identifying early eye gene defects and decoding their molecular interactions.
A sample of major publications from the Fuhrmann Laboratory
Westenskow P, Piccolo S, Fuhrmann S. (2008). Beta-catenin is required for retinal pigment epithelium development in the embryonic mouse eye. Submitted.
Zhang J, Fuhrmann S., Vetter ML. (2008). A non-autonomous role for retinal Frizzled-5 in regulating hyaloid vitreous vasculature development. IOVS, revision submitted.
Fuhrmann S., Riesenberg A, Mathiesen AM, Brown EC, Vetter ML, Brown NL (2008). Characterization of a transient TCF/LEF-responsive progenitor population in the embryonic mouse retina. IOVS, in press.
Burns CJ, Zhang J, Erinn C. Brown, Van Bibber AM, Van Es J, Clevers H, Ishikawa T, Taketo MM, Vetter ML, Fuhrmann S. (2008). Investigation of Frizzled-5 during embryonic neural development in mouse. Dev Dyn, 237, 1614-1626.
Fuhrmann S. (2008). Wnt signaling in eye organogenesis. Organogenesis, 4 (2), 60-67.
Levine EM, Fuhrmann S. (2008). Contribution of environmental factors to rod photoreceptor development: An update on the regulation of rod photoreceptor development. Ophthal Res Series, Visual Transduction and Non-Visual Light Perception, Tombran-Tink J, Barnstable C (Eds.), Vol. 4. In press.