Faculty & Staff

Elizabeth F. Ryder

Associate Professor

Faculty Listing
Office: Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center, 4024
Phone: +1-508-831-6011
Fax: +1-508-831-5936
ryder@wpi.edu

Educational Background

Research & Teaching Interests

Developmental neurobiology; genetics

IQP Advising Interests

Assault on tropical fauna & flora; ethical issues in health care; care of elderly; bioethics; appropriate technology; alcoholism & drug abuse; computers & education; introducing new teaching materials; education & technological literacy; scientists in court - the role of experts; scientific evidence; forensics

Research

External Funding: NSF CAREER Award IBN-9984662 'Sensory map formation in the nervous system of C. elegans'

Developmental Neurobiology

How does the brain make a map of the outside world? Sensory systems often map spatial information from the external world onto the brain in an orderly way. For example, in the visual system, cells in the retina that receive input from adjacent positions in the visual field have synaptic connections at adjacent positions in the brain. How are these topographic sensory maps formed during development of the nervous system? It is becoming clear that multiple cues are involved, including adhesive and repulsive molecules that guide axons to the correct general brain region, and molecules expressed in gradients in that region that allow recognition of specific synaptic partners by their positions within the region. We would like to know exactly what the cell surface molecules are that are involved in this process, how they interact, and what molecules are involved in converting the binding of these surface molecules into the movement of axons. In order to address these questions, we are using the nematode C. elegans as a model system. This microscopic worm has many advantages. In particular, it has a simple, well-defined nervous system, and mutations affecting the nervous system can by made, and the corresponding genes cloned, with relative ease.

We are studying the formation of a very simple sensory map in C. elegans. The six neurons in the map, known as the IL2 neurons, each send sensory processes to the worm's nose and axons to the nerve ring (the worm's 'brain'). The entire map can be visualized in living animals using the fluorescent dye, DiO. By screening for mutations that disrupt this map, we have isolated several alleles of a gene called dig-1. Sensory processes of dig-1 mutants often follow aberrant paths to the worm's nose, sometimes branching abnormally . The dig-1 gene appears to be a very large molecule that is involved in adhesion. We are currently characterizing the expression pattern of this gene using molecular techniques. Mutations in the gene mig-10 also disrupt the IL2 neurons. In this case, the axons rather than the sensory processes are affected, sometimes stopping before reaching the nerve ring. We are also analyzing the expression pattern of the mig-10 gene. Future work will involve additional genetic screens to isolate and characterize mutations in other genes involved in sensory map formation in the C. elegans nervous system.

Bioinformatics: Multipoint analysis of genetic information

This collaborative research project between the Computer Science and Biology and Biotechnology departments involves data collection and methodology development for the analysis of genetic information. Due to the success of many of the international genome projects, a large amount of DNA sequence data for both humans and model organisms is now publicly available. So far, most automated techniques to analyze these databases have looked at genes individually; there are few techniques that are appropriate to analyzing multiple genes concurrently. This type of analysis will be important in the understanding of complex diseases such as cancer or neurological disorders. It will also enable the understanding of how multiple sequences act in concert to control expression patterns of genes. The aim of our joint work is to develop new algorithms and tools for multipoint analysis of existing genomic data.

SimCortex: A computer simulations of cerebral cortex development

Much experimental data exists concerning the development of the cerebral cortex. There is a need for a common vehicle to integrate this data and to allow the testing of hypotheses concerning development. Computer simulation and visualization are powerful mechanisms for hypothesis testing. Our long-term goal is to create a robust, extensible, portable tool for simulation and visualization of cortical development to serve both research and educational purposes. We have designed a simulation program, SimCortex, which models the early stages of development of the cerebral cortex of the mouse (Ryder et al., 1999). SimCortex models the proliferation of progenitor cells in the cortical ventricular zone, the generation of young neurons, and their migration into the developing cortex. This ongoing work is performed in collaboration with Matthew Ward in the Department of Computer Science at WPI.

Recent Publications

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Collaborations

Professional Societies/Memberships

 

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