.jpg "Dr. Robert Major")
Office: Weyandt 223
E-mail: Robert. Major@iup.edu
Telephone: 724-357-7958
Office Hours
Education
B.S. in Biology—Rider University
Ph.D. in Cell and Developmental Biology—Rutgers University
Postdoc in Regenerative Biology—Duke University Medical Center
Field
Developmental Biology and Regeneration
Interests
My laboratory is focused on uncovering the molecular mechanisms governing adult tissue maintenance and regeneration. Although humans and other mammals have little or no ability to regenerate large complex structures such as heart and limb, other organisms exhibit an amazing capacity to do so. For example, teleost fish are capable of fully regenerating cardiac tissue following partial amputation. By understanding how these organisms mount a successful regenerative response to injury, we will begin to uncover the reasons why we cannot.
Publications
Wills, A.A., Holdway, J.E., Major, R.J., and Poss, K.D. 2008. Regulated addition of new myocardial and epicardial cells fosters homeostatic cardiac growth and maintenance in adult zebrafish. Development. 135:183-192.
Major, R.J., and Poss, K.D. 2007. Zebrafish heart regeneration as a model for cardiac tissue repair. Drug Discovery Today: Disease Models. 4:219-225.
Major, R.J., and Irvine, K.D. 2006. Localization and requirement for Myosin II at the dorsal-ventral compartment boundary of the Drosophila wing. Developmental Dynamics. 235:3051-3058.
Major, R.J., and Irvine, K.D. 2005. Influence of Notch on dorsal-ventral compartmentalization and actin organization in the Drosophila wing. Development. 132:3823-3833.
