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Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research

Jeremy Reiter, MD, PhD

Intercellular communication through primary cilia

jreiter@biochem.ucsf.edu

Tetrad Program

Diabetes Center

Selected Publications | Complete Publications

Despite being described over a century ago and being present singly on many mammalian cell types, primary cilia have long been dismissed as ‘vestigial’ organelles. We are interested in how vertebrate cells regulate ciliogenesis and how primary cilia are used during development and in disease. We have found that cells use the primary cilium as a kind of cellular antenna involved in interpreting diverse types of extracellular information. We are currently exploring whether defects in signaling through the primary cilium underlie a number of congenital syndromes and human diseases.


Selected Publications

Corbit KC, Aanstad P, Singla V, Norman AR, Stainier DYR, and Reiter JF. (2005) Vertebrate Smoothened functions at the primary cilium. Nature 437(7061):1018-1021.

Singla V and Reiter JF. (2006) The primary cilium as the cell's antenna: signaling at a sensory organelle. Science 313(5787):629-633.

Reiter JF and Skarnes WC. (2006) Tectonic, a novel regulator of the Hedgehog pathway required for both activation and inhibition. Genes and Development 20(1):22-27.

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