Mailing Address:

University of California, Berkeley
Howard Hughes Medical Institute,
Dept. of Integrative Biology
3060 VLSB #3140
Berkeley, CA 94720-3140
USA
Tel: (510)643-6227
Fax: (510)643-5022

email: rjcheeks@berkeley.edu

Research Summary

As a developmental biologist, I am interested in how asymmetric cell division and segmentation contributes to generating cellular and morphological diversity. One mechanism by which cellular diversity arises is through asymmetric cell division, when a founder (stem) cell divides to produce two daughter cells of different fate. Likewise, one major source of body plan diversity originates from segmentation, or the serial repetition of similar building blocks of cell types, during development. To date, a connection between these processes, in any system, has not been demonstrated or explored. If a link between these basic mechanisms exists, it may establish a new provision for development and diversification of animal body plans. I am asking what role(s) asymmetric cell division play in the process of segmentation.

Through the extensive and groundbreaking work in such model systems as the arthropod insect Drosophila and the nematode C. elegans, many genes required for either asymmetric cell division or segmentation have been identified. However, the connection between these processes has thus far escaped rigorous investigation in any system due to the specialized mode of development in many genetic models. Observations in a new arthropod system, the amphipod crustacean Parhyale hawaiensis suggest that asymmetric cell division may indeed play a direct role in segmentation. Moreover, the developmental features of the amphipod embryo provide a unique opportunity to functionally dissect the important connection between these fundamental processes.

My research focuses on how cell polarity establishment is involved in segmentation, what mechanisms establishing cell polarity are used in generating segments, and how the genes involved in cell polarity and segmentation have evolved and contribute to these processes. I will use Parhyale hawaiensis to identify, characterize, and perform functional analyses of molecules involved in asymmetric cell division and segmentation, using molecular and genetic techniques, microscopy and modern techniques for embryonic manipulations. I will test whether asymmetric cell division provides a direct mechanism for segmentation; thus showing how the initial establishment of cell polarity in segmental founder cells translates via asymmetric cell division into the segmental building blocks of the amphipod body plan.

Publications & Presentations:

Rebecca J. Cheeks, Julie C. Canman, Willow N. Gabriel, Nicole Meyer, Susan Strome and Bob Goldstein. (2004). C. elegans PAR Proteins Function by Mobilizing and Stabilizing Asymmetrically Localized Protein Complexes. Current Biology, Vol. 14, 851-62.

International Worm Meeting. R.J. Cheeks & Bob Goldstein. (2001) The Roles of the par
Genes in Intracellular Motility Before the First Asymmetric Cell Division in C. elegans

Society for Developmental Biology 59th Annual Meeting, (2000). R.J. Cheeks
and B. Goldstein. Intracellular Motility Genes and Asymmetric Cell Division in
the Nematode C. elegans

Society for Developmental Biology 58th Annual Meeting, (1999). R.J. Cheeks &
A.C. Burke. Mapping Somatic Contributions to the Vertebrate Scapula Using a
Replication Incompetent Retrovirus

The Developmental Basis of Evolutionary Change, University of Chicago.
(1999). R.J. Cheeks & A.C. Burke. Mapping Somitic Contributions to the
Vertebrate Scapula.

Blair, S.M., Nelson, D., Cheeks, R., Hibler, J., Gross, T., Lutz, P., Hoover, J.
(2000). Evaluation of quartz, aragonite and carbonate beach compatible sand on
nest temperature and success parameters of Caretta caretta nests in southeastern
Florida, U.S.A. Proc. of the 18th Intl Sea Turtle Symp. U.S. Dept. of Commerce.
NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SEFSC-436, 293 pp.; p. 178-180.

Cheeks, R.J., Milton, S.L., Lutz, P.L., Blair, S.M., Nelson, D. The effects of various sand
types on the temperature, incubation period and hatching success of loggerhead sea turtle
nests: results of a two-year study. (1998). Proc. of the 17th Intl. Sea Turtle Symp. U.S.
Dep. Commerce. NOAA Tech Memo. NMFS-SEFSC-415. 294 pp.; p. 154

Cheeks, R.J. (1997). Effects of various sand types on nest temperature and hatching
success in the loggerhead (Caretta caretta) sea turtle. M.S. Thesis, Florida Atlantic
University.

Nelson, D.A., S.M. Blair, R.J. Cheeks, P.L. Lutz, S.L. Milton & T.S. Gross. (1996).
USACE, Jacksonville & Dade County, FL. Report. Evaluation of alternative beach
nourishment sands as loggerhead sea turtle nesting substrates

Education & Employment

University of California Berkeley Extension Berkeley, CA
Instructor, Integrative Biology 41, Marine Mammals
August 2005-December 2005

University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
Howard Hughes Postdoctoral Fellow. Evolution and development in the amphipod crustacean Parhyale hawaiensis, Dr. Nipam H. Patel, Advisor
September 2004-May 2005

University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
Postdoctoral Fellow. Evolution and development in the Alaskan threespine stickleback fish, Gasterosteus aculeatus, Dr. Charles B. Kimmel, Advisor
August 2003-August 2004

Ph.D. Biology; Dr. Bob Goldstein, Advisor
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
May 2003

M.S. Biology; Dr. Peter Lutz, Advisor
Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL
August 1997

B.S. Zoology (Concentration in Marine Biology & Ecology)
Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL
December 1994

Special Courses:

Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, 2003
Molecular Biology of the Threespine Stickleback. Dr. David Kingsley, Course Director

Marine Biological Laboratories, Woods Hole, MA, 2000
Embryology: Concepts and Techniques in Modern Developmental Biology. Drs. Marianne Bronner-Fraser & Scott Fraser, Course Directors

Friday Harbour Laboratories, Friday Harbour, WA, 1999
Evolution of Developmental Patterns Drs. Greg Wray & Larry McEdward, Course Directors

Awards:

• IGERT: Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Program.
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Oregon, 2003-2004
• Ruth Sager Memorial Scholarship Award, Marine Biological Laboratory, 2000
• Society for Developmental Biology Travel Award, 2000
• H. V. Wilson Award, 1999 & 2000
• R. L. Fernald Fellowship, Friday Harbour Laboratory, 1999