Disatham, Joshua

The ocular lens is comprised of an epithelial cell population that undergoes a continuous process of cellular remodeling and differentiation to form elongated transparent fiber cells. This lens differentiation process is hallmarked by the complete elimination of organelles at the center of the lens, elongation of lens fiber cells, and production of lens fiber-cell specific crystallin proteins to form the mature functional structure of the transparent ocular lens. To date, our understanding of the mechanisms that drive the lens differentiation process is incomplete. This dissertation sought to elucidate the potential roles of both hypoxia and epigenetic chromatin remodeling processes as novel regulators of lens differentiation.
The lens lacks a direct blood supply and thus resides in a hypoxic microenvironment. Previous studies revealed the presence of a decreasing oxygen gradient in the region of the lens where cellular remodeling and organelle elimination occur to form mature transparent lens fiber cells. Thus we hypothesized that the hypoxic environment of the lens itself, was required to induce gene expression changes to drive the lens differentiation process. We utilized a multimoics analysis combining CUT&RUN and RNAseq high-throughput sequencing technologies to identify a role for the hypoxia-inducible transcription factor HIF1a as a novel regulator of lens gene expression during lens differentiation.

The 3MT® competition celebrates the exciting research conducted by graduate students. Developed by The University of Queensland (UQ), the exercise cultivates students’ academic, presentation, and research communication skills. The competition supports their capacity to effectively explain their research in three minutes, in language appropriate to a non-specialist audience. The first 3MT® competition was held at the University of Queensland in 2008 with 160 students competing. In 2009 and 2010 the 3MT® competition was promoted to other Australian and New Zealand universities and enthusiasm for the concept grew. Since 2011, the popularity of the competition has increased and 3MT® competitions are now held in over 170 universities across more than 18 countries worldwide.