Dionne

About Us       Protocols &c.       Lab Members       Publications       Contact       Links

Welcome to the Dionne lab!

We are interested in (1) the effects of host genetics on the biology of infection; and (2) the physiological control of metabolic balance.

Host genetics and the biology of infection

Different individuals show different levels of resistance to infections and develop different pathologies in response to infections. We are interested in why this is the case. We use the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster as a model host to study these questions; this allows us to screen for genes that affect the progress of infection in a rapid and unbiased fashion.

All of our experiments originate from a simple genetic screen. Mutant flies are infected with Mycobacterium marinum, a bacterium closely-related to the causative agent of tuberculosis, or with Mycobacterium smegmatis, a related non-pathogen. We select lines of flies that die more quickly or more slowly than wild-type controls and identify the mutation that gives rise to this phenotype. We then try to understand what this phenotype tells us about the function of the mutated gene.

So far, our work on this system has focused on the mechanisms of pathogenesis. We have found that this infection causes progressive loss of metabolic stores, similar to the wasting seen in people with tuberculosis. We have shown that, in the fly, this wasting effect is caused partly by systemic failures in anabolic signals via the insulin effector kinase Akt. We are now working to try to understand how infection causes this defect in anabolic signalling. We also have mutants that affect other aspects of disease; we are working with these mutants to understand other aspects of disease pathogenesis as well as how the fly immune system fights Mycobacterial infections.

Physiological control of metabolic balance

As mentioned above, we've found that infection with M marinum causes serious metabolic defects in Drosophila. At least some of these effects are due to changes in signalling pathways whose roles in metabolic control are largely unexplored or completely unknown. This has led us to examine the roles of these pathways in metabolic control in healthy animals so that we can then understand the effects of infection-induced perturbation of these pathways.

This work is preliminary but is very exciting - we hope to be able to say more soon!

<wikionly>

Recent updates to the lab wiki

List of abbreviations:

N

This edit created a new page (also see list of new pages)

m

This is a minor edit

b

This edit was performed by a bot

(±123)

The page size changed by this number of bytes

18 April 2024

15:01

Pan:Who we are‎ diffhist +14‎ Taopan talk contribs

			15:00		Pan:Methods‎‎ 2 changes history +456‎ [Taopan‎ (2×)]
					15:00 (cur | prev) +2‎ Taopan talk contribs
					14:59 (cur | prev) +454‎ Taopan talk contribs

			14:56		Pan:Publications‎‎ 2 changes history +396‎ [Taopan‎ (2×)]
					14:56 (cur | prev) +74‎ Taopan talk contribs
					14:54 (cur | prev) +322‎ Taopan talk contribs

13:03

BioMicroCenter:Pricing‎ diffhist +166‎ Challee talk contribs

			12:58		BioMicroCenter:Singular Sequencing‎‎ 2 changes history +124‎ [Challee‎ (2×)]
					12:58 (cur | prev) +14‎ Challee talk contribs (→‎Things to Consider)
					12:57 (cur | prev) +110‎ Challee talk contribs

11:42

3D Cell Culture - McLean Taggart, Emma Villares, Maximillian Marek, Scott LeBlanc, Adam Lyons and Jacob Belden‎ diffhist −3‎ Sarah L. Perry talk contribs

			09:35		BioMicroCenter‎‎ 2 changes history +92‎ [Noelani Kamelamela‎ (2×)]
					09:35 (cur | prev) +60‎ Noelani Kamelamela talk contribs
					09:20 (cur | prev) +32‎ Noelani Kamelamela talk contribs

09:32

Upload log Noelani Kamelamela talk contribs uploaded File:Chemagic360.jpg ‎(from manual)

17 April 2024

			15:34		BioMicroCenter:Element Sequencing‎‎ 3 changes history +295‎ [Challee‎ (3×)]
					15:34 (cur | prev) +195‎ Challee talk contribs
					14:22 (cur | prev) +100‎ Challee talk contribs
					14:07 (cur | prev) 0‎ Challee talk contribs

13:10

BioMicroCenter:SingleCell‎ diffhist +30‎ Noelani Kamelamela talk contribs (→‎10X CHROMIUM X)

12:43

BioMicroCenter‎ diffhist −15‎ Noelani Kamelamela talk contribs

16 April 2024

			N    19:59		Nanoimprint Lithography (NIL) - Carter Paul‎‎ 10 changes history +7,205‎ [CarterPaul‎ (10×)]
					19:59 (cur | prev) +769‎ CarterPaul talk contribs (→‎Thermal NIL Process)
					19:53 (cur | prev) 0‎ CarterPaul talk contribs (→‎Thermal NIL Process)
					19:53 (cur | prev) 0‎ CarterPaul talk contribs (→‎Thermal NIL Process)
					19:52 (cur | prev) +1‎ CarterPaul talk contribs (→‎Thermal NIL Process)
					19:50 (cur | prev) +202‎ CarterPaul talk contribs (→‎Thermal NIL Process)
					19:17 (cur | prev) −20‎ CarterPaul talk contribs (→‎References)
					19:17 (cur | prev) −1‎ CarterPaul talk contribs
					19:11 (cur | prev) +4,278‎ CarterPaul talk contribs
					18:53 (cur | prev) +1,891‎ CarterPaul talk contribs
			N		18:42 (cur | prev) +85‎ CarterPaul talk contribs (Created page with "{{Template:CHEM-ENG590E}} =Motivation= =Introduction to NIL= =Thermal NIL Process=")

19:40

Upload log CarterPaul talk contribs uploaded File:NIL1.png ‎

N    18:40

3D Cell Culture - McLean Taggart, Emma Villares, Maximillian Marek, Scott LeBlanc, Adam Lyons and Jacob Belden‎ diffhist +24,060‎ CarterPaul talk contribs (Created page with "{{Template:CHEM-ENG590E}} ==Introduction== While most microfluidic devices incorporate a 2D cell culture design, in which a single layer of cells is grown on the bottom of a device, these systems suffer from poor <i>in vivo</i> mimicry, as, in the human body, most cells grow in all directions.<sup>https://doi.org/10.5114/aoms.2016.63743 1</sup> To address this limitation, 3D cell culture devices have been developed - in w...")

			18:38		CHEM-ENG590E:Wiki Textbook‎‎ 2 changes history +63‎ [CarterPaul‎ (2×)]
					18:38 (cur | prev) +50‎ CarterPaul talk contribs (→‎Chapter 1 - Microfabrication)
					18:37 (cur | prev) +13‎ CarterPaul talk contribs

18:36

3D Cell Culture - McLean Taggart, Emma Villares, Maximillian Marek, Scott LeBlanc, and Adam Lyons‎ diffhist +5,343‎ CarterPaul talk contribs (Added a Technique and applications section)

			10:20		Yarn Microfluidics - Roger Dirth‎‎ 11 changes history +406‎ [Rcostello‎ (11×)]
					10:20 (cur | prev) +41‎ Rcostello talk contribs (→‎Applications)
					10:19 (cur | prev) +36‎ Rcostello talk contribs (→‎Applications)
					10:18 (cur | prev) +36‎ Rcostello talk contribs (→‎Introduction)
					10:17 (cur | prev) +38‎ Rcostello talk contribs (→‎Fabrication)
					10:17 (cur | prev) +38‎ Rcostello talk contribs (→‎Washburn Equation)
					10:16 (cur | prev) +38‎ Rcostello talk contribs (→‎Wicking Rate)
					10:16 (cur | prev) +37‎ Rcostello talk contribs (→‎Introduction)
					10:15 (cur | prev) +36‎ Rcostello talk contribs (→‎Wicking Rate)
					10:14 (cur | prev) +36‎ Rcostello talk contribs (→‎Fabrication)
					10:14 (cur | prev) +34‎ Rcostello talk contribs (→‎Applications)
					10:14 (cur | prev) +36‎ Rcostello talk contribs (→‎Introduction)

</wikionly>

<nonwikionly> <a href="http://www.openwetware.org"><img src="http://openwetware.org/images/9/96/02_JoinOpenWetWare.png" border=0/></a> </nonwikionly>