Greg Beitel Associate Professor

Research Summary: 

The Beitel lab uses ChIP­seq and RNA seq to investigate the molecular mechanisms of epithelial morphogenesis and cellular responses to elevated CO2 levels (hypercapnia). The Beitel lab is investigating forces in the morphogenesis of epithelial tubes, using the Drosophila trachea as a model system. We are developing methods to create mathematical model of tubes from confocal images stacks, which will then be used analyse cell, junctional and protein dynamics and distributions. Image analysis and segmentation uses tools including Ilastik, Matlab and Fiji. Segmentation and image analysis code is developed in Matlab, statistical analysis using Matlab.

Selected Publications:

Tubulogenesis.  Iruela-Arispe ML, Beitel GJ. Development. 2013 Jul;140(14):2851-5.

Drosophila Src regulates anisotropic apical surface growth to control epithelial tube size. Nelson KS, Khan Z, Molnár I, Mihály J, Kaschube M, Beitel GJ. Nat Cell Biol. 2012 Mar 25;14(5):518-25.

Elevated CO2 selectively inhibits interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor expression and decreases phagocytosis in the macrophage. Wang N, Gates KL, Trejo H, Favoreto S Jr, Schleimer RP, Sznajder JI, Beitel GJ, Sporn PH. FASEB J. 2010 Jul;24(7):2178-90.

Elevated CO2 suppresses specific Drosophila innate immune responses and resistance to bacterial infection. Helenius IT, Krupinski T, Turnbull DW, Gruenbaum Y, Silverman N, Johnson EA, Sporn PH, Sznajder JI, Beitel GJ. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Nov 3;106(44):18710-5.

Yurt, Coracle, Neurexin IV and the Na(+),K(+)-ATPase form a novel group of epithelial polarity proteins. Laprise P, Lau KM, Harris KP, Silva-Gagliardi NF, Paul SM, Beronja S, Beitel GJ, McGlade CJ, Tepass U. Nature. 2009 Jun 25;459(7250):1141-5. doi: 10.1038/nature08067.

Selected Honors:

Helen Hay Whitney Postdoctoral Fellowship

Burroughs Wellcome Career Development Award

NSF CAREER Award