Benjamin Cheyette, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry



Contact Information:
bc@lppi.ucsf.edu
Tel: (415) 476-7826
Fax: (415) 476-7884
Lab: (415) 476-7899

Rock Hall, UCSF
1540 4th Street, Room 284A,
Box 2611
San Francisco, CA 94158-2611

Links:
Lab website

Tetrad
Neuroscience
Biomedical Sciences
Wheeler Center for the Neurobiology of Addiction

Publications

Signaling and the Cytoskeleton during Embryonic Development and in Brain Cells

We are investigating intracellular proteins that regulate signaling pathways and cytoskeletal dynamics, including in brain cells (neurons). We seek to understand how these proteins operate both in the developing embryo and in the brain. Our embryonic studies are particularly relevant to birth defects, whereas our brain studies are relevant to the biology of mental illnesses such as autism and schizophrenia. We have found that these approaches are highly complementary: our discoveries in the embryo inform our investigations in the brain and vice-versa. For example, our recent work has uncovered critical dual roles for one protein during gastrulation (embryonic tissue morphogenesis) at the primitive streak, as well as later in the formation of synapses – subcellular sites where information is transferred between neurons in the cerebral cortex. The experimental tools we primarily use are recombinant DNA technology, mammalian tissue culture, and gene-targeted and transgenic strains of laboratory mice.

Selected publications

Okerlund ND, Kivimäe S, Peng I-f, Ullian EM, Cheyette BNR. Mammalian hippocampal neurons require Dact1 for dendrite, spine, and excitatory synapse development. under review

Suriben R, Kivimäe S, Fisher DA, Moon RT, Cheyette, BNR. Posterior Malformations in Dact1 mutant mice arise through misregulated Vangl2 at the Primitive Streak. Nat Genet, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ng.435

Louie S, Yang XY, Conrad WH, Muster J, Angers S, Moon RT, Cheyette BNR. Modulation of the ß-catenin Signaling Pathway by the Dishevelled-associated Protein Hipk1. PLoS ONE, 4: e4310, 2009.

Cheyette, BNR, Cheyette, SNR, Cusmano-Ozog, K, Enns, GM. Dopa-responsive dystonia presenting as delayed and awkward gait. Pediatric Neurology, 38: 273-275, 2008.

Jiang, T, Tan, J, Li, J, Kivimäe, S, Zhuang, L, Lee, PY, Chan, MTW, Liu, ET, Cheyette, BNR, Yu, Q. DACT3 is a Key Epigenetic Regulator of Wnt/ß-catenin Signaling in Colorectal Cancer and is a Therapeutic Target of Histone Modifications. Cancer Cell, 13: 529-541, 2008.

Suriben, R., Fisher, DA, Cheyette, BNR. Dact1 Presomitic Mesoderm Expression Oscillates in phase with Axin2 in the Somitogenesis Clock of Mice. Dev Dyn, 235: 3177-3183, 2006.

Fisher, DA, Kivimäe, S, Hoshino, J, Suriben, R, Martin, P-M, Baxter, N, Cheyette, BNR. Three Dact Gene Family Members are Expressed During Embryonic Development and in the Adult Brains of Mice. Dev Dyn Mouse Development Special Issue, 235: 2620-2630, 2006.

Kovoor, A, Seyffarth, P, Ebert, J, Barghshoon, S, Ching-Kang, C, Schwarz, S, Axelrod, JD, Cheyette, BNR, Simon, MI, Lester, HA, and Schwarz, J. D2-dopamine Receptors Colocalize RGS9-2 via the RGS9 DEP domain and RGS9 knockout mice develop dyskinesias associated with dopamine pathways. J Neurosci. 25: 2157-65, 2005.

Cheyette, BNR, Waxman, JS, Miller, JR, Takemaru, KI, Sheldahl, LC, Khlebtsova, N, Fox, EP, Earnest, T, and Moon, RT. Dapper, a Dishevelled-Associated Antagonist of ß-catenin and JNK Signaling, is required for Notochord Formation, Developmental Cell. 2: 449-461, 2002.

Cheyette, BNR, Green, PJ, Martin, K, Garren, H, Hartenstein, V, and Zipursky, SL. (1994) The Drosophila sine oculis locus encodes a homeodomain-containing protein required for the development of the entire visual system. Neuron. 12: 977-996, 1994.