Assistant Professor
Pathology & Immunology
Genetics
Email Website Contact Info More Publications
Retinal photoreceptors are the first point of interaction between our nervous system and the outside world, transforming incoming light into electrical signals which are then integrated by the rest of the visual system into an image of our surroundings. Our lab studies the systems biology of photoreceptors. Specifically, we are interested in the transcriptional regulatory networks that underlie the development, evolution, and diseases of photoreceptors in the retina. We are taking a multi-disciplinary approach to the problem of how a network of transcription factors orchestrates the expression of distinct cohorts of downstream genes to build this complex micromachine, the photoreceptor cell. In accordance with its role as an entry point into the nervous system, the photoreceptor cell has been exquisitely fine-tuned by evolution. This fine-tuning has, in turn, made the photoreceptor cell particularly prone to genetic perturbations of its function which result in cell death and consequently blindness.
Using genomic and bioinformatic approaches we are elucidating the detailed molecular circuitry underlying photoreceptor development. We hope to eventually develop a quantitative model of the photoreceptor transcriptional network which can be used to predict network-wide alterations in photoreceptor gene expression and function in disease states. Such predictions will permit us to target key nodes within the network for therapeutic intervention. In addition, this molecular blueprint for photoreceptors may permit us to carry out directed differentiation of stem cells into functional photoreceptors to be used in replacement therapy for patients with blindness. For further details please see our lab website (http://pathology.wustl.edu/~corbolab)
Research Publications
Corbo JC, Cepko CL (2005 Aug 5). A Hybrid Photoreceptor Expressing Both Rod and Cone Genes in a Mouse Model of Enhanced S-Cone Syndrome. PLoS Genet. 1 (2): e11. Full Article >
Corbo JC, Deuel TA, Long JM, LaPorte P, Tsai E, Wynshaw-Boris A, Walsh CA (2002 Sep 1). Doublecortin is required in mice for lamination of the hippocampus but not the neocortex. J Neurosci. 22 (17): 7548-57. Full Article >
Corbo JC, Di Gregorio A, Levine M (2001 Sep 7). The ascidian as a model organism in developmental and evolutionary biology. Cell. 106 (5): 535-8. Full Article >
Corbo JC, Erives A, Di Gregorio A, Chang A, Levine M (1997 Jun). Dorsoventral patterning of the vertebrate neural tube is conserved in a protochordate. Development. 124 (12): 2335-44. Full Article >
Corbo JC, Levine M, Zeller RW (1997 Feb). Characterization of a notochord-specific enhancer from the Brachyury promoter region of the ascidian, Ciona intestinalis. Development. 124 (3): 589-602. Full Article >
Corbo JC, Levine M (1996 Apr). Characterization of an immunodeficiency mutant in Drosophila. Mech Dev. 55 (2): 211-20. Full Article >
Contact Info
Joseph Corbo, M.D., Ph.D.
Office Location: 3720 West Bldg.
Office Phone: 314-362-6254
Campus Box: 8118
Fax: 314-362-4096
jcorbo@pathology.wustl.edu
http://pathology.wustl.edu/~corbolab
