Researchers

Current research interests in the Scheel laboratory include genetic and comparative analysis of cellular growth, with emphasis on understanding the regulation of axon growth during development.  This work has implications for both cancer biology and regenerative medicine.  The interactions between a tumor and its microenvironment are an important aspect of cancer progression.  The transformation of a cell and its clonal progeny into a tumor occurs in the context of surrounding cells.  Similarly, neural regeneration involves signaling between dying cells and cells in the local environment.  Thus it is important to study cell growth and regeneration in animal models in which the interactions between genetically distinct cells can be investigated.  Scheel therefore uses simple arthropod models, such as the genetically tractable fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster in her research.  The abilities to generate clones of mutant cells and to simultaneously study multiple mutations in Drosophila allow for the mimicking of human cancer and neural regeneration.  Scheel has also recently extended her comparative growth studies in arthropods to include mosquitoes, arthropod vectors of human pathogens.