Current Environment:

Research Overview

The goal of the Heiman lab is to understand how cells get their shapes and assemble into organs. Defects in this process lead to structural birth defects. We are using forward genetic approaches in C. elegans to identify the genes that give individual cells their characteristic shapes and that specify defined cell-cell contacts.

Laboratory Projects

  1. Dendrite length: Using forward genetic screens, we have identified two distinct mechanisms by which sensory dendrites attain the right lengths. Surprisingly, both mechanisms involve an “anchorand- stretch” process in which dendritic endings anchor to defined sites on neighboring glial partners and then undergo mechanical pulling to reach their final lengths.

  2. Selective attraction and repulsion: A major organizing force in the nervous system is selective attraction and repulsion between neurons. We are identifying cell-surface adhesion molecules that mediate selective bundling (fasciculation) of dendrites. We have also shown how contact-mediated repulsion between dendrites can give rise to complex emergent patterning.

  3. Glial diversity: Glial cells adopt a diverse array of morphologies, presumably corresponding to diverse molecular and cellular functions. Although mechanisms that give rise to neuronal diversity are well characterized, we know relatively little about how different glial cell fates are specified. We are identifying transcriptional regulators that activate or repress the fate of specific glial subtypes.

Research Background

Dr. Heiman received his Ph.D. from UCSF (1997-2003), where he workedwith Dr. Peter Walter and identified the first genes shown to be required forcell-cell fusion during yeast mating. He received his postdoctoral training at Rockefeller University (2003-2011) with Dr. Shai Shaham, where he studied the genetic control of cell shape using the sensory neurons and glia of C.elegans as a model system. In 2011, he started his own research group jointly between the Division of Genetics at Boston Children’s Hospital and the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School. He has been an HHMI predoctoral fellow, a Jane Coffin Childs postdoctoral fellow, and a March of Dimes Basil O’Connor Scholar, and he is the recipient of an unnamed chair in Genetics at Boston Children’s Hospital. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Genetics and Pediatrics.

Selected Publications

  1. Yip Z. C. and Heiman M. G. (2016) Duplication of a single neuron in C. elegans reveals a pathway for dendrite tiling by mutual repulsion. Cell Reports. 15:2109-2117.
  2. Gilleland C. L., Falls A. T., Noraky J., Heiman M. G.*, Yanik M.F.* (2015) Computer-assisted transgenesis of Caenorhabditis elegans for deep phenotyping. Genetics. 201: 39-46. *, co-corresponding.
  3. Heiman M. G. and Shaham S. (2009) DEX-1 and DYF-7 establish sensory dendrite length by anchoring dendritic tips during cell migration. Cell. 137: 344-355.

Publications