08/18/2025
By Irma Silva
The Kennedy College of Sciences, Department of Biological Sciences, invites you to attend a Ph.D. Proposal Defense in Applied Biology by Srinath Srikanth Vaidheeswaran entitled "Investigating the origin and evolution of the jaw organizer in vertebrates.”
Candidate: Srinath Srikanth Vaidheeswaran
Degree: Doctoral
Date: Friday, Sept. 5t, 2025
Time: 9 – 11 a.m.
Location: Ball Hall 302
Committee Members:
- Jennifer Fish (Advisor), Associate Professor, Biological Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell
- Nicolai Konow (Committee chair), Associate Professor, Biological Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell
- Rachel Melamed, Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell
- Craig Albertson, Professor, Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Title: Investigating the origin and evolution of the jaw organizer in vertebrates
Brief Abstract:
The jaw is a vertebrate novelty which has enabled the adaptive radiation of vertebrates into new niches through more effective predation. The developmental mechanisms behind the origin and evolution of the jaw are, however, unknown. Neural crest mesenchyme (NCM) within the first pharyngeal arch (PA1) gives rise to the jaw. NCM of PA1 is patterned by signals (e.g., Fgf8) derived from neighboring epithelia, the first pharyngeal pouch (pp1; endoderm) and cleft (pc1; ectoderm). The point of contact, or boundary, between pp1 and pc1 is called the pharyngeal plate. The proposed research will investigate how Fgf8 signaling regulates the morphological and molecular characteristics of the boundary that exists between pp1 and pc1 and how the regulation of this boundary by Fgf8 has been involved in the origin of vertebrate jaws.