Education

• B.A. Biology (1990) Pomona College, Cum laude
• A.M. (1993) Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University
• Ph.D. (1997) Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University

Professional experience

• 2004 to present: Assistant professor, Department of Human & Molecular Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond
• 1997 to 2004: Senior research fellow, Department of Biological Structure, University of Washington
• 1997: Graduate research assistant, Department of Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine
• 1990 to 1997: Graduate research assistant, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University
• Summer 1989: Undergraduate Research Program, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
• Summer 1988: Undergraduate Summer Research Program, Department of Biochemistry, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

Honors

• 2000: Honorable mention, poster competition, Society for Developmental Biology 59th Annual Meeting, Boulder, Colo.
• 1999: Best poster, 17th International Pigment Cell Conference, Nagoya, Japan
• 1998: National Research Service Award, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
• 1990: Vaile Prize in Biology, Pomona College

Funded Research

• National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, “Site-specific Transgenesis in Zebrafish," R21 HD055311, 2007-09. Principal Investigator.

Research interests

Our laboratory is interested in understanding how vertebrate pigment cells develop and differentiate. We study the zebrafish Danio rerio because of its distinct advantages as a model organism suited for genetic and embryological analysis. Pigment cells in all vertebrates arise from two sources, the neural crest and the neuroepithelium of the optic cup.  In mammals, the development of both populations of pigment cells is dependent upon the function of the Mitf (Microphthalmia-associated transcription factor) gene, which encodes a basic-helix-loop-helix/leucine zipper transcription factor.  Zebrafish and other teleosts possess two mitf genes: mitfa is expressed in both neural crest and retina, while mitfb is expressed in retina but not neural crest.  Mutation of mitfa causes a loss of neural crest-derived melanocytes but no defect in retinal pigment cells, leading us to speculate that mitfb can compensate for mitfa loss of function in the eye, a hypothesis that we are currently testing.  By utilizing a variety of genetic and transgenic approaches for functional studies in this model organism we hope to elucidate events upstream and downstream of the mitf genes during development of neural crest and retinal pigment cells.

Teaching assignments at VCU

• HGEN 502 Advanced Human Genetics (course director: Riley)
• HGEN 614 Human Biochemical and Molecular Genetics (course director: Shiang)
• HGEN 690 Research Seminar (course director: Lister)
• HGEN 691-2 Genetic Model Organisms in Biomedical Research (course director: Grotewiel)
• BIOL 691 Developmental Biology (course director: Tombes)

Selected publications

• Rothschild SC, Lister JA, Tombes RM (2007) Differential Expression of CaMK-II Genes during Early Zebrafish Embryogenesis. Developmental Dynamics, 236:295-305
• Lister JA, Cooper C, Nguyen K, Modrell M, Grant K, Raible DW (2006) Zebrafish Foxd3 is required for development of a subset of neural crest derivatives. Dev. Biol. 290(1):92-104
• Elworthy S, Lister JA, Carney TJ, Raible DW, Kelsh RN (2003) Transcriptional regulation of mitfa accounts for the sox10 requirement in zebrafish melanophore development. Development 130:(12):2809-2818
• Lister JA (2002) Development of pigment cells in the zebrafish embryo. Microsc. Res. Tech. 58(6):435-441
• Lister JA, Close J, Raible DW (2001) Duplicate mitf genes in zebrafish: complementary expression and conservation of melanogenic potential. Dev. Biol. 237(2):333-344
• Lister JA, Robertson CP, Lepage T, Johnson SL, Raible DW (1999) nacre encodes a zebrafish microphthalmia-related protein that regulates neural-crest-derived pigment cell fate. Development 126(17):3757-3767
• Lister JA, Baron MH (1998) Induction of basic-helix-loop-helix protein-containing complexes during erythroid differentiation. Gene Expression 7:25-38
• Lister J, Forrester WC, Baron MH (1995) Inhibition of an erythroid differentiation switch by the helix-loop-helix protein Id1. J. Biol. Chem. 270:17939-17946
• Lobo SM, Lister J, Sullivan ML, Hernandez N (1991) The cloned RNA polymerase II transcription factor IID selects RNA polymerase III to transcribe the human U6 gene in vitro. Genes Dev. 5:1477-1489
• Hernandez N, Lobo S, Lister J, Ifill S, Ratnasabapathy R, Sheldon M, Johal L (1990) Transcription of the human U2 and U6 RNA genes. Molecular Biology Reports 14:167