Professor Billie J. Swalla was the first female Director of UW Friday Harbor Laboratories from 2012-2019. She is a Professor of Biology at the University of Washington and an expert in Marine Genomics. Professor Swalla began her career at the University of Iowa, working on cartilage and muscle differentiation and limb patterning in chicken embryos with Professor Michael Solursh. A summer taking Embryology at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA changed her life and she moved to Postdoctoral studies with Professor William R. Jeffery at the University of Texas at Austin and Bodega Marine Lab at the University of California at Davis. Dr. Swalla is interested in the evolution of chordates and proposed a new hypothesis for a worm-like deuterostome ancestor in 2000, highlighting the importance of studying hemichordates. Her passion is increasing participation and leadership of women, BIPOC and LGBTQ in science.
Dissolved oxygen (O2) and temperature recorded from 2018-2020 from a sensor array that measures p... more Dissolved oxygen (O2) and temperature recorded from 2018-2020 from a sensor array that measures pH, pCO2, temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll, turbidity, and current velocity at Friday Harbor Laboratories Ocean Observatory (FHLOO).
Ctnenophores are a group of marine, jelly like, comb bearing metazoans. This phylum consists of a... more Ctnenophores are a group of marine, jelly like, comb bearing metazoans. This phylum consists of an estimated 100-‐200 species (Mills CE, 2012). Ctenophores are similar to cnidarians in that they have a homologous mesoderm consisting of a jelly like substance called mesoglea. They differ in that they do not have venomous stinging nematocysts but instead have numerous sticky colloblasts lining the tentacles. They also differ in locomotion, cnidarians typically use a contracting pulse of the bell to propel themselves, whereas, ctenophores use 8 rows of ctene plates that paddle the animal through the water. It is believed that they have true striated muscle and a primitive central nervous system (CNS) consisting of the aboral organ and polar fields. The Aboral organ is composed of a balancing statocyst that is attached to all ctene rows by a series of balancers and ciliated furrows. Signaling occurs from the aboral organ to the ctene rows. Each row is capable of beating separately from any of the others, indicating a complex signaling. Extending from this CNS are two nerve nets. One nerve net is located in the ectoderm while the other extends through the mesodermal mesoglea. Genetic data and morphology are both used in comparing basal metazoans and determining evolutionary ancestors
We have examined the expression and regulation of cytoskeletal actin genes in ascidians with tail... more We have examined the expression and regulation of cytoskeletal actin genes in ascidians with tailed (Molgula oculata) and tailless larvae (Molgula occulta). Four cDNA clones were isolated representing two pairs of orthologous cytoskeletal actin genes (CA1 and CA2), which encode proteins differing by five amino acids in the tailed and tailless species. The CA1 and CA2 genes are present in one or two copies, although several related genes may also be present in both species. Maternal CA1 and CA2 mRNA is present in small oocytes but transcript levels later decline, suggesting a role in early oogenesis. In the tailed species, embryonic CA1 and CA2 mRNAs first appear in the presumptive mesenchyme and muscle cells during gastrulation, subsequently accumulate in the presumptive notochord cells, and can be detected in these tissues through the tadpole stage. CA1 mRNAs accumulate initially in the same tissues in the tailless species but subsequently disappear, in concert with the arrest of notochord and tail development. In contrast, CA2 mRNAs were not detected in embryos of the tailless species. Fertilization of eggs of the tailless species with sperm of the tailed species, which restores the notochord and the tail, also results in the upregulation of CA1 and CA2 gene expression in hybrid embryos. Antisense oligodeoxynucleotide experiments suggest that CA1 and CA2 expression in the notochord, but not in the muscle cells, is dependent on prior expression of Mocc FHI, an ascidian HNF-3beta-like gene. The expression of the CA1 and CA2 genes in the notochord in the tailed species, downregulation in the tailless species, upregulation in interspecific hybrids, and dependence on HNF-3beta activity is consistent with a role of these genes in development of the ascidian notochord.
Additional file 4. Database of cloned sequences that have been used for in situ hybridizations an... more Additional file 4. Database of cloned sequences that have been used for in situ hybridizations and electroporation experiments.
Dissolved oxygen (O2) and temperature recorded from 2018-2020 from a sensor array that measures p... more Dissolved oxygen (O2) and temperature recorded from 2018-2020 from a sensor array that measures pH, pCO2, temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll, turbidity, and current velocity at Friday Harbor Laboratories Ocean Observatory (FHLOO).
Ctnenophores are a group of marine, jelly like, comb bearing metazoans. This phylum consists of a... more Ctnenophores are a group of marine, jelly like, comb bearing metazoans. This phylum consists of an estimated 100-‐200 species (Mills CE, 2012). Ctenophores are similar to cnidarians in that they have a homologous mesoderm consisting of a jelly like substance called mesoglea. They differ in that they do not have venomous stinging nematocysts but instead have numerous sticky colloblasts lining the tentacles. They also differ in locomotion, cnidarians typically use a contracting pulse of the bell to propel themselves, whereas, ctenophores use 8 rows of ctene plates that paddle the animal through the water. It is believed that they have true striated muscle and a primitive central nervous system (CNS) consisting of the aboral organ and polar fields. The Aboral organ is composed of a balancing statocyst that is attached to all ctene rows by a series of balancers and ciliated furrows. Signaling occurs from the aboral organ to the ctene rows. Each row is capable of beating separately from any of the others, indicating a complex signaling. Extending from this CNS are two nerve nets. One nerve net is located in the ectoderm while the other extends through the mesodermal mesoglea. Genetic data and morphology are both used in comparing basal metazoans and determining evolutionary ancestors
We have examined the expression and regulation of cytoskeletal actin genes in ascidians with tail... more We have examined the expression and regulation of cytoskeletal actin genes in ascidians with tailed (Molgula oculata) and tailless larvae (Molgula occulta). Four cDNA clones were isolated representing two pairs of orthologous cytoskeletal actin genes (CA1 and CA2), which encode proteins differing by five amino acids in the tailed and tailless species. The CA1 and CA2 genes are present in one or two copies, although several related genes may also be present in both species. Maternal CA1 and CA2 mRNA is present in small oocytes but transcript levels later decline, suggesting a role in early oogenesis. In the tailed species, embryonic CA1 and CA2 mRNAs first appear in the presumptive mesenchyme and muscle cells during gastrulation, subsequently accumulate in the presumptive notochord cells, and can be detected in these tissues through the tadpole stage. CA1 mRNAs accumulate initially in the same tissues in the tailless species but subsequently disappear, in concert with the arrest of notochord and tail development. In contrast, CA2 mRNAs were not detected in embryos of the tailless species. Fertilization of eggs of the tailless species with sperm of the tailed species, which restores the notochord and the tail, also results in the upregulation of CA1 and CA2 gene expression in hybrid embryos. Antisense oligodeoxynucleotide experiments suggest that CA1 and CA2 expression in the notochord, but not in the muscle cells, is dependent on prior expression of Mocc FHI, an ascidian HNF-3beta-like gene. The expression of the CA1 and CA2 genes in the notochord in the tailed species, downregulation in the tailless species, upregulation in interspecific hybrids, and dependence on HNF-3beta activity is consistent with a role of these genes in development of the ascidian notochord.
Additional file 4. Database of cloned sequences that have been used for in situ hybridizations an... more Additional file 4. Database of cloned sequences that have been used for in situ hybridizations and electroporation experiments.
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