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photo Kathryn W. Tosney
Professor and Chair of Biology
email
215   Cox Science Center, Dept. of Biology
1301 Memorial Drive, Coral Gables, FL 33124
phone (305) 284-3988
fax (305) 284-3039
laboratory website

  
 
Education and professional experience
  • The University of Oregon 1972-1975, Undergraduate Teaching Assistant, Phi Beta Kappa, 1993, 1994, 1995
  • Graduate Student with N. K. Wessells, Stanford University, 1975-1979, Ph.D.
  • Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole 1977, Embryology
  • Postdoctoral Fellow with L.T. Landmesser, Yale University and The University of Connecticut, 1980-1942
  • Faculty, Departments of Biology and of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, The University of Michigan1984-2005; Group Leader, Developmental Biology and Genetics Group, 1986-1989, 1992-1993
  • Professor and Chair, Biology Department, The University of Miami at Coral Gables, 2006-present
  • Associate Editor, The Journal of Morphology, 1985-1990; Cooperating Editor, Cell & Tissue Research, 2000-2003
    Associate Editor, Experimental Neurology, 1997-2002; Editorial Board, Developmental Dynamics, 2003 to present
    Director and editor, Society for Developmental Biology Educational Website,  2004-2007
  • Board of Directors, Society for Developmental Biology, 1996-2002; Treasurer, 1999-2002
  • FASEB Finance Committee,  2004-2007
  • NIH panels, 1982-1998; NSF Minority Postdoc panel, 2005-2007

  • Awards
  • NSF Predoctoral Fellowship, 1975-1978
  • Francis Lou Kallman Award for Graduate Excellence, Stanford University, 1979
  • The University of Michigan Faculty Teaching Award, 1991
  • Excellence in Education Awards; College of Literature, Sciences, and the Arts, The University of Michigan, 1992, 1993, 1995
  • Faculty Recognition Award; College of Literature, Sciences, and the Arts, The University of Michigan, 1994
  • Gayle Morris Sweetland Fellow, The University of Michigan, 1999
Grants
  • NSF Predoctoral Fellowship, 1975-1978
  • NIH grant for use of high voltage electron microscope at the University of Colorado,PI, 1979
  • NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1980-1982 (declined to accept)
  • MDA Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1980-1982
  • NIH National Research Award, 1983-1984
  • Rackham Faculty Fellowship and Grant, The University of Michigan, 1985 ($10,000)
  • Rackham Grant to Augment International Academic Partnerships, The University of Michigan, 1986-1987 ($2,267 for travel; Max Planck Institut fur Entwicklungsbiology paid my living and research expenses in Germany)
  • Faculty Fund Teaching Grant, The University of Michigan, 1989 ($5,000)
  • NIH Equipment Grant, Lipchow-disc confocal microscope, 1990 ($25,000)
  • NIH Equipment Grant, Philips CM 10/PC Electron Microscope with Cryostage. PI: Bruce Carlson. Co-Investigators, R. Altschuler, S. Ernst, J. Faulkner, K. O'Shea, P. Raymond, K. Tosney, M. Welsh. ($242,875), 1990.
  • Rackham Research Partnerships Grant, The University of Michigan, Co-PI R.A. Oakley,1990-1991 ($20,348)
  • NSF Training Grant, Development of the Nervous System, PI: B. Oakley, Co-PIs R. Hume, P. Raymond, K. Tosney 1990-1995 ($1,285,180); 1995-2000 ($1,098,061)
  • OVPR/LSA equipment grant for electron microscope for The Biology Department, 1995, $60,000
  • NIH, NRSA, Co-PI, Kevin Hotary, 1993-1995 ($55,000)
  • NIH grant NS27634, Guidance of Motoneuron Growth Cones1988-1992 ($282,266)
  • NIH grant HD32456, Control of Axial Muscle Development 1994-2000 ($630,457, total direct costs)
  • NIH grant NS21308, Development of Neuronal Specificity 1985-1988 ($142,651;1988-1992 ($232,720)
    1992-1995 ($488,137 total direct costs); 1995-2001 ($498,032)
  • OVPR/LSA research support grant, 2002, $35,000
  • UROP (Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program) University of Michigan,  2002, $3,500, with Jason Schrum 2002, $3,500, with Chris Fecteu
  • NSF grant #0212326, Focal Rings and Filopodial Emergence in Neuronal Growth Cones 2002-2005 ($324,711)
  • NSF grant  #0212326, REU, 2002-2005 ($12,000)
  • NSF ADVANCE Departmental transformation grants, PI, $20,000, 2000-2003 PI, $45,000, 2003-2004
  • Postdoctoral grant, Organogenesis Center: Regulation of ephrin-A5 on motor axons, Simon Lunn, PI, Mentors: Catherine Krull and Kathryn Tosney
  • NIH grant, Mechanisms of Motor Axon Pathfinding, Co-PI; Catherine Krull, PI,  2005-2010 ($1,125,000 direct costs)
  • NSF grant, Regulation of functionally-distinct adhesions and neuronal motility, 2005-2008 (total costs $450,000)
  • Grant to purchase a Li-Cor DNA sequencer, University of Miami, ($100,000, with UM costshare), 2006
Areas of Focus
  • Developmental Biology and Neuroscience
  • Evolutionary Biology
Research Interests
In my lab, research projects range widely, but are centered in the field of Developmental Biology. We often use the neuron as a tool to understand the embryo and its cellular and developmental mechanisms.  Some of our projects use classical techniques such as embryonic surgery to discover basic phenomena, such how cell death controls development of entire muscle groups, or how chemical cues guide migrating cells.  Some use unconventional systems such as old-world chameleons to understand how development is harnessed to generate different life forms in evolution.  Some combine electron microscopy and cell biology to investigate how unconventional mechanisms such as mechanical force regulate axons.  Some combine molecular interventions with time lapse digital recordings in cell culture to discover mechanisms crucial to growth and guidance of neural axons.  Other interdisciplinary studies examine the regulation and actions of a new cell organelle we recently discovered.
Teaching Interests
My teaching interests currently focus on 1) increasing the availability and wise use of pedagogical tools to increase creative learning, and 2) career development.  Some widely adopted pedagogical tools I have developed myself, such as “The Origami Embryo,", a hands-on tool that helps students understand complex shape changes in embryos, and a book using a cross-word puzzle approach to learn terms and concepts.  The goal of increasing the availability of effective methods is supported by my role as the Director of the Education site for the Society of Developmental Biology.  Here at UM, I teach “Pedagogy and Course Design,” which has the immediately practical goal of revising our introductory Biology laboratories.  For career development issues, I have long taught a graduate course in presentation and survival techniques, which at the University of Miami has transmuted into “Professional Writing and Grantsmanship,” a course in which each student submits at least one grant for outside funding.  Nationally, I give talks on “Career Survival in Academia,” and run workshops on how to present effective posters (see tutorial and companion site).  Two posters about creating good posters are displayed in the Cox Science Center near the Biology office.
Publications
  • Tosney, K.W. (1978). The early migration of neural crest cells in the trunk region of the avian embryo:  An electron microscopic study. Dev. Biol. 62: 317-333
  • Erickson, C.A., K.W. Tosney and J.A. Weston (1980). Analysis of migratory behavior of neural crest and fibroblastic cells in embryonic tissues. Dev. Biol. 77: 142-156
  • Tosney, K.W. (1982). The segregation and early migration of cranial neural crest cells in the avian embryo. Dev. Biol. 89: 13-24
  • Tosney, K.W. and N.K. Wessells (1983). Neuronal motility:  The ultrastructure of veils and microspikes correlates with their motile activities. J. Cell Sci. 6: 389-411
  • Tosney, K.W. and L.T. Landmesser (1984). Pattern and specificity of axonal outgrowth following varying degrees of chick limb bud ablation. J. Neurosci. 4: 2158-2527
  • Tosney, K.W. and L.T. Landmesser (1985). Development of the major pathways for neurite outgrowth in the chick hindlimb. Dev. Biol. 109: 193-214 
  • Tosney, K.W. and L.T. Landmesser (1985). Specificity of motoneuron growth cone outgrowth in the chick embryo. J. Neurosci. 5: 2336-2344
  • Tosney, K.W. and L.T. Landmesser (1985). Growth cone morphology and trajectory in the lumbosacral region of the chick embryo. J. Neurosci. 4: 2345-2358
  • Tosney, K.W. and L.T. Landmesser (1986). Neurites and growth cones in the chick embryo. Enhanced tissue preservation and visualization of HRP-labeled subpopulations in serial 25-µm plastic sections cut on a rotary microtome. J. Histochem. Cytochem.  34: 953-957
  • Tosney, K.W., M. Watanabe, L. Landmesser and U. Rutishauser (1986). The distribution of NCAM in the chick hindlimb during axon outgrowth and synaptogenesis. Dev. Biol.  114: 437-452
  • Tosney, K.W. (1987). Proximal tissues and patterned neurite outgrowth at the lumbosacral level of the chick embryo: Deletion of the dermamyotome. Dev. Biol. 122: 540-588
  • Tosney, K.W. (1988). How to dissect an egg. Or, a beginners' guide to embryonic surgery.  Fine Science Points  2(1): 1-4
  • Tosney, K.W. (1988). Somites and axon guidance. Scanning Microsc.  2: 427-442.
  • Tosney, K.W. (1988). Proximal tissues and patterned neurite outgrowth at the lumbosacral level of the chick embryo: Partial and complete deletion of the somite.  Dev. Biol. 127: 266-286
  • Schlosser, G. and K.W. Tosney (1988). Projection neurons that send axons through the lumbar spinal cord of the chick embryo are not obviously distributed in a segmentally repetitive pattern.  J. Neurosci. Res.  21: 410-419.  This paper also appeared in a book, Neuroembryology, Cellular and Molecular Approaches.
  • Tosney, K.W., S. Schroeter, and J.A. Pokrzywinski (1988). Cell death delineates axon pathways in the hindlimb and does so independently of neurite outgrowth. Dev. Biol. 130: 558-572
  • Grim, M., K. Nensa, B. Christ, H.J. Jacob, and K.W. Tosney (1989). A hierarchy of determining factors controls motoneuron innervation. Experimental studies on the development of the plantaris muscle (PL) in avian chimeras. Anat. Embryol. 180: 179-189
  • Tosney, K.W. and M. Hageman (1989).  Different subsets of axonal guidance cues are essential for sensory neurite outgrowth to cutaneous and muscle targets in the dorsal ramus of the embryonic chick.  J. Exp. Zool. 251: 232-244
  • Tosney, K.W. and R. A. Oakley (1990). The perinotochordal mesenchyme acts as a barrier to axon advance in the chick embryo: Implications for a general mechanism of axonal guidance. Exp. Neurol. 109: 75-89
  • Tyrrell, S., S. Schroeter, L. Coulter, and K.W. Tosney (1990). The distribution and projection pattern of motoneurons that innervate hindlimb muscles in the quail. J. Comp. Neurol. 298: 413-430
  • Tosney, K.W. (1991). Cells and cell interactions that guide motor axons in the developing chick embryo. BioEssays. 13: 1-7
  • Schroeter, S. and K.W. Tosney (1991). Spatial and temporal patterns of muscle cleavage in the chick thigh and their value as criteria for homology. Am. J. Embryol.  191: 325-350
  • Schroeter, S. and K.W. Tosney (1991). Ultrastructural and morphometric analysis of the separation of two thigh muscles in the chick. Am. J. Anat. 191: 351-386
  • Oakley, R.A. and K.W. Tosney (1991). Peanut agglutinin and chondroitin-6-sulfate are molecular markers for tissues that act as barriers to axon advance in the avian embryo. Dev. Biol. 147: 187-206
  • Erickson, C.A., T.D. Duong, and K.W. Tosney (1992). Descriptive and experimental analysis of the dispersion of neural crest cells along the dorsolateral path and their entry into ectoderm in the chick embryo. Dev. Biol.  151: 251-272
  • Oakley, R.A., and K.W. Tosney (1993). Contact-mediated mechanisms of motor axon segmentation. J. Neurosci. 13: 3773-3792
  • Oakley, R.A., C.J. Lasky, C.A. Erickson and K.W. Tosney (1994). Gycoconjugates identify a transient barrier to neural crest migration in the chicken embryo.  Development 120: 103-114
  • Tosney, K.W.,  D.B. Dehnbostel, and C.A. Erickson (1994). Neural crest cells prefer the myotome's basal lamina over the sclerotome as a substratum in the intact chicken embryo. Dev. Bio. 163: 389-406
  • Tosney, K.W., K.B. Hotary and C.Lance-Jones (1995). Specifying the target identity of motoneurons. BioEssays, 17: 379-382.
  • Hotary, K.B. and K.W. Tosney (1996). Cellular interactions that guide sensory and motor axons identified in an embryonic slice preparation. Dev. Biol. 176: 22-35
  • Steketee M, Tosney KW (1999) Contact with isolated sclerotome cells steers sensory growth cones by altering distinct elements of extension. J. Neurosci. 19: 3495-3506
  • Polinsky, M., K. Balazovich and K.W. Tosney (2000). Identification of an invariant response: Contact with Schwann cells induces veil extension in growth cones. J. Neurosci. 20: 1044-1055
  • Steketee, M., K. Balazovich and K. W. Tosney (2001). Filopodial initiation and a novel filament organizing center, the Focal Ring Mol. Biol. Cell 12: 2378-2395
  • Steketee, M. and K. W. Tosney (2002). Three functionally distinct adhesions in filopodia: Shaft adhesions control lamellar extension. J. Neurosci. 22 (18):8071-8083
  • Tosney, K.W. (2004) A long-distance cue from emerging dermis stimulates neural crest melanoblast migration. Dev. Dynamics. 229: 99-108
  • Johann Eberhart,  Jason Barr,  Sinead O'Connell,  Mary E. Swartz,  Alleda Flagg,  Karina S. Cramer, Kathryn W. Tosney,  Elena B. Pasquale,  Catherine E. Krull (2004). Ephrin-A5 exerts positive or inhibitory effects on distinct subsets of EphA4-positive motor neurons. J. Neuro. 24: 1070-107
  • Tosney, K. W. , A. Wagnitz, D. Dehnbostel, and K. J. Balazovich (2006). Evidence that growth cones exert mechanical force as they exit the spinal cord. Dev. Dynamics, In press with revision.

    Books:
    Tosney, K.W. (2000). “aCross Development” Sinauer
 
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