Wallace, Valerie | Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology --- University of Toronto

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Research

Research in the Wallace lab is focused on the general problem of how cell number and fate are regulated in the developing brain. Unraveling how signaling pathways and genes that control these processes is key to understanding brain function but also important for understanding tumorigenesis and degenerative processes. We use the mammalian retina as a model to address these questions because its development is well characterized and it is a tractable system for experimental manipulation. General approaches in the lab include conditional mouse mutagenesis and primary retinal cell culture. Our work has identified roles for morphogen signaling in eye patterning and retinal histogenesis. Projects in the lab include the functional analysis of Hedgehog regulated genes in retinal histogensis and Hh-dependent tumorigenesis, elucidation of the mechanisms of Hedgehog protein trafficking in neurons, and cell transplantation approaches to restore retinal function.

Professor

Dr. Valerie Wallace obtained her PhD in the Department of Immunology, U of Toronto and completed postdoctoral studies in developmental neuroscience at University College London. From 1998-2013 she was at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute/University of Ottawa where she was Senior Scientist and Director of the Vision Research Program. A molecular and developmental biologist by training, she is recognized for her work on the role of Hedgehog signaling in neural progenitor proliferation in the central nervous system. Dr. Wallace joined the Toronto Western Research Institute in September 2013, where she is Director of Vision Sciences and Chair of the Vision Science Research Program. She holds appointments in the Department of Opthalmology and Vision Sciences and in LMP, University of Toronto. Dr. Wallace holds peer-reviewed grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Canadian Cancer Society, Foundation Fighting Blindness Canada, Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute and Brain Canada.

Publications

See all Publications: PubMed

Wang, Y., Dakubo, G., Mazerolle, C, Thurig, S., Shiga, S. and Wallace, V. A. 2005. Retinal ganglion cell-derived Sonic hedgehog locally controls proliferation and the timing of RGC development in the embryonic mouse retina. Development 132:5103-5113. PMID: 16236765

Yu, C., Mazerolle, C., Thurig, S., Pacal, M., Bremner, R. and Wallace, V. A. 2006. Direct and indirect effects of hedgehog pathway activation in the mammalian retina. Molecular Cellular Neuroscience. 32:274-282. PMID: 16815712

Liu, H., Xu, S., Wang Y., Mazerolle, C., Thurig, S., Coles, B. L. K., Ren, J.-C., van der Kooy, D., and Wallace, V. A. 2007. Ciliary margin transdifferentiation from neural retina is controlled by canonical Wnt signaling. Dev Biol 308:54-67. PMID: 17574231

Dakubo, G.D., Mazerolle, C., Furimsky, M., St. Jacques, B., McMahon, A.P. and Wallace, V.A. 2008. Ihh signaling from endothelial cells is required for sclera and retinal pigment epithelium development in the mouse eye Dev Biol 320:242-255. PMID: 18582859

Dakubo, G., Beug, S. T, Mazerolle, C. J., Thurig, S. and Wallace, V. A. 2008. Control of glial precursor cell development in the mammalian optic nerve by sonic hedgehog from retinal ganglion cells. Brain Research 1228:27-42. PMID: 18625210

Medina, C. F., Mazerolle M., Wang, Y., Coupland, S., Gibbons, R. J., Wallace, V. A and D. J. Picketts. 2008. Altered visual function and interneuron survival in Atrx knockout mice: Inference for the human syndrome. Hum Molecular Genetics 18(5):966-77. PMID: 19088125

Wall, D. S., McNeill, B., Mazerolle, C., Thurig, S., Wang, Y., Kageyama, R. and V. A. Wallace. 2009. Progenitor cell proliferation in the retina is dependent on Notch-independent Sonic Hedgehog/Hesl Activity J Cell Biol 184(1):101-12. PMID: 19124651Enter information here

Shawn T Beug, Robin J Parks, Heidi McBride, and Valerie A Wallace. 2011. Processing-dependent trafficking of Sonic hedgehog to the regulated secretory pathway in neurons. Molecular Cellular Neuroscience 46(3):583-96

Cwinn, M, Mazerolle, C., McNeill, B., Ringuette, R., Thurig, S., Hui C.-C. and V. A. Wallace. 2011. Suppressor of Fused is required to maintain the multipotency of neural progenitor cells in the retina. J. Neuroscience 31(13):5169-5180.

McNeill, B, Perez-Iratseta, C., Mazarolle, C., Furimsky, M., Andrade-Navarro, A. and V. A. Wallace. 2012. Comparative genomics identification of a novel set of temporally regulated Hedgehog target genes in the retina. MCN 49:330-340.

Ha, A., Liu, H., Perez-Iratxeta, C., Mears, M. J. and V. A. Wallace. 2012. Identification of Wnt/-catenin modulated genes in the developing retina. Mol Vis 18:645-656

McNeill, B., Mazerolle, C., Bassett, E., Mears, A. J., Ringuette, R., Lagali, P., Picketts, D. J., Paes, K., Rice, D. and V. A. Wallace. 2013. Hedgehog directly regulates Norrie Disease Protein to drive neural progenitor proliferation. Hum Mol Genet. 22(5):1005-16. PMID: 23201751

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