You are here

Richard Vallee

Richard Vallee
Richard
Vallee
Ph.D.
Professor, Pathology & Cell Biology;Director,Division of Cell and Molecular Biology
Program in Neurobiology and Behavior;Member,Cancer Center
Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons
Member

Professor Vallee's lab works on the microtubule motor protein cytoplasmic dynein, which is involved in diverse cellular and subcellular activities. They are devoting attention to understanding the cellular and molecular basis for the human smooth brain disease, lissencephaly. This disease is caused by mutations in the LIS1 gene, the product of which regulates cytoplasmic dynein, and participates in the proliferation and migration of neural precursor cells in the developing neocortex. In addition to extensive molecular analysis of LIS 1 and additional LIS1- and dynein interacting proteins, NudE, NudEL, and NudC, they are imaging the migration and proliferation of LIS 1 -deficient cells in living brain. Vallee's team is in the process of working out the mechanism for the interkinetic nuclear oscillations exhibited by neural progenitor cells and the radial, glial-guided migration of their progeny, and pursuing evidence from these studies for a novel mechanism controlling entry of the progenitors into mitosis.

Select Publications: 

Bremner KH, Scherer J, Yi J, Vershinin M, Gross SP, Vallee RB. Adenovirus transport via direct interaction of cytoplasmic dynein with the viral capsid hexon subunit. Cell Host Microbe. 2009 Dec 17;6(6):523-35.

Wang X, Tsai JW, Imai JH, Lian WN, Vallee RB, Shi SH. Asymmetric centrosome inheritance maintains neural progenitors in the neocortex. Nature. 2009 Oct 15;461(7266):947-55.

Vallee RB, Seale GE, Tsai JW. Emerging roles for myosin II and cytoplasmic dynein in migrating neurons and growth cones. Trends Cell Biol. 2009 Jul;19(7):347-55.

Varma, D., Monzo, P., Stehman, S. A. Vallee, R. B. Direct role of dynein motor in stable kinetochore-microtubule attachment, orientation, and alignment. J. Cell Biol. 2008 182:1045-1054.

Tsai JW, Bremner KH, Vallee RB. Dual subcellular roles for LIS1 and dynein in radial neuronal migration in live brain tissue.  Nat Neurosci. 2007 Aug;10(8):970-9. Epub 2007 Jul 8.

Grabham PW, Seale GE, Bennecib M, Goldberg DJ, Vallee RB. Cytoplasmic dynein and LIS1 are required for microtubule advance during growth cone remodeling and fast axonal outgrowth.  J Neurosci. 2007 May 23;27(21):5823-34.

Stehman SA, Chen Y, McKenney RJ, Vallee RB. NudE and NudEL are required for mitotic progression and are involved in dynein recruitment to kinetochores. J Cell Biol. 2007 Aug 13;178(4):583-94.

Tsai JW, Chen Y, Kriegstein AR, Vallee RB. LIS1 RNA interference blocks neural stem cell division, morphogenesis, and motility at multiple stages. J Cell Biol. 2005 Sep 12;170(6):935-45.