Dr. Mauricio Rocha-Martins

Embryo's autocorrect capabilities: how to build healthy organs under adverse conditions

Cell Biology / Molecular Biology
Development
Human Organoid Models
Neurobiology  
Quantitative Live Imaging      

In nature, embryos frequently encounter genetic and environmental stressors (e.g., mutations, hypoxia, and viral infections) that cause developmental defects. Given these significant challenges, it is truly remarkable that embryos typically develop healthy organs. So far, strong emphasis has been placed on the identification of the molecular basis of developmental robustness; however, how developing tissues restore cellular order after severe disturbances remains an important knowledge gap. To shed light on how cells adapt and work together to provide self-correction capabilities, we challenge developing tissues with diverse stressors, including physical stressors and disease variants, that disrupt cell behaviour. Using advanced live imaging techniques, we closely interrogate how developing tissues “break” and “fix” themselves, focusing on regrowth and repair of tissue organization. We aim to dissect mechanisms of self-correction from the molecular to the tissue scale by combining quantitative imaging with large-scale molecular profiling and biophysical measurements. We hope to deepen our understanding of how embryos build healthy organs even in conditions that could cause disease.

Methodological and technical expertise

- Human organoid models

- Zebrafish genetics (e.g., CRISPR)

- Advanced microscopy and deep-learning image restoration tools (e.g., light-sheet microscopy, CARE)

- Quantitative image analysis (e.g., Python, Fiji)

 

 

Vita

• 2007 - 2010       Bachelor in Biological Sciences (Genetics), Institute of Biology of the
                                Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil. Science Internship (4 months),
                                Universitätsmedizin Göttingen, Germany.
• 2011 -  2013      Master, Institute of Biophysics of the UFRJ, Brazil.
• 2013 -  2017      PhD, Institute of Biophysics of the UFRJ, Brazil. One-year research visit to
                                the Max Planck-CBG, Germany.
• 2017 - 2023       Postdoctoral Fellow with Dr. Caren Norden, Max Planck-CBG (MPI-CBG, Germany),
                                Institute Gulbenkian (IGC, Portugal).
   

Selected references

Rocha-Martins M*#, Kretzschmar J, Nerli E, Weigert M, Icha J, Myers EW, Norden C. (2023). Neuronal migration prevents spatial competition in retinal morphogenesis. Nature 620, 615–624. *First author and #Co-corresponding author.

Rocha-Martins M+. (2023). Cell behaviors that pattern developing tissues: the case of the vertebrate nervous system. Current Topics in Developmental Biology (https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.ctdb.2023.11.003). +Corresponding author.

Nerli E, Rocha-Martins M#, Norden C. (2020). Asymmetric neurogenic commitment of retinal progenitors involves Notch through the endocytic pathway. eLife Nov 3;9:e60462. #Co-corresponding author.

Rocha-Martins M*#, de Toledo BC, Santos-França PL, Oliveira-Valença VM, Vieira-Vieira CH, Matos-Rodrigues GE, Linden R, Norden C, Martins RAP, Silveira MS. (2019). De novo genesis of retinal ganglion cells by targeted expression of KLF4 in vivo. Development. Aug 21;146(16). *First author and #Co-corresponding author.

Weigert M, Schmidt U, Boothe T, Müller A, Dibrov A, Jain A, Wilhelm B, Schmidt D, Broaddus C, Culley S, Rocha-Martins M, Segovia-Miranda F, Norden C, Henriques R, Zerial M, Solimena M, Rink J, Tomancak P, Royer L, Jug F, Myers EW. (2018). Content-aware image restoration: pushing the limits of fluorescence microscopy. Nature Methods Dec;15(12):1090-1097.

Links

The Rocha Lab will open in the spring at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine.
The laboratory's website is under construction.