News

21 December 2022
2022 in Review
Join us as we review scientific discoveries of 2022, ranging from the human genome to planarian flatworms, from regeneration to metabolism
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B.S., Biology, University of Tübingen, Germany
M.S., Zoology, University of Tübingen, Germany
Ph.D., Developmental Biology, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen, Germany
I am intrigued by how sensory cells regenerate in a sensory organ and what role developmental pathways play in that process.
Research Areas
Development and Regeneration, Evolutionary Biology, Molecular and Cell Biology
Courses Taught
Cell Dynamics, Stem Cells and Developmental Biology; Laboratory Rotation; Thesis Laboratory
Honors
2022-2026
Editor Annual Review of Genetics
2021
Co-editor Annual Review of Genetics
2019-2020
Editorial Board Member Annual Review of Genetics
2018-2021
Board Member, International Zebrafish Society
2017-2021
Member, Editorial Board, Developmental Biology
2020-2025
Member, National Institutes of Health (NIH), DEV1 study section
2020-present
Advisory Board, The gEAR portal – Advancing Data Sharing, Analysis and Discovery for Hearing and Balance Research.
2019-present
Member, Board of Reviewing Editors, eLife.
2011-present
Embryology Course Marine Biological Laboratory Woods Hole, MA, USA. Zebrafish module.
2006-present
ad hoc reviewer NSF, NIH (DEV2), NIH (ICI), NIDCD, ERC, DFG, BBSRC, SNF, etc.
Tatjana Piotrowski, Ph.D., a developmental biologist, joined the Stowers Institute in 2011 as an Associate Investigator and was promoted to full Investigator in 2018.
Born in Herrenberg, Germany, Piotrowski received a B.S. in biology and an M.S. in zoology from the University of Tübingen. She completed her masters thesis with R.G. Northcutt, Ph.D., at the University of California, San Diego, where she first started studying the anatomy and evolution of the nervous system in fish. After returning to Germany, she earned a Ph.D. in the laboratory of Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, Ph.D., at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Igor Dawid, Ph.D., at the National Institutes of Health’s Laboratory of Molecular Genetics in Bethesda, Maryland. In both labs she studied craniofacial and nervous system development in zebrafish.
The Piotrowski Lab aims to dissect complex developmental and regenerative processes in vivo and at high resolution. The team studies these processes both at the cellular and molecular/genomics level using the sensory lateral line of zebrafish as a relatively simple system to shed light on the molecular and cellular basis of complex vertebrate development and regeneration. The lateral line is an ideal organ to mechanistically dissect embryonic and post-embryonic processes because of 1) the accessibility of the sensory organs to direct observation and manipulation; 2) the relative simplicity of the lateral line system; 3) the similarity between lateral line hair cells and inner ear hair cells; 4) their ability to regenerate; and 5) the genetic tools available in zebrafish to molecularly dissect lateral line development.
Piotrowski and her team continue to focus on the molecular and genetic processes involved in development and regeneration, and believe that uncovering the responsible mechanisms may pave the way for engineering organ regeneration in other species like humans.
News
21 December 2022
Join us as we review scientific discoveries of 2022, ranging from the human genome to planarian flatworms, from regeneration to metabolism
Read Article
Press Release
20 September 2022
New research used the highly regenerative zebrafish to investigate the timing and genetic programs of macrophages in the repair and regeneration of a zebrafish sensory organ.
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Video
08 July 2022
Ahead of the American Century Championship, KSHB 41, the local NBC affiliate in Kansas City, MO visited to the institute to highlight the incredible work conducted by our scientists.
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Nicolas D, Tran TTN, Swall M, Diaz CD, Blanck J, Piotrowski T. BioRxiv (2021).
High-resolution single cell transcriptome analysis of zebrafish hair cell regeneration.
Baek S, Tran TTN, Diaz CD, Tsai Y-Y, Navajas Acedo J, Lush M, Piotrowski T. BioRxiv (2021).
Peloggia J, Munch D, Meneses-Giles P, Romero-Carvajal A, Lush ME, Lawson ND, McClain M, Pan YA, Piotrowski T. Dev Cell. 2021;56:1296-1312 e1297.
Comparing Sensory Organs to Define the Path for Hair Cell Regeneration
Denans N, Baek S, Piotrowski T. Annu Rev Cell Dev Biol. 2019;35:568-589.
PCP and Wnt pathway components act in parallel during zebrafish mechanosensory hair cell orientation
Navajas Acedo J, Voas MG, Alexander R, Woolley T, Unruh JR, Li H, Moens C, Piotrowski T. Nat Commun. 2019;10:3993. doi: 3910.1038/s41467-41019-12005-y.
Lush ME, Diaz DC, Koenecke N, Baek S, Boldt H, St Peter MK, Gaitan-Escudero T, Romero-Carvajal A, Busch-Nentwich EM, Perera AG, Hall KE, Peak A, Haug JS, Piotrowski T. Elife. 2019;8:e44431. doi: 44410.47554/eLife.44431.