Ken Muneoka, PhD
Professor and Chairman of Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology
Biography
Dr. Muneoka received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Irvine in 1983. He has been a member of the Cell and Molecular Biology faculty since 1986 and has served as Chair of the department since 1993. Dr. Muneoka's primary research interests are in limb development and regeneration, pattern formation, wound healing, cell migration, and growth control. The role of cellular position and positional information in the control of cell proliferation is being investigated in the developing mouse limb. Dr. Muneoka's lab employs embryonic surgical procedures to investigate spatial and temporal differences in the regulation of cell growth by introducing cells that have been characterized in vitro. By using a combination of in vitro and in vivo approaches, the long term goal is to understand how cellular interactions regulate the reproducible patterns of proliferation during limb development. Dr. Muneoka's research is presently funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research.
Contributions
Ngo-Muller V, Muneoka K. (1999). Exo Utero Surgery. In: Developmental Biology Protocols, Vol.1 R.S. Tuan and C.W. Lo eds. Humana Press Inc., Totowa, New Jersey. pp 481-492.
Muller TL, Ngo-Muller V, Reginelli A, Taylor G, Anderson R, Muneoka K. (1999). Regeneration in higher vertebrates: Limb buds and digit tips. Sem Cell Dev Biol 10: 405-413.
Li S, Muneoka K. (1999). Cell migration and chick limb development: chemotactic action of FGF-4 and the AER. Dev Biol 211: 335-347.
Ngo-Muller V, Muneoka K. (2000). Influence of FGF4 on digit morphogenesis during limb development in the mouse. Dev Biol 219: 224-236.
Schaller S, Muneoka K. (2001). Inhibition of polarizing activity in the anterior limb bud is regulated by extracellular factors. Dev Biol 240: 443-456.
