Assistant Professor

Publications | Research | Faculty

Background:

Maria J Garcia is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics. She received a B.S. degree in Biology from Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (Spain) in 1994. In 1999, she received a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at CBM Severo Ochoa (Madrid. Spain) for her studies on the patterning of the sensory system of the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster. She then joined Dr. Kathryn V. Anderson at Sloan-Kettering Institute (New York) as a postdoctoral fellow, where she worked on the identification and characterization of mouse ENU mutants affecting early embryogenesis. 

Research Focus:

Our laboratory is interested in understanding the genes and processes that promote early embryonic development. We use mouse as a model organism, and forward genetics as our experimental approach, to isolate mutations that disrupt the normal morphology of the mouse embryo. By studying these mutants, we learn how cell differentiation and embryonic shape are acquired during embryogenesis. For more details on our research projects, please visit our lab webpage at: http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/mjg75/

Teaching:

Maria J. Garcia teaches BioMG1350, an Introductory Biology course on Cell and Developmental Biology. BioMG1350 explores the molecular mechanisms by which cells behave, divide and grow as individuals, how they organize during embryonic development to form functional tissues and organs in multicellular organisms, and how their misbehavior contributes to disease. For more information about this course please visit the BioMG1350 website here. http://courses.cit.cornell.edu/biomg1350/

Papers:

Cota CD and García-García MJ (2012) "The ENU-induced cetus mutation reveals an essential role of the DNA helicase DDX11 for mesoderm development during early mouse embryogenesis". Dev. Dyn.. doi: 10.1002/dvdy.23810

Fossat N, Jones V, Garcia-Garcia MJ and Tam P (2012) "Modulation of WNT signaling activity is key to the formation of the embryonic head" Cell cycle 11 (1): 1-7.

Shibata M, Blauvelt KE, Liem KF Jr. and García-García MJ (2011) "TRIM28 is required by the mouse KRAB domain protein ZFP568 to control convergent extension and morphogenesis of extraembryonic tissues." Development 138(24):5333-43.

Shibata M and García-García MJ (2011) "The mouse KRAB zinc-finger protein CHATO is required In embryonic-derived tissues to control yolk sac and placental morphogenesis." Developmental Biology 349(2), 331-341.

García-García MJ*, Shibata M and Anderson, KV (2008) "CHATO, a KRAB zinc-finger protein, regulates convergent extension in the mouse embryo" Development 135(18):3053-62. * Corresponding author.

García-García, M.J. , Eggenschwiler, J.T., Caspary, T., Alcorn, H.L., Wyler, M.R.,  Huangfu, D., Rakeman, A.S., Lee,  J.D., Feinberg, E.H., Timmer, J.R. and Anderson, K.V. (2005) "Analysis of mouse embryonic patterning and morphogenesis by forward genetics" Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 102(17), 5913-5919.

García-García, M.J. and Anderson, K.V. (2003) "Essential role of glycosaminoglycans for Fgf signaling during mouse gastrulation" Cell 114, 727-737.

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