Faculty Profile

Blanche Capel, Ph.D. (Genetics, University of Pennsylvania) Professor, Department of Cell Biology Duke University Appointments and Tenure Committee Director of Admissions, Developmental Biology Training Program	Sex Determination, Testis and Ovary Development, and Germ Biology The process of sex determination in mammals is dependent on the expression of a single gene on the Y chromosome, Sry, in the gonad. However, underlying this dominant genetic switch are complex antagonistic signaling pathways that stage the battle of the sexes in the bipotential gonad. These signals determine the fate of gonadal cells. and lead to the development of either a testis or an ovary. We study the cell and molecular pathways that regulate organogenesis of the testis and ovary, with an emphasis on vascular development and its influence on morphogenesis and cell differentiation. Other work in the lab centers on the biology of germ cells in the testis and ovary. Experimental approaches include organ culture, transgenic mice, confocal microscopy and live imaging, biochemical and molecular techniques, comparative embryology, classic mouse genetics, and systems biology.

E-mail b.capel@cellbio.duke.edu 4026 GSRBII Bldg., Box 3709 Duke University Medical Center Durham, NC 27710 Telephone 919-684-6390 Fax 919-668-3467

Selected publications
Lindsey A. Barske and Blanche Capel. Blurring the edges in vertebrate sex determination Curr Opin Genet Dev. 18:499-505 (2009). -PDF-

Matt Cook, Douglas Coveney, Iordan Batchvarov, Joe H. Nadeau J, and Blanche Capel. BAX-mediated cell death affects early germ cell loss and incidence of testicular teratomas in Dnd1(Ter/Ter) mice. DevBiol 328:377-383 (2009). -PDF-

Hao Tang, J Brennan, J Karl, Y Hamada, L Raetzman, and Blanche Capel. Notch signaling maintains mesenchymal progenitor cells in the mouse testis. Development 135: 3745-3753 (2008). -PDF-

Jonah Cool, F David Carmona, John C Szucsik , and Blanche Capel. Peritubular myoid cells are not the migrating population required for testis cord formation in the XY gonad, SexDev 2: 128-133 (2008). -PDF-

Danielle Maatouk, Leo DiNapoli, Mark Maketo, and Blanche Capel. Over-expression of b-catenin causes male-to-female sex-reversal, HMG 17:2949-2955 (2008). -PDF-

Coveney D, Cool J, Oliver T, and Capel B (2008). Four-dimensional analysis of vascularization during primary development of an organ, the gonad. PNAS, 105 (20): 7212-7217. -PDF-

Hao Tang, Andrea Ross, and Blanche Capel. Expression and functional analysis of Gm114, a putative mammalian ortholog of Drosophila bam. Developmental Biology 318: 73-81 (2008). -PDF-

Yuna Kim, Nathan Bingham, Ryo Sekido, Keith Parker, Robin Lovell-Badge, and Blanche Capel. Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor 2 regulates testis development and male sex determination. PNAS 104: (2007). -PDF-

Leo DiNapoli and Blanche Capel. Germ Cell depletion does not alter the Morphogenesis of the Fetal Testis or Ovary in the Red-Eared Slider Turtle (Trachemys scripta). J Exp Zoolog B Mol Dev Evol. 15;308(3):236-41 (2007). -PDF-

Blanche Capel. R-spondin Tips the Balance in Sex Determination, Nature Genetics 38: 1233-1234 (2006). -PDF-

Yuna Kim1, Akio Kobayashi2, Ryohei Sekido3, Leo DiNapoli1, Jennifer Brennan1, Marie-Christine Chaboissier4, Francis Poulat5, Richard R. Behringer2, Robin Lovell-Badge3, and Blanche Capel1. Fgf9 and Wnt4 act as antagonistic signals to regulate mammalian sex determination. PLoS Biology 4:1000-1009 (2006). -PDF-

Current projects

• The role of the vasculature in testis development
• Cellular interactions during testis organogenesis
• Neuroendocrine cells and their niche
• Mechanisms leading to ovary development
• Recovery of the ovary after chemotherapy
• Evolution of sex-determining mechanisms
• Regulation of germ cells by the RNA-binding protein DND1
• Germ cell tumors
• Systems approach to define transcriptional architecture underlying sex determination

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