UMass Boston

Molecular Biology, Developmental Genetics, Neurobiology

PhD, Genetics and Neurobiology, University of Würzburg, Germany

• Rister, J., Razzaq, A., Boodram, P., Desai, N., Tsanis, C., Chen, H., Jukam, D., and Desplan, C. (2015). Single base pair differences in a shared motif determine differential Rhodopsin expression. Science 360, 6265, 1258-1261. PMID: 26785491. PMCID: PMC4919384.
• Jukam, D.*, Xie, B.*, Rister, J.*, Terrell, D., Charlton-Perkins, M., Pistillo, D., Gebelein, B., Desplan, C., and Cook, T. (2013). Opposite feedbacks in the Hippo pathway for growth control and neural fate. Science 342, 6155. PMID: 23989952. PMCID: PMC3796000. * Equal contribution.
• Thanawala, S., Rister, J., Goldberg, G., Zuskov, A., Olesnicky, E. C., Flowers, J., Purugganan, M., Gavis, E. R., Desplan, C., and Johnston, R.J. Jr. (2013). Regional modulation of a stochastically expressed factor determines ommatidial subtypes in the Drosophila retina. Dev. Cell 25, 93-105. PMID: 23597484. PMCID: PMC3660048.
• Mishra, A.K., Tsachaki, M., Rister, J., Ng, J., Celik, A., and Sprecher, S.G. (2013). Binary cell fate decisions and fate transformation in the Drosophila larval eye. PLOS Genet. 12, e1004027. PMID: 24385925. PMCID: PMC3024831.
• Rister, J., Desplan, C., and Vasiliauskas, D. (2012). Establishing and maintaining gene expression patterns: insights from sensory receptor patterning. Development 140, 493-503. PMID: 23293281, PMCID: PMC3561783.
• Hsiao, H.-Y., Johnston, R.J., Jukam, D., Vasiliauskas, D., Desplan, C., and Rister, J. (2012). Dissection and immunohistochemistry of larval, pupal and adult Drosophila retinas. JoVE 69, e4347, doi:10.3791/4347. PMID: 23183823. PMCID: PMC3523422. Corresponding author.
• Gao, S., Takemura S.Y., Ting, C.Y., Huang, S., Lu, Z., Luan, H., Rister, J., Thum, A.S., Yang, M., Hong, S.T., Wang, J.W., Odenwald, W.F., White, B.H., Meinertzhagen, I.A., and Lee, C.H. (2008). The Neural Substrate of Spectral Preference in Drosophila. Neuron 60, 328–342. PMID: 18957224, PMCID: PMC2665173.
• Rister, J., Pauls, D., Schnell, B., Ting, C.-Y., Lee, C.-H., Sinakevitch, I., Morante, J., Strausfeld, N. J., Ito, K., and Heisenberg, M. (2007). Dissection of the peripheral motion channel in the visual system of Drosophila melanogaster. Neuron 56, 155-170. PMID: 17920022.

Research Interests

Higher multicellular organisms can detect a variety of environmental stimuli with their large repertoire of sensory receptor neurons. Jens Rister's lab studies the development of color-sensing photoreceptors in the Drosophila eye as a model for the cell-fate decisions that generate and maintain different sensory neuron types. For instance, in both flies and humans, each photoreceptor neuron expresses a specific color-sensing Rhodopsin/Opsin pigment that defines photoreceptor identity and function throughout the life of the organism.

The distinction of different photoreceptor types in Drosophila involves conserved regulators that have been linked to human retinopathies and cancer (e.g. the Hippo tumor suppressor pathway). To decipher the underlying mechanisms, we are pursuing a multidisciplinary approach that takes advantage of the powerful molecular genetic tools, newly developed gene editing and cell type-specific genomics techniques that Drosophila offers, in combination with live imaging and behavioral assays.

We are currently pursuing the following goals:

• Elucidate how regulatory DNA controls where, when, and at which levels rhodopsins are expressed in subsets of color-sensing photoreceptors.
• Generate synthetic regulatory DNA regions to reconstruct the complex rhodopsin expression patterns in vivo.
• Identify the regulatory logic that controls the mutually exclusive expression of the tumor suppressor warts and the growth regulator melted in subsets of post-mitotic photoreceptors.

Honors

• 2019-2023 - NIH/NEI R01 ‘Mechanisms of vitamin A deprivation and replacement therapy’
• 2017-2020 -  NIH/NEI R00 Pathway to Independence Award
• 2014-2016 - NIH/NEI K99 Pathway to Independence Award
• 2012-2013 - German Research Foundation (DFG) fellowship
• 2009 - Award of the ‘Unterfränkische Gedenkjahresstiftung fuer Wissenschaft’, University of Würzburg, Germany
• 2008-2010 - EMBO long-term fellowship
• 2008 - Biocenter Science Award, University of Würzburg, Germany