First Person
As a community journal, DMM is keen to support biomedical scientists. Here, we present a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in DMM, helping researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. The authors talk about their work in and out of the lab, the journeys that led them to where they are now and the issues they feel are priorities for researchers. Select an author from the list below or visit our Interviews archive to read a transcript of their interview.
Would you like to be featured? Details will be sent to the first author upon acceptance of your paper in DMM. Submit your paper here.
The interviews below were published as supplementary information to the Research or Resource article. We now publish First Person interviews as separate articles.
Margarita Parada-Kusz, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA
Generation of mouse-zebrafish hematopoietic tissue chimeric embryos for hematopoiesis and host-pathogen interaction studies. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm034876
Clémentine Le Magnen, University Hospital of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
Cooperation of loss of NKX3.1 and inflammation in prostate cancer initiation. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm035139
Sohrab Ali, The Ottawa Hospital - Division of Urology, Ottawa, Canada and Thamara Dayarathna, University of Guelph, Canada
Drosophila melanogaster as a function-based high-throughput screening model for antinephrolithiasis agents in kidney stone patients. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm035873
Annekatrien Boel, Ghent University, Belgium
CRISPR/Cas9-mediated homology-directed repair by ssODNs in zebrafish induces complex mutational patterns resulting from genomic integration of repair-template fragments. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm035352
Georgina Askeland, Innovayt AS, Oslo, Norway
A transgenic minipig model of Huntington's disease shows early signs of behavioral and molecular pathologies. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm035949
Wei-Chia Tseng, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, USA
Modeling Niemann-Pick disease type C1 in zebrafish: a robust platform for in vivo screening of candidate therapeutic compounds. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm034165
Elizabeth Kelly, Royal Holloway University of London, Surrey, UK
Diacylglycerol kinase (DGKA) regulates the effect of the epilepsy and bipolar disorder treatment valproic acid in Dictyostelium discoideum. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm035600
Jens Tiefenbach, University of Toronto, ON, Canada
Idebenone and coenzyme Q10 are novel PPARα/γ ligands, with potential for treatment of fatty liver diseases. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm034801
Bum Jun Kim, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA
RERE deficiency leads to decreased expression of GATA4 and the development of ventricular septal defects. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm031534
Katharina Dannhausen, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
Immunomodulation with minocycline rescues retinal degeneration in juvenile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis mice highly susceptible to light damage. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm033597
Lin Song, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
Expression of N471D strumpellin leads to defects in the endolysosomal system. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm033449
Román Moreno Fernández, Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, Spain
Effects of genetic deletion versus pharmacological blockade of the LPA1 receptor on depression-like behaviour and related brain functional activity. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm035519
Eunate Gallardo-Vara, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientıficas, Madrid, Spain
Soluble endoglin regulates expression of angiogenesis-related proteins and induction of arteriovenous malformations in a mouse model of hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm034397
Hongde Li, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA
A Drosophila model of combined D-2- and L-2-hydroxyglutaric aciduria reveals a mechanism linking mitochondrial citrate export with oncometabolite accumulation. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm035337
Yuliya Klymenko & Rebecca Wates, Indiana University School of Medicine, IN, USA and University of Kansas Medical Center, KS, USA
Modeling the effect of ascites-induced compression on ovarian cancer multicellular aggregates. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm034199
Soo-Hyun Kim, SK Pharmaceuticals Cancer Research Center, South Korea
Identification of brain metastasis genes and therapeutic evaluation of histone deacetylase inhibitors in a clinically relevant model of breast cancer brain metastasis. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm.034850
Diana Papazova, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Dissecting recipient from donor contribution in experimental kidney transplantation: focus on endothelial proliferation and inflammation. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm.035030
Genki Hayashi, University of California San Francisco, USA
Use of 4-phenylbutyrate to define therapeutic parameters for reducing intracerebral hemorrhage and myopathy in Col4a1 mutant mice. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm.034157
Ricardo Mondragon-Gonzalez, CINVESTAV, Mexico City, Mexico
Recapitulating muscle disease phenotypes with myotonic dystrophy 1 induced pluripotent stem cells: a tool for disease modeling and drug discovery. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm.034728
Derek Erstad, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA
Orthotopic and heterotopic murine models of pancreatic cancer and their different responses to FOLFIRINOX chemotherapy. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm.034793
Nelly El-Sakkary, University of California, San Diego, USA
Octopamine-signaling in the metazoan pathogen Schistosoma mansoni: localization, small-molecule screening and opportunities for drug development. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm.033563
Nadine Aziz, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, USA
Lifespan analysis of brain development, gene expression and behavioral phenotypes in the Ts1Cje, Ts65Dn and Dp(16)1/Yey mouse models of Down syndrome. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm031013
Tingting Sui, Jilin University, China
A novel rabbit model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy generated by CRISPR/Cas9. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm032201
Brian Lu, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, USA
Impaired β-cell glucokinase as an underlying mechanism in diet-induced diabetes. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm033316
Hannah Gordon, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA
Etiology and treatment of adrenoleukodystrophy: new insights from Drosophila. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm031286
Theresa Kisko, Philipps-University of Marburg, Germany
Cacna1c haploinsufficiency leads to pro-social 50-kHz ultrasonic communication deficits in rats. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm034116
Francisco Javier García-Rodríguez, Andalusian Centre for Developmental Biology (CABD), Seville, Spain
Genetic and cellular sensitivity of Caenorhabditis elegans to the chemotherapeutic agent cisplatin. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm033506
Laura Schultz, Iowa State University, Ames, USA
Epigenetic regulators Rbbp4 and Hdac1 are overexpressed in a zebrafish model of RB1 embryonal brain tumor, and are required for neural progenitor survival and proliferation. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm034124
Nobuhiko Tachibana, Sunnybrook Health Science Centre, Toronto, Canada
Hamartoma-like lesions in the mouse retina: an animal model of Pten hamartoma tumour syndrome. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm031005
Cameron Johnstone, Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute, Heidelberg, Australia
Functional and genomic characterisation of a xenograft model system for the study of metastasis in triple-negative breast cancer. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm032250
Shruthi Shanmukha, National Institute of Mental Health And Neurosciences, Bangalore, India
Sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (SALS) – skeletal muscle response to cerebrospinal fluid from SALS patients in a rat model. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm031997
Amy Irving, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, USA
Vitamin D deficiency in the ApcPirc/+ rat does not exacerbate colonic tumorigenesis, while low dietary calcium might be protective. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm032300
Rifdat Aoidi, Francis Crick Institute, London, UK
Mek1Y130C mice recapitulate aspects of human cardio-facio-cutaneous syndrome. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm031278
Henna Myllymäki and Mirja Niskanen, University of Tampere, Finland
Identification of protective postexposure mycobacterial vaccine antigens using an immunosuppression-based reactivation model in the zebrafish. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm033175
Sarah Foriel, Khondrion BV, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Feeding difficulties, a key feature of the Drosophila NDUFS4 mitochondrial disease model. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm032482
Wenqing Zhou, Purdue University, Lafayette, USA
Neutrophil-specific knockout demonstrates a role for mitochondria in regulating neutrophil motility in zebrafish. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm033027
Kathryn Bambino, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA
Inorganic arsenic causes fatty liver and interacts with ethanol to cause alcoholic liver disease in zebrafish. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm031575
Maria Angeles Marques-Torrejon, University of Edinburgh, UK
Modelling glioblastoma tumour-host cell interactions using adult brain organotypic slice co-culture. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm031435
James Orengo, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA
Motor neuron degeneration correlates with respiratory dysfunction in SCA1. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm032623
Ahmad Alamri, King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia
Expanding primary cells from mucoepidermoid and other salivary gland neoplasms for genetic and chemosensitivity testing. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm031716
Hanna Luukinen, University of Tampere, Finland
Priming of innate antimycobacterial immunity by heat-killed Listeria monocytogenes induces sterilizing response in the adult zebrafish tuberculosis model. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm031658
Youming Zhang, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, UK
Manipulation of dipeptidylpeptidase 10 in mouse and human in vivo and in vitro models indicates a protective role in asthma. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2018 11: dmm031369
Sandra Foertsch, University Clinic Ulm, Germany
Chronic psychosocial stress disturbs long-bone growth in adolescent mice. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2017 10: 1399-1409
Rachel Watson, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge, UK
Lyplal1 is dispensable for normal fat deposition in mice. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2017 10: 1481-1488
Kristin Eden, Virginia Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, Virginia, USA
Noncanonical NF-κB signaling and the essential kinase NIK modulate crucial features associated with eosinophilic esophagitis pathogenesis. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2017 10: 1517-1527
Alan Hsu, Purdue University, IN, USA
Overexpression of microRNA-722 fine-tunes neutrophilic inflammation by inhibiting Rac2 in zebrafish. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2017 10: 1323-1332
Philipp Follwaczny, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany
Pumilio2-deficient mice show a predisposition for epilepsy. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2017 10: 1333-1342
Lucía Zacchi, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Early-onset torsion dystonia: a novel high-throughput yeast genetic screen for factors modifying protein levels of torsinAΔE. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2017 10: 1129-1140
Josefin Fernius, Linköping University, Sweden
Bar-coding neurodegeneration: identifying subcellular effects of human neurodegenerative disease proteins using Drosophila leg neurons. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2017 10: 1027-1038
Aaro Salminen and Lillian Garrett, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Germany
Meis1: effects on motor phenotypes and the sensorimotor system in mice. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2017 10: 981-991
