People

ASpiring PI

Betsy Schock, PhD

I am broadly interested in understanding how duplication and divergence of transcription factors promotes cell type diversity in the embryo. My specific focus is on SoxE transcription factors (Sox9 and Sox10) and their roles in directing neural crest cell differentiation. I am also interested in modeling human craniofacial syndromes using the combined strengths of Xenopus, chick, and mouse to understand the etiology of these syndromes.

For my postdoc, I used Xenopus to study functional differences between SoxB1 (Sox2 and Sox3) and SoxE factors during early neural crest development. I discovered that SoxB1 factors directly promote a neural plate border state (progenitors to the neural crest) and that downregulation of SoxB1 factors is necessary for cells to transit to a neural crest state. In contrast, SoxE factors promote neural crest cell formation. As part of this study, I identified regions of protein with low sequence similarity between SoxB1 and SoxE factors that, when swapped (SoxB1-SoxE chimeras), resulted in a switch in functions . These exciting results have prompted me to explore other functional differences between Sox transcription factors in the context of neural crest cell development.

My interest in disease modeling, specifically of craniofacial syndromes, is largely inspired by work that I did as a graduate student in Samantha Brugmann’s lab. My thesis work utilized mouse and chick models to investigate cellular mechanisms for phenotypes observed in craniofacial ciliopathies. During this time, I made significant contributions to our understanding of developmental pathology for Oro-facial-digital syndrome. My prior experience with disease modeling with mouse and chick will help to establish as successful research program focused on uncovering the etiology of an array of craniofacial syndromes.

Outside the lab, I enjoy playing Dungeons and Dragons (and other ttrpgs), fantasy novels, embroidery, and all things Mario.