Name: Thomas Hollemann

Position: Professor

Research Description:

Our group is interested in the question of how genes control the development. 

As a model system we use is essentially the South African clawed frog Xenopus laevis, which is particularly well suited to study early stages of development. Since the genome of  Xenopus has been sequenced, and many molecular tools are established, functional studies can be performed relatively quickly. 

We have 3 main areas of research:
1) Retinal Development and Regeneration: Amphibians are able to regenerate retinal cells after injury. The molecules that control the program of retinal regeneration, however, largely unknown. Therefore, we investigate regulators of retinal progenitor cells in comparison to static is regenerating retina.

2) Cholesterol Homeostasis: The cholesterol homeostasis is achieved by mechanisms that fall into three categories: 1) Endogenous de novo biosynthesis, 2) transport and intracellular storage, 3) the conversion into steroid hormones and bile acids. Although these processes are well understood in the adult organism, is its significance for embryogenesis almost misunderstood.

3) Developmental genes and tumor formation: Developmental genes and tumor development: Many of the genes that control the development, regulate cell proliferation and cell survival. We study so-called dual proteins that act both as transcription factors as well as phosphatases and also may play a role in tumorigenesis

Contact Information

Email: thomas.hollemann@medizin.uni-halle.de
Web Page: http://www1.medizin.uni-halle.de/ag-hollemann/hollemannhome.html