Christopher Rose's Personal Page

PreVet Club Page

House for rent to JMU faculty

Description of research interests for undergraduates:

My research is on the development and evolution of amphibians. I am interested specifically in their metamorphosis, which is a dramatic change in body form that is regulated by thyroid hormone (TH) and results in remarkable variation in skeletal anatomy.

The question of current interest is how do similar tissues in a frog skull respond to TH in different ways. One aspect of this project is to survey the mouth and throat skeleton of Xenopus laevis frogs at tadpole and metamorphic stages to map out the patterns of cell proliferation and cell death in different head cartilages. A second is to transplant tissues between frog embryos to form tadpoles with extra skeletal elements in new parts of the head, , e.g. a jaw cartilage in place of a gill arch cartilage, and then examine how these cartilages respond to TH. A third aspect is to modify the pattern of Hox gene expression in one cartilage to transform its larval shape and then see whether its TH response has also been affected. The ultimate goal is to understand not only how TH responses are specified in frog cartilages but how these responses may be altered in evolution to produce different remodelling pathways in different species.

I also teach and write about the role of popular culture and movies in biology education.

Additional publications not listed on faculty page

Rose, C.S. 2010. Modernizing the synthesis with developmental biology and environmental input. A review of “Ecological Developmental Biology: Integrating epigenetics, medicine and evolution”. Scott F. Gilbert and David Epel. Ecology 91(2): 622-623.

Reiss, J.O., A.C. Burke, C. Archer, M. De Renzi, H. Dopazo, A. Etxeberria, E.A. Gale, J.R. Hincliffe, L. Nuno de la Rosa Garcia, C.S. Rose, D. Rasskin-Gutman, G.B. Müller. 2009. Pere Alberch: Originator of EvoDevo. Biological Theory 3(4): 351-356.

Rose, C.S. 2002. The origin and evolution of metamorphosis. In: Encyclopedia of Evolution, Vol. 2. M. Pagel, ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 720-724.

Rose, C.S. 1999. Hormonal control in larval development and evolution - Amphibians. In:
The Origin and Evolution of Larval Forms, B.K. Hall and M.H. Wake, eds. San Diego: Academic Press, pp. 167-216.

Berry, D.L., C.S. Rose, B.F. Remo, and D.D. Brown. 1998. The expression pattern of thyroid hormone response genes in remodeling tadpole tissues defines distinct growth and resorption gene expression programs. Dev. Biol. 203: 24-35.

Rose, C.S. 1996. An endocrine-based model for developmental and morphogenetic diversification in metamorphic and paedomorphic urodeles. J. Zool. 239: 253-84.

Rose, C.S. 1995. Skeletal morphogenesis in the urodele skull: I. Postembryonic development in the Hemidactyliini (Amphibia: Plethodontidae). J. Morphol. 223: 125-148.

Rose, C.S. 1995. Skeletal morphogenesis in the urodele skull: II. Effect of developmental stage in TH-induced remodelling. J. Morphol. 223: 149-166.

Rose, C.S. 1995. Skeletal morphogenesis in the urodele skull: III. Effect of hormone dosage in TH-induced remodelling. J. Morphol. 223: 243-261.

Rose, C.S. 1995. Intraspecific variation in ceratobranchial number in Hemidactylium scutatum (Amphibia: Plethodontidae): Developmental and systematic implications. Copeia 1995: 228-232.

Rose, C.S. and J.O. Reiss. 1993. Metamorphosis and the vertebrate skull: Ontogenetic patterns and developmental mechanisms. In:
The Skull, Vol. 1, Development, J. Hanken and B.K. Hall, eds. Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press, pp. 289-346.

Sammarco, P.W., M.J. Risk and C.S. Rose. 1987. Effects of grazing and damselfish territoriality on internal bioerosion of dead corals: indirect effects. J. Exp. Marine Biol. Ecol., 112: 185-199.

Rose, C.S. and M.J. Risk. 1985. Increase in Cliona delitrix infestation of Montastrea cavernosa heads on an organically polluted portion of the Grand Cayman fringing reef. Marine Ecol. (Publ. Stn. Zool. Napoli I), 6(4): 345-363.

Nonscientific presentations

From Shelley to Crichton, The Movie Science of Resurrecting the Dead.

From Aristotle to Chuck Jones, the Popular History of Amphibians.

Links to websites of undergraduate courses taught at JMU

Links to websites of graduate courses taught at JMU

BIO 630: Metamorphosis: Ecology, Evolution and Development


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