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Pliny A. Smith
Assistant Professor
Biology

Phone 847-735-6049
E-mail smith@lakeforest.edu

Specialization
Developmental Biology
Organismal Biology
Genetics
Molecular Biology
Genomics

Interests
Identifying the genes that pattern tissue and regulate cells to differentiate into specific functional types.  I use the free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a modal organism for examining cell fate specification during embryogenesis.

Education
B.A. in Biology from Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA.
Ph.D. Dept. of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, MO
Dissertation "The Physical Role of the Germ-line RNA Helicases (GLHs) in Caenorhabditis elegans"

2001-2006 Postdoctoral fellow in developmental biology and genomics , Susan E. Mango laboratory
Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT

Teaching Experience
1987 - Biology Mentor, Department of Biology, Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA.
1994-1995 - Teaching Assistant, Medical and Nursing Microbiology, Department of Molecular; Microbiology and Immunology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO.
1996 - Teaching Assistant, Problem Based Learning Block Four for Medical Students, Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, University of Missouri Medical School, Columbia, MO.
2004-2006 - Adjunct Faculty, Westminster College, Salt Lake City, UT; Genetics and laboratory (Fall 2004); The Natural World (Fall and Spring 2005)
2006 - Assistant Professor, Lake Forest College, IL

Professional Memberships
Society for Developmental Biology
Association for Biology Laboratory Education (ABLE)
Genetics Society of America
Council for Undergraduate Research (CUR)

Publications
Pliny A. Smith and Susan E. Mango.  Role of T Box gene tbx-2 for anterior foregut muscle development in C. elegans.  Developmental Biology (2006), doi: 10.1016;j.ydbio.2006.08.023.

Pliny A. Smith, Chris Armstrong, Elizabeth Middleton, Marc Vidal, and Susan E. Mango, Systems level RNAi screen reveals novel gene functions for foregut development.  in preparation.

Julie C. Kiefer, Pliny A. Smith, and Susan E. Mango.  PHA-4/FoxA cooperates with the NuRD complex and TAM-1/TRIM to regulate cell fate restriction in the C. elegans foregut, submitted to Development Biology.

Pliny Smith, W-M. Leung-Chiu, Ruth Montgomery, April Orsborn, Kathleen Kuznicki, Emily Gressman-Coberly, Lejla Mutapcic, Chaoyang Ye and Karen Bennett.  The GLHs, C. elegans P granule proteins, associate with CSN-5 and KGB-1, proteins necessary for fertility, as well as with ZYX-1, a predicted cytoskeletal protein, Dev Biol., vol 251(2), pp. 333-47, 2002.

Kathleen A. Kuznicki, Pliny A. Smith, Annette O. Estevez, W. M. Alexandra Leung-Chiu, Heather Scott, and Karen L. Bennett,  Combinatorial RNA interference indicates P granule components GLH-1 and GLH-4 are critical for fertility in C. elegans,  Development, Vol. 127, pp. 2907-2916, 2000.

M. E. Gruidl, P. A. Smith, K. A. Kuznicki, J. S. McCrone, J. Kirchner, D. L. Roussell, S. Strome, and K. L. Bennett,  Multiple potential germ-line helicases are components of the germ-line-specific P granules of Caenorhabditis elegans. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA., Vol. 93, pp. 13837-13842, 1996.

Awards
Society for Developmental Biology Teaching Faculty Travel Award 2006
Postdoctoral Fellowship - Multidisciplinary Cancer Research Training Program (July 2002- June 2004)
Poster Award, International C. elegans meeting 2003.
Registration fee award, International C. elegans meeting 2001.
Registration fee award, International C. elegans meeting 1999.
Registration fee stipend, International C. elegans meeting 1997.
Travel Award, 13th International Congress of Developmental Biology Meeting 1997.
Registration fee stipend, International C. elegans meeting 1995.

Research Presentations

Talks
Pliny A. Smith, Chris Armstrong, Dirk McMurray, Tala Fakhouri, Marc Vidal, and Susan E. Mango,  Genome-wide analysis of pharynx development.  2004 West Coast C. elegans Meeting, Santa Barbara, CA.

Pliny A. Smith, and Susan E. Mango, Identifying Genes Essential for Pharynx Development in Caenorhabditis elegans.  2002 West Coast C. elegans Meeting, San Diego, CA.

Pliny A. Smith, Jeb Gaudet, and Susan E. Mango, Identifying Genes Essential for Pharynx Development in Caenorhabditis elegans.  2002 ORFeome Meeting, Boston, MA.

Pliny A. Smith, W.M.A. Leung-Chui, Lejla Mutapcic, April M. Orsborn, Ruth A. Montgomery, Karen L. Bennett, GLHs associate with a newly discovered P granule component and two other proteins necessary for fertility.  2001 International C. elegans Meeting, Las Angeles, CA.

Pliny A. Smith, W.M.A. Leung-Chui, Lejla Mutapcic, April M. Orsborn, Ruth A. Montgomery, Karen L. Bennett, GLHs associate with a newly discovered P granule component and two other proteins necessary for fertility. 2001 Midwest Regional Developmental Biology Meeting and Singer Symposium, Columbia, MO.

Pliny A. Smith, Kathleen A. Kuznicki, W. M. Alexandra Leung, and Karen Bennett.  The GLHs are essential for C. elegans fertility.  2000 Southwest Meeting of the Society for Developmental Biology, Houston, TX.

Pliny A. Smith, Kathleen A. Kuznicki, W. M. Alexandra Leung , Karen L. Bennett.  The GLHs are essential for C. elegans fertility.  2000 Midwest Worm Meeting, Minneapolis, MN.

Pliny Smith, Kathleen Kuznicki, Mike Gruidl, Sue McCrone, Jay Kirchner, Susan Strome, Karen Bennett.  C. elegans germline RNA helicases: are they all components of the P granules?  1996 Midwest Worm Meeting, Bloomington, IL.

Poster
Pliny A. Smith and Susan E. Mango. The T Box gene, tbx-2, is necessary for anterior foregut development in C. elegans.  Society for Developmental Biology 65th Annual Meeting, Ann Arbor, MI (2006)

Pliny A. Smith, Chris Armstrong, Dirk McMurray, Marc Vidal, Susan E. Mango. Genome-wide analysis of pharynx development.  International worm meeting 2005, Los Angeles, CA

Pliny A Smith and Susan E Mango.  Discovery of genes required for pharynx formation using RNAi-screening. 2003  International Worm Meeting, Los Angeles, CA.  pp939

Pliny A. Smith, Ruth A. Montgomery, April M. Orsborn, and Karen L. Bennett, The GLHs, C. elegans P granule components, associate with KGB-1 and CSN-5, proteins necessary for fertility, and with ZYX-1, a predicted cytoskeletal protein.  Stowers Institute for Medical Research symposium "From Genes and Genetics to Molecular Medicine,”  Kansas City, MO 2001.
 
Pliny A. Smith, Alexandra Leung, Karen L. Bennett,   The Biochemical Roles of the Caenorhabditis elegans Germ Line RNA Helicases,  1998 Midwest Worm Meeting, abstract 87.
 
Pliny Smith, Kathleen Kuznicki, Heather Scott, Jay Kirchner, Susan Strome, and Karen Bennett.,  The Germline RNA Helicases of C. elegans.  13th International Congress of Developmental Biology 1997, Snowbird, Utah,  abstract A245.

Smith, P. A., Kuznicki, K. A., Gruidl, M. E., Kirchner, J., Strome, S., and Bennett, K. L. Multiple potential germ-line helicases are components of the germ-line-specific P granules of Caenorhabditis elegans.   1996 Developmental Biology Meeting, Minneapolis, MN.

P. Andrews Smith, Kathleen Kuznicki, Sue McCrone, and Karen Bennett.  Glh-2: a second putative germline RNA helicase from C. elegans.  1995 International Worm Meeting, Madison, WI,  abstract 481.