
Research Topics
The Unit on Developmental Signaling uses the zebrafish embryo as an in vivo model system together with molecular biology techniques, including quantitative imaging and optogenetics, to investigate how signaling molecules travel to target cells, how they are interpreted once they arrive, and how a handful of signaling pathways work together to pattern complex body plans.
Biography
Katherine W. Rogers, Ph.D., leads the Unit on Developmental Signaling as a tenure track investigator at NICHD since July 2021. Dr. Rogers carried out postdoctoral research using developmental optogenetics to investigate BMP signaling in zebrafish with Dr. Patrick Müller’s group at the Friedrich Miescher Laboratory of the Max Planck Society in Tübingen, Germany. She received her Ph.D. from Harvard University studying germ layer patterning under the mentorship of Dr. Alexander F. Schier, with funding from the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program. She received her B.S. from the University of Wyoming while studying developmental genetics using C. elegans with Dr. David S. Fay, where she was funded by NASA and the Wyoming NSF EPSCoR Program.
Selected Publications
- Iannucci LE, Maria Thomas VS, Anderson WK, Murphy MR, Donahue CET, Campbell CE, Monaghan MT, Saul AJ, Rogers KW. An optogenetic toolkit for robust activation of FGF, BMP, & Nodal signaling in zebrafish. Dev Biol. 2026;536:155-171.
- Saul AJ, Rogers CE, Garmendia-Cedillos M, Pohida T, Rogers KW. Optogenetic Signaling Activation in Zebrafish Embryos. J Vis Exp. 2023;(200).
- Preiß H, Kögler AC, Mörsdorf D, Čapek D, Soh GH, Rogers KW, Morales-Navarrete H, Almuedo-Castillo M, Müller P. Regulation of Nodal signaling propagation by receptor interactions and positive feedback. Elife. 2022;11.
- Knabl P, Schauer A, Pomreinke AP, Zimmermann B, Rogers KW, Čapek D, Müller P, Genikhovich G. Analysis of SMAD1/5 target genes in a sea anemone reveals ZSWIM4-6 as a novel BMP signaling modulator. Elife. 2024;13.
Related Scientific Focus Areas
This page was last updated on Sunday, August 23, 2026

