Dr Craig Smith

contact details

Dr Craig Smith
Comparative Development
Murdoch Childrens Research Institute
Royal Children's Hospital
Flemington Road
Parkville Victoria 3052

T + 61 3 8341 6353
E craig.smith@mcri.edu.au

biography

Craig Smith is a developnental biologist based at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute. His research interests focus on sex determination and gonadal development in vertebrate embryos. Craig graduated in 1995 with first class honours and a PhD in Zoology at Macquarie University in Sydney. Working with Professor Jean Joss, he studied the mechanism of temperature-dependent sex determination. He then joined the University of Melbourne Department of Paediatrics as a postdoctoral fellow, working with Andrew Sinclair to pioneer the use of the chicken embryo as a model for vertebrate gonadal development.

His research has defined the molecular and cellular processes underlying testis versus ovary development in the avian (chicken) model. Most recently, he has developed the use of virally delivered RNAi to manipulate gene expression in living chicken embryos. Craig currently heads the Comparative Development Group at the Murdoch Childrens in Melbourne. 

achievements

2010-2014 ARC Future Fellowship, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital

research focus & interest

Craigs  broad research focus is developmental biology, and how genes pattern the developing embryo. More specifically, Craigs interests lie in the genetics and cell biology of sex determination, gonadal development and reproduction in veretebrate embryos.

publications

Smith CA Sex determination in birds: HINTs from the W sex chromosome? (2007). Sexual Development, 1, 279-285.

Smith CA, Shoemaker C, Roeszler KN, Queen J, Crews D, Sinclair, AH (2008). Cloning and expression of R-spondin1 in different vertebrates suggests a conserved role in ovarian development. BMC Developmental Biology, 8, 72-88.

Smith CA, Roeszler KN, Bowles J, Koopman P, Sinclair, AH (2008). Onset of meiosis     in the chicken embryo; evidence of a role for retinoic acid. BMC Developmental Biology, 8, 85-104.

Smith CA, Roeszler KN, Sinclair AH. (2009). Genetic evidence against a role for HINTW in avian sex determination. Int. J. Developmental Biology, 53, 59-67. 

Smith CA, Roeszler KN, Sinclair AH. (2009). Robust and ubiquitous GFP expression in a single generation of chicken embryos using the avian retroviral vector, RSACBP. Differentiation. 77, 473-82.

Bannister S, Tizard M, Doran T, Sinclair, AH, Smith, CA (2009). Sexually dimorphic microRNA expression during chicken embryonic gonadal development. Biol. Reprod. 81, 165-76.

Smith CA, Roeszler K, Onhesorg T , Cummins, D, Farlie, P, Doran, T and Sinclair AH (2009). The avian Z-linked gene, DMRT1, is required for male sex determination in the chicken. Nature 461; 267-271.

Bao Y, Hudson QJ, Perera, EM, Akan L, Tobet SA, Smith CA, Sinclair AH, Berkovitz D. (2009). Expression and evolutionary conservation of the tescalcin gene during development. MOD Gene Expression Patterns. 9, 273-81.

Bowles J, Feng C-W, Knight D, Smith CA, Roeszler KN, Bagheri-Fam S, Harley VR, Sinclair AH , Koopman P (2009). Male-specific expression of Aldh1a1 in mouse and chicken fetal testes: Implications for retinoid balance in gonad development. Dev. Dynamics, 238(8), 2073-80.

White S, Ohnesorg T, Notini A, Roeszler K, Hewitt J, Daggag H, Smith CA et al. (2011). Copy number variation in patients with disorders of sex development due to 46,XY gonadal dysgenesis. PLoS One; 2011 Mar 7;6(3):e17793.

Bannister, SC, Smith CA, Roeszler, KN, Doran, TJ, Sinclair, AH and Tizard, ML. (2011). Manipulation of estrogen synthesis alters miR202* expression in embryonic chicken gonads. Biol. Reprod. March 17 (e-pub ahead of print).

Reviews (invited)

Smith CA (1994). Some like it hot: Environmental sex determination. Today's Life Science, 6, 24-25.

Smith CA,  Sinclair AH (2001). Sex determination in the chicken embryo. J. Exp. Zool., 290, 691-699.

Schmid M, et al., Smith CA, Hudson Q, Sinclair AH, Mizuno S. (2005) Second report on chicken genes and chromosomes 2005. Cytogenet. Genome Res., 109, 1- 87.

Smith CA, Roeszler KN, Hudson QJ, Sinclair AH (2007). Avian sex determination: what,     when and where? in Avian Genomics in Evolution, Agriculture and Health. 117, 165-173     (2007).

Sinclair AH, Smith CA (2009). Females battle to suppress their inner male. Cell, 139, 5-7.

Smith, CA. (2010). Rowley Review: Sex determination in birds; A Review. Emu; Astral Ornithology, 110, 364-377.

Chue, J and Smith CA (2011). Sex determination and sexual differentiation in the avian model. FEBS J., Jan 31. doi: 10.1111/j.1742-4658.2011.08032.x. [Epub ahead of print].

Book Chapters

Smith CA, Joss JMP (1993). Temperature-Dependent Gonadal Differentiation in the Alligator. In: Sex Chromosomes and Sex Determining Genes (K.C. Reed and J. A. Marshall Graves, ed's) Chapter 2, pp7-15. Harwood Academic Publ., Chur, Switzerland.

Smith CA, Sinclair AH (2000). The Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics of Testis Differentiation. In: The Genetic Basis of Male Infertility (McElreavey, K. ed.) Springer-Verlag Press, Berlin. Vol 28. pp. 23-52.

Sinclair AH, Smith CA, Western PS, McClive PJ (2002). Vertebrate sex determination; variations on a common theme. In: The Genetics and biology of Sex determination. Novartis Foundation Symposium. John Wiley and Sons. West Sussex, U.K.

Cameron FJ, Smith CA (2004). Development of the female urogenital tract. In: Paediatric and Adolescent Gynaecology, (Ed. Balen, A.) Cambridge University Press, pp3-8.

Smith CA (2007). Avian sex determination and gonadal sex differentiation. In Reproductive Biology and Phylogeny of Birds (Ed. B. G. M. Jamieson.) Sciences Publishing. Inc., Enfield, New Hampshire, USA.