Dr Peter Pfeffer
Senior Scientist, Animal Productivity, AgResearch
- affiliated to the Centre for Reproduction and Genomics
email: peter.pfeffer@agresearch.co.nz
Biographical information
Peter completed his PhD in 1991 at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, on Homeobox-containing genes in Sea Urchins, before moving to the Lab of Eddy De Robertis at UCLA where he worked on Retinoic Acid receptors during Xenopus (frog) embryogenesis.
After a short period at the Salk Institute, San Diego, in the Lab of Juan-Carlos Iszpisua-Belmonte during which he isolated and characterised the Crescent gene in chick embryos, he moved to the IMP in Austria, Vienna, working initially as Postdoc, then Staff Scientist, in Dr Meinrad Busslinger’s lab. Here he analysed the role of the Pax2/5/8 family of transcription factor in the midbrain-hindbrain organiser region of mouse embryos.
In 2001, he came to Agresearch leading a team to isolate cattle genes associated with embryonic competency, follicular dominancy and somatic cell nuclear transfer (cloning). His work on the role of the transcription factor Elf5 during mouse embryogenesis led to important insights into the early interaction/signaling between embryonic and extra-embryonic tissues.
Presently, his team is using interspecies comparisons (mice and cattle) and a variety of classical and molecular embryological techniques to understand the pathways underlying early mammalian development with a particular aim at resolving the increasing embryonic mortality rates seen in lactating dairy cattle. Focus areas include lineage determination, gastrulation, embryonic patterning and the development of the trophoblast.
Recent publications
Pfeffer, P.L, Pearton, D.J. (2012) Trophoblast development. Reproduction DOI 10.1530/REP-11-0374.
Pearton, D.S., Donnison, M., Broadhurst, R., Pfeffer, P.L. (2011). Elf5 regulation in the trophectoderm. Developmental Biology 360:343-350.
Berg, D.K., Smith, C.S., Pearton, D., Wells, D.N., Broadhurst, R., Donnison, M. Pfeffer, P.L. (2011) Trophectoderm lineage determination in cattle. Developmental Cell 20:244-55.
Pfeffer, P.L., Berg, D.K. (2011) The mouse is not enough. Australasian Science 32:14-16.
Mesnard, D., Donnison, M., Fuerer, C., Pfeffer, P.L., Constam, D.B. (2011) The microenvironment patterns the pluripotent mouse epiblast through paracrine Furin and Pace4 proteolytic activities. Genes and Development 25:1871-1880.
