A research idea by Dennis Clegg, co-director of UC Santa Barbara’s Center for Stem Cell Biology and Engineering, is one of 10 winning submissions from a pool of nearly 500 entries selected by the National Eye Institute (NEI) for its Audacious Goals challenge.

Audacious Goals is a nationwide competition for compelling, one-page ideas to advance vision science. Each winner will receive a $3,000 prize plus travel expenses to attend the NEI Audacious Goals Development Meeting, Feb. 24-26, 2013, at the Bolger Conference Center in Potomac, Md., outside Washington, D.C. The NEI is part of the National Institutes of Health.

CIRM Scholar Nareg Djabrayan, working with MCDB Professor Joel Rothman, found that the well known Notch signaling pathway causes C. elegans cells to commit to a particular identity, such as a skin or brain cell. When the Notch pathway was blocked by genetic manipulation, the researchers discovered that they could force cells to change their destiny, such that they instead became cells of the intestine. Reprogramming of one somatic cell type to another might be useful in strategies for regeneration of tissue damaged by injury or disease. Results were reported in the November 1 issue of Genes and Development. Nate Dudley and Erica Sommermann were also authors on the study.