About

Norbert Perrimon is the James Stillman Professor of Developmental Biology at Harvard University and an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. His research focuses on fundamental questions in cell signaling and homeostasis, including the mechanisms involved in the control of cell and tissue growth and how signaling mechanisms are used in the context of maintaining tissue integrity through stem cell systems. His group studies how tissues such as muscles and adipose tissues grow, maintain their mass, and communicate with each other to sustain physiological and growth homeostasis of the organism.

Research topics

• Biology
• Cell biology
• Genetics
• Computer Science
• Immunology
• Pathology
• Operating system
• Anatomy
• Internal medicine
• Medicine

Selected publications

• Cachexia: A systemic consequence of progressive, unresolved disease

  Cell · 2023 · 221 citations

  • Biology
  • Internal medicine
  • Genetics
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Fly Cell Atlas: A single-nucleus transcriptomic atlas of the adult fruit fly

  Science · 2022 · 834 citations

  • Computer Science
  • Biology
  • Anatomy

  community and serves as a reference to study genetic perturbations and disease models at single-cell resolution.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• mTORC1 promotes cell growth via m6A-dependent mRNA degradation

  Molecular Cell · 2021 · 115 citations

  • Biology
  • Cell biology
  • Genetics
  DOI

• Single-cell transcriptome maps of myeloid blood cell lineages in Drosophila

  Nature Communications · 2020 · 179 citations

  • Biology
  • Cell biology
  • Immunology

  The Drosophila lymph gland, the larval hematopoietic organ comprised of prohemocytes and mature hemocytes, has been a valuable model for understanding mechanisms underlying hematopoiesis and immunity. Three types of mature hemocytes have been characterized in the lymph gland: plasmatocytes, lamellocytes, and crystal cells, which are analogous to vertebrate myeloid cells, yet molecular underpinnings of the lymph gland hemocytes have been less investigated. Here, we use single-cell RNA sequencing to comprehensively analyze heterogeneity of developing hemocytes in the lymph gland, and discover previously undescribed hemocyte types including adipohemocytes, stem-like prohemocytes, and intermediate prohemocytes. Additionally, we identify the developmental trajectory of hemocytes during normal development as well as the emergence of the lamellocyte lineage following active cellular immunity caused by wasp infestation. Finally, we establish similarities and differences between embryonically derived- and larval lymph gland hemocytes. Altogether, our study provides detailed insights into the hemocyte development and cellular immune responses at single-cell resolution.

  DOI

• A single-cell survey of Drosophila blood

  eLife · 2020 · 206 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Biology
  • Cell biology
  • Genetics

  , respectively. We demonstrate that these FGF components are required for mediating effective immune responses against parasitoid wasp eggs, highlighting a novel role for FGF signaling in inter-hemocyte crosstalk. Our scRNA-seq analysis reveals the diversity of hemocytes and provides a rich resource of gene expression profiles for a systems-level understanding of their functions.

  DOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R01HG007118

  NIH · $4.3M · 2019

• Characterization of the Insulin to Autophagy Pathway in Muscles

  NIH · $8.2M · 2010–2029

• NIH Grant R01GM061110

  NIH · $991k · 2005

• BBSRC-NSF/BIO: Integrative analysis and Visualisation of Fly Cell Atlas datasets to enable cross-species comparisons

  NSF · $839k · 2020–2024

• NIH Grant R21ES025615

  NIH · $453k · 2017

Frequent coauthors

• Yanhui Hu

  Harvard University

  440 shared

• Stephanie E. Mohr

  Harvard University

  271 shared

• Aram Comjean

  Boston VA Research Institute

  169 shared

• Richard Binari

  Harvard University

  137 shared

• Jonathan Zirin

  Boston VA Research Institute

  135 shared

• Yifang Liu

  Harvard University

  106 shared

• Ben Ewen‐Campen

  Harvard University

  104 shared

• Sudhir Gopal Tattikota

  97 shared

Labs

• Laboratory of Norbert Perrimon, Ph.D.PI

Education

• Postdoctoral Researcher, Dr. Anthony P. Mahowald Laboratory

  Case Western Reserve University

  1986

• Developmental Genetics

  Université Pierre et Marie Curie (aka University of Paris VI)

  1983

• Maitrise, Biochemistry

  Université Pierre et Marie Curie (aka University of Paris VI)

  1981

Similar researchers at Harvard University

• Walter C Willetth-429
• JoAnn E Mansonh-359
• Randy L. Bucknerh-268
• Edward Giovannuccih-267
• Kristen Andersonh-263