Current ProjectsProject 1: What is the role of Wnt and Hedgehog signaling in development and disease?
The developing cell has a multitude of protein signaling pathways that through timing and interactions determine cell fate. Of particular interest in the lab are the Wnt and Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathways and how their timing and interaction are involved in extraembryonic endoderm differentiation and neural differentiation. In the lab we utilize cell lines to recapitulate these differentiation events in vitro where we aim to elucidate the node of crosstalk between these two pathways, and the timing and role of active signaling throughout differentiation. |
|
Project 2: Metaboloepigenetics and differentiation
In the past decade or so, focus has been shifted towards metabolism as not only a source of energy but regulator of stem cell fate and this link is largely due to epigenetic modifications. Most if not all epigenetic modifications are tightly linked to energy state of the cell and we plan to investigate how specifically glucose metabolism regulates Extraembryonic Endoderm development in mouse embryonic stem cells.
Project 3: Manipulating Zebrafish Genome to Study Development
CRISPR/Cas system allows precision accuracy in genome editing. The zebrafish system is a model for biological and biomedical research and Dr. Helen Battle has long recognized its attributes since the pioneering work almost 70 years ago. These attributes offer many advantages and include a completely sequenced genome, fast external embryogenesis accompanied by nearly perfect transparency of its embryo, a large number of offspring year round, and molecular accessibility for genetic manipulation. We are using CRISPR/Cas system to mutate genes in the Wnt and Hh signaling pathways that pattern embryonic and larval development. Overexpression and rescue experiments are also used to validate how these genes instruct naïve cells in the zebrafish embryo, and these studies are being corroborated using our established mouse and human embryonic stem cell lines.
In the past decade or so, focus has been shifted towards metabolism as not only a source of energy but regulator of stem cell fate and this link is largely due to epigenetic modifications. Most if not all epigenetic modifications are tightly linked to energy state of the cell and we plan to investigate how specifically glucose metabolism regulates Extraembryonic Endoderm development in mouse embryonic stem cells.
Project 3: Manipulating Zebrafish Genome to Study Development
CRISPR/Cas system allows precision accuracy in genome editing. The zebrafish system is a model for biological and biomedical research and Dr. Helen Battle has long recognized its attributes since the pioneering work almost 70 years ago. These attributes offer many advantages and include a completely sequenced genome, fast external embryogenesis accompanied by nearly perfect transparency of its embryo, a large number of offspring year round, and molecular accessibility for genetic manipulation. We are using CRISPR/Cas system to mutate genes in the Wnt and Hh signaling pathways that pattern embryonic and larval development. Overexpression and rescue experiments are also used to validate how these genes instruct naïve cells in the zebrafish embryo, and these studies are being corroborated using our established mouse and human embryonic stem cell lines.