Stem Cells & Developmental Biology

Developmental biology seeks to understand the biological processes that will transform a single cell, the fertilized egg, into a multicellular organism.  Our laboratories study how gene expression, epigenetics, cell division, cytoskeletal dynamics, cell-cell communication and interactions with the extracellular matrix result in the differentiation, pattern formation, morphogenesis, and growth necessary to generate a new organism. Stem cells are a critical part of normal development and adult tissue maintenance, as they produce multiple cell types within an embryo or tissue.  Our laboratories also seek to understand the molecular mechanisms that allow stem cells to integrate the complex information of the stem cell niche to generate specific cell types during development and to maintain tissue homeostasis. We also use the power of stem cells to model human diseases.