Bilateral Symmetry
Almost all animals are bilaterally symmetric, meaning that they have roughly similar left and right sides arranged around a central midline. Our lab studies how bilateral symmetry is generated and maintained. We study how parts of the embryo, including the aorta and the gut mesenteries, become positioned at the midline. We also study how midline structures act as barriers to maintain distinct left and right sides of the embryo.
Body Folding
The chicken embryo, like the human, starts out as a flat disk, which then folds to generate the three-dimensional shape of the final body plan. We study the molecules and mechanical forces that regulate body folding. These studies alsohelp to illuminate the mechanisms for birth defects that result from problems in body folding.
Formation of the aorta
The aorta, the largest blood vessel in the body, is formed through side-to-side fusion of two separate tubes. We aim to understand the cellular mechanisms behind this fusion, which are also relevant to other examples of embryonic fusion, including during formation of the heart.
Mesenchymal-Epithelial Transition and Coelom Formation
The embryo contains a central, fluid-filled space, called the coelom, which separates between the internal organs. We study how the coelomic space and its cellular lining are formed through the process of mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET). These studies are relevant to many other instances of MET that occur during organ formation and during cancer metastasis.
