Research

Cell Motility

Without cell migrations embryos could not develop, wounds would not heal and the nervous and immune systems could neither form nor function.

Stem Cell Biology and Cell Fate Diversification

The Drosophila ovary is composed of ovarioles, which are strings of developing egg chambers. Each ovariole (shown here) contains precisely two germline stem cells and precisely two somatic stem cells.

Deciphering mechanisms of stem cell preservation and lifespan extension

Important clues to human lifespan extension have come from studying the natural ability of simple animals to enter into long-lived, stress-resistant states. We have undertaken the first systematic genetic analysis of Drosophila diapause and are deciphering the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms. We epect to uncover novel and general mechanisms of stem cell preservation, fertility maintenance, and lifespan extension.

Cell Survival by Anastasis

Cells face a continual struggle between life and death, fought at the biochemical level between pro-death and pro-survival stimuli. We recently discovered a surprising reversibility of the cell suicide process known as apoptosis.

Neolamination

Every cell that migrates, whether during development, regeneration, or in cancer metastasis, ultimately stops somewhere and takes up residence in a new location. The study of the process by which migratory cells make specific connections with new partners when they reach their destinations is largely uncharted territory. It doesn't even have a name. So we call it neolamination, in parallel to the established term delamination.