Developmental Molecular Mechanisms

BIOGRAPHY

ACADEMIC POSITION:
Professor, Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Waksman Institute of Microbiology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Understanding how growth is controlled is a major goal of developmental biology. Decades ago, regeneration experiments revealed an intimate relationship between organ patterning and organ growth, but the molecular basis for this relationship has remained elusive. We are engaged in projects whose long-term goal is to define relationships between patterning and growth in developing and regenerating organs. Much of our research takes advantage of the powerful genetic, molecular, and cellular techniques available in Drosophila melanogaster, which facilitate both gene discovery and the analysis of gene function.

Our current research focusses on a novel signaling pathway, the Fat-Hippo pathway, which play important roles in growth control from Drosophila to humans. We study both the molecular mechanism of Fat-Hippo signaling, and its developmental functions.