Cytoskeleton and Development

Cells in a developing organism or tissue are faced with multiple fate choices. However, they do adopt specific fates in a very reproducible manner. Our main interest is to decipher part of this complex cellular program with a focus on signaling pathways and cytoskeletal organization.

Our lab primarily uses genetic approaches in the mouse, as a model organism. We are interested in mouse embryonic pre-implantation development until the start of gastrulation as well as skin epithelial development. We utilize mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) to investigate the mechanisms that are difficult to address in the mouse in vivo. Our lab employs cutting edge techniques of gene editing such as the CRISPR/Cas9 system and proteomics and transcriptomics.