Developmental Biology

Molecular Embryology

  • Bruce Aronow, PhD, uses genomic and computational approaches to investigate gene regulation, biological pathways, and developmental and disease mechanisms. The goals of this work are to better understand health and disease processes, the impact of individual human gene mutations and polymorphisms, and to study the structural, functional, and evolutionary basis of biological systems.
  • Michael Bates, MD, PhD, is interested in molecular regulation of digestive system development, in particular the role of the Hlx homeobox transcription factor in growth, differentiation, and cell migration in intestinal development.
  • Tiffany Cook, PhD, studies cell type specification using the Drosophila retina as a model. The lab is focused on cell-specific gene regulation, and uses a combination of developmental genetics and biochemistry to understand the role of various transcription factors during eye development.
    Visit the Cook lab site.
  • Brian Gebelein, PhD, is studying the Hox transcription factor family using the fruit fly as a model organism. The goal of the lab is to use a combination of genetic and biochemical approaches to understand how the eight different Drosophila Hox genes recognize the appropriate downstream genes to specify different cell fates along the anterior-posterior axis. Visit the Gebelein lab site. 
  • Janet Heasman, PhD, focuses on the earliest stages of vertebrate embryogenesis, using the frog Xenopus laevis as a model system to study the molecular mechanisms by which the first tissues - ectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm - develop.
    Visit the Wylie-Heasman lab site.
  • Rashmi Hegde, PhD, studies the three-dimensional structure and function of proteins involved in embryonic organ development and in the papillomavirus life- and infection-cycle; using a combination of X-ray crystallography and biochemistry molecular mechanisms are studied at the atomic level. Visit the Hegde lab site.
  • Chia-Yi Kuan, MD, PhD, studies the mechanism of neuronal cell death following cerebral ischemia-hypoxia, and means to stimulate adult neurogenesis for cell replacement. These studies involve a broad spectrum of disciplines including genetic, biochemical, physiological, histological, cell biology, and MRI imaging techniques.
  • Xinhua Lin, PhD, is interested in cell-cell signaling mechanisms that control tissue patterning during development. His lab focuses on the role of heparan sulfate proteoglycans in morphogen distribution and signaling. Lin lab also studies the molecular mechanisms of Wnt signaling in development.
  • Jun Ma, PhD, focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms that orchestrate embryonic development. His lab's work centers on a morphogenetic protein found in the fruit fly Drosophila, Bicoid, which directs the formation of the anterior structures in the embryo.
  • Christopher Wylie, PhD, studies the differentiation of the germ line, and its contribution to the development of the early embryo. In particular we study the behavior of early germ line cells, and the control of patterning of the early embryo by stored mRNAs and proteins in the oocyte, including the formation of the primary germ layers, and the role of the cytoskeleton in controling the architecture of the embryo.
    Visit the Wylie-Heasman lab site.
  • Aaron Zorn, PhD, investigates the molecular mechanisms controlling the development of organs such as the liver, pancreas and gastrointestinal tract, which are derived from the embryonic endoderm.
    Visit the Zorn lab site.