Title: Dynamic coupling of cell-cell signaling, force generation, and tissue remodeling during neural tube closure

Research Focus:
My group is interested in how embryonic cells and tissues organize morphogenic behaviors through the dynamic interplay of biochemical signaling, cytoskeletal dynamics and force generation.  At the heart of our work is the actomyosin cytoskeleton, which is the major source of force generation in early embryonic cells.  We seek to understand how the architecture and dynamics of actomyosin networks emerge from microscopic interactions among actin filaments, cross linking proteins, myosin motors and various accessory proteins, how these are tuned to produce different modes of network contractility, deformation and flow, and how network architecture, mechanics and dynamics are coupled to biochemical signaling circuits to produce emergent spatiotemporal patterns of activity. 

We address these questions through studies of cell polarization, asymmetric cell division and multicellular tissue morphogenesis using the nematode worm C. elegans and simple invertebrate chordates called ascidians as model systems.  We work across multiple scales, from single molecules to multicellular tissues. We use a highly interdisciplinary combination of molecular genetics, biophysics, quantitative light microscopy and image analysis, mathematical modeling and computer simulations.  Wherever possible, our goal is to achieve a tightly integrated and iterative coupling of experiments with theory and modeling, either within the group, or through collaborations with other experimentalists, theoreticians and modelers.