Why do humans have short fingers and long arm bones, and how did the elongated fingers of bats evolve to support powered flight? My laboratory seeks the answers to these profoundly important questions about the form and function of limbs by studying the closest relative of the laboratory mouse with the most unique limb skeleton, … Continued
Evolution is thought to be driven by spontaneous genetic variants that are enriched during times of stress. However, selection operates on phenotypes rather than genotypes. Thus, any means of generating heritable phenotypic diversity can fuel innovation. Our laboratory recently discovered that environmental stimuli can commonly induce self-perpetuating changes in protein conformations. Corresponding changes in protein … Continued
The discovery that eukaryotic DNA is wrapped around the histone octamer and packaged into chromatin transformed our understanding of genome organization and regulation. Yet it also created a conceptual paradox: nucleosomes are the fundamental unit of chromatin and must be sufficiently stable to compact, package, and protect the genome while still allowing enzymes to access … Continued
Evolutionary biologists have long recognized the central role that species interactions play in the origin and maintenance of biological diversity. However, the ecological conditions and the genetic mechanisms whereby interacting lineages coevolve and adapt to one other remain poorly understood. I propose to investigate the genetic bases of coadaptation in a highly specialized plant-pollinator mutualism. … Continued
Chromosomes are the fundamental structural units of our genome. Understanding their basic biology and how their mismanagement leads to disease is the main focus of the our lab. The scientific questions we address cover three major areas of research, including telomere function, DNA damage repair, and mitochondrial DNA stability.
My laboratory investigates the mechanisms that shape the unique DNA methylation patterns found in different cell types. We discovered that the cancer-associated TET proteins convert 5-methylcytosine (5mC) in DNA to the novel base 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC). We now know that the TET enzymes can diversify the epigenetic content of DNA tremendously and can also trigger DNA … Continued
Research in my lab is at the interface of mucus, immunology, bioengineering, nanotechnology, biophysics and computational modeling. Current projects encompass several areas: (1) elucidating and harnessing antibody-mucin interactions for improved protection against pathogens at mucosal surfaces; (2) elucidating microbiome effects on mucosal barriers, and precise tuning of microbial communities; (3) charactering adaptive immune response against … Continued
My research investigates biological systems that function under physically extreme conditions like short timescales, confinement to nanoscale regions of space, and high pressures. A significant portion of my research group’s efforts goes into the development of new experimental methods that allow observation of biomolecules, cells, and small organisms under these extreme conditions. These experiments are … Continued
The human body is home to a vast consortium of commensal bacteria that are now appreciated to have important impacts on various aspects of our health. Research in our lab focuses on how these commensal organisms influence the developing immune system and how this interaction between host and microbe can be harnessed therapeutically to treat … Continued
My lab has focused on the genes that control flower and fruit development in the reference plant Arabidopsis thaliana. These studies have led to new technologies that are being applied to increase the yield of crop plants. My lab has also studies the genes that control stem cell formation during embryogenesis.