My laboratory studies the development and function of the vertebrate brain. To address these questions, we are developing new technologies that will allow us to identify genes involved in the assembly of brain circuits. Recently, we have generated a new technique that allows for the generation of transgenic animals in species of great interest for … Continued
I have been pursuing a scientific problem identified in graduate school in the early 1990s: how does a gene originate and evolve? My early works, supported by the Packard Fellowship and other federal science agencies, overturned traditional theories about evolution of new molecular functions and rewrote textbooks in related fields and shaped a new field … Continued
Germ cells transmit the potential to build a completely new organism to their offspring. The mechanisms that endow germ cells with the ability to propagate totipotency across generations are poorly understood. My lab studies how germ cells are set apart from somatic cells during embryogenesis, how early germ cells are guided to the gonad, and … Continued
The human gut is home to trillions of microbes that serve beneficial purposes. However my recent research has shown that the wrong mix of ‘normal’ microbes can be detrimental to health. In this research I will investigate how variation in the human genome relates to variation in the diversity and functions of microbes in the … Continued
My lab studies the molecular mechanisms of aging and genetic determinants of complex human traits, using system biology approaches that combine quantitative experiments with theoretical modeling and bioinformatics analysis. The lab has developed microfluidic devices to analyze aging at the molecular level in single cells and genetic systems for high throughput lifespan screening. The lab … Continued
My lab is interested in biological control, with “control” meant in its engineering sense: execution of strategies for achieving useful ends, such as precision, robustness, efficiency and speed. Control questions are posed in the context of developmental and regenerative biology, and address long-standing puzzles in areas such as pattern formation, growth regulation, the origins of … Continued
Our research is directed toward elucidating the evolution of bacterial genomes, including their size, composition, variability and organization. In other words, why do genomes have the genes that they do? An understanding of the evolutionary process that leads to differences in genomes will shed light on how species themselves differentiate. We take computations, theoretical and … Continued
The research goal of my laboratory is to understand the unusual transmission genetics of positive-strand RNA viruses and thereby to identify paradigms with relevance to other fields as well. Transmission genetics is an especially interesting topic in the case of RNA viruses. These are nature’s most mutable genomes; this is not only biochemically and genetically … Continued
Lipid-bounded organelles are touted as a defining feature of eukaryotes–one which is absent from the architecturally primitive bacteria. However, numerous bacteria use lipid-bounded organelles to execute essential, and at times toxic, biochemical reactions. The Komeili group has pioneered the use of the magnetosome organelles of magnetotactic bacteria as a model for understanding the bacterial organelles. … Continued
I study the signaling and regulatory events governing interactions between plant pathogens and their hosts. Specifically, I seek to understand the strategies used by bacterial pathogens to colonize and cause disease on their plant hosts by identifying pathogen virulence factors and elucidating their mode of action in within the plant. The main study system in … Continued