Research Focus

I use the zebrafish as a model to examine signal transduction and transcriptional regulation of normal development of the head and face. Zebrafish have skeletal elements that are homologous to human facial structures and many of the genes that are involved in human face development have been conserved in zebrafish.

Students in my lab perform all maintenance and care of our fish colony and can learn molecular biology techniques including nucleic acid purification, PCR (RT-PCR and qPCR), cloning, in situ hybridization, genetic modification, and microinjection.