Life seems to be orderly and lawful behaviour of matter,
not based exclusively on its tendency to go over from order to disorder,
but based partly on existing order that is kept up | Erwin Schrödinger

Research Interests

The development of a multicellular organism is a truly fantastic process. How genetically identical cells differentiate into distinct cell types in an accurate and reproducible manner remains one of the most important questions in biology. The long term goal of the lab is to elucidate the design principles of complex developmental programs underlying organized differentiation patterns. In particular, we are interested in

How the properties of intercellular signaling pathways contribute to the development of tissues and organs.

How do cellular mechanics and cellular morphology affect, and are affected by, regulatory processes within cells and signaling between cells.

To address these questions we use an interdisciplinary approach combining synthetic biology, quantitative imaging techniques, micropatterning technology, and mathematical models. Read more…

Specific research topics include:

Know thy neighbor: The interplay between Notch signaling and cell morphology
The right direction: Elucidating mechanisms underlying Planar Cell Polarity
The inner workings of the inner ear: the emergence of organization in the development of the mammalian inner ear