Dorsal-Ventral Patterning in the Spinal Cord

Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling is required for specification of six different cell types in the ventral neural tube. The core of the Hedgehog signaling pathway is evolutionarily conserved, but we have identified more than six genes that are required for Hedgeghog signaling in the mouse but not in Drosophila.

Early Patterning and Morphogenesis

Many of the important events that define the body plan in the early mouse embryo unfold in one day of gestation, between e7.5 and e8.5. We study mutations that affect the morphogenetic events that take place at this stage to learn how intercellular signals are coupled to cell behavior during the establishment of the body plan.