Cell Signaling in Development

The complex choreography of cell proliferation, differentiation, rearrangement, and death is at the core of development of multicellular organisms.  Coordination of these cellular activities requires extensive communication between cells.  The long-term goal of the lab is to better understand how cellular signaling is used to direct activities that sculpt the multicellular organism.  The Janus kinase/Signal transducer and activator of transcription (JAK/STAT) pathway is one of a small number of highly pleiotropic, evolutionarily conserved cascades that directs animal development.  We study the mechanisms by which JAK/STAT signaling regulates development in the fruitfly, Drosophila melanogaster, as a model for developmental cell signaling in general.