Professor
Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences
Bioinformatics; Cell growth, differentiation and development; Developmental Biology; Epigenetics; Gene Expression; Genomics and proteomics; Models - cell and animal; Molecular and Cellular Biology; Neuroscience; Progenitor Cells; Retina – retinal disease and therapy; RNA; Stem Cells; Transcription - Gene; Transcription and Translation; Transcription Factors; Transcriptomics; Transgenic organisms; Translation - Protein; Vision science
I am interested in the fundamental mechanisms regulating the shift of cellular states in neuronal differentiation. We address this issue by studying cell fate specification and differentiation in the developing retina. Our efforts are on identifying key regulators, uncovering their roles in individual cell lineages, and understanding how they carry out their functions. One major focus of our research is how transcription factors influence the epigenetic landscape along the developmental trajectory of retinal ganglion cells. We are also investigating how posttranscriptional control of gene expression affects retinal cell differentiation. We conduct our research using a combinatorial approach of genetics, molecular biology, genomics, single-cell technologies, and bioinformatics.