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Over the past two decades, developmental biologists have made great strides in understanding embryonic pattern formation at the genetic, molecular, and cellular levels. Much of this advancement can be attributed to the remarkable success of studies of pattern formation in model systems, such as the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Identification of genes that play major roles in setting up the body plan, combined with the subsequent discovery that many of these genes are well conserved even between different phyla, has also led to a renaissance in the investigation of the links between evolution and development. Using information collected from studies of Drosophila development, my lab and others are beginning to explore the degree to which developmental pathways have been conserved or altered between various arthropods. Insights into the nature of developmental and molecular alterations will help us to understand the evolutionary changes in the mechanisms of pattern formation and provide a molecular basis for analyzing the diversification of body morphologies and developmental mechanisms.

Currently the research of the lab focuses in three main areas:

1.  The role of Hox genes in arthropod development and evolution.  Using genetic manipulations (CRISPR, RNAi, mis-expression via transgenesis) we have been able to define the role that these genes play in patterning the body plan of Parhyale, and ways in which they have contributed to evolutionary changes in arthropods.  We also examine upstream events that mediate early segmentation and downstream interactions that pattern the individual appendage morphologies.
2. The ability of Parhyale to regenerate its germline.  Parhyale appears to specify its germline via a maternal mechanism, but ablation of the germline reveals that this animal can regenerate germline post embryonically from a somatic lineage.
3. Structural coloration and transparency in butterflies.  Physicists have defined the way in which chitin-based nanostructures generate color in butterfly scales, used particularly to create blues and greens, as well as create remarkable wing transparency in some species.  We are focused on understanding the developmental and cellular mechanisms that generate these nanostructures in a variety of butterfly species through genetics and live imaging approaches.

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