Research overview

Decoding Regeneration and Advancing Human Therapies

How do tissues rebuild themselves after injury, and how do they work together to restore an intact, functional organism? Using zebrafish, our lab investigates the cellular and molecular mechanisms of regeneration, with a particular focus on how communication between tissues coordinates their growth, remodeling, and repair.

Signaling Dynamics

How do signaling pathways control cell behavior during tissue growth and regeneration? We investigate the dynamics of pathways such as ERK/MAPK to understand how signaling activity influences cell proliferation, tissue remodeling, and regenerative growth.

What can regeneration teach us about skin disease and repair? We aim to connect insights from zebrafish to human skin disorders, including Epidermolysis Bullosa and chronic wounds, to identify regenerative mechanisms and pathways that could inform future therapeutic strategies.

Our model system

We study the zebrafish epidermis overlying the scales to investigate how skin and bone coordinate during regeneration.

Decoding the Principles of Skin Regeneration

We investigate regeneration through three interconnected questions: how signaling controls cell behavior, how tissues coordinate their growth and repair, and how these mechanisms can inform our understanding of human skin disease.

How do tissues coordinate their behavior during regeneration? We explore how mechanical forces, tissue geometry, and communication between the epidermis and underlying scales shape coordinated growth and repair.