Embryological, Molecular and Cellular Biology of Embryonic Precursor Specification Using Ciona intestinalis as a Model System
Research aim
One of the fundamental questions in
developmental biology is how a cell can give rise to two sister cells,
each of which undertakes a distinct developmenal pathway. Understanding
how cells recieve, process and respond to information from their
environment is vital to our understanding of how cell fate choices are
made. Specifically, we are asking how the egg (a single cell) can
ultimately generate the wide variety of different cell types during the
process of embryogenesis. We are using early development of the
ascidian Ciona intestinalis as a model system to ask these questions.
Fundings Our work is
currently funded by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
(CNRS), the Université Paris VI, l'Association pour la Recherche
sur le Cancer (ARC), Association Francaise contre les Myopathies
(AFM) and Agence National de la Recherche (ANR).
Collaborations Some parts of our work involve
collaborative efforts with the laboratories of Dr.Patrick Lemaire
(IBDM, Marseille, France) and Dr.Tom Meedel(Rhode Island College, USA).
