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Research

Research: Welcome

Our lab is pioneering annual killifish as an alternative model for the study of teleost development. Annual killifish embryos have the extraordinary ability to enter diapause, a suspended state that allows survival during the dry season. During diapause, blastomeres disperse and adopt a random walk behavior, resulting in a loss of spatial information that other animals rely on to specify the embryonic axis. Despite this, cells eventually coordinate their migration trajectories and re-aggregate, subsequently forming embryonic axes (panel a).


We seek to understand how and why annual killifish use such a divergent strategy of axis formation? In the absence of maternal patterning, we are investigating how annual killifish reliably self-organize their axes. In addition, we are interested in studying the evolution of specialized cell types that may facilitate their adaptation to a seasonal aquatic environment.

Research: About

Published Papers

Research: About

Axis formation in annual killifish: Nodal coordinates morphogenesis in absence of Huluwa prepatterning

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The pre-vertebrate origins of neurogenic placodes

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Ephrin-mediated restriction of ERK1/2 activity delimits the number of pigment cells in the Ciona CNS

Identification of a rudimentary neural crest in a non-vertebrate chordate

Research: pubs
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