Research in the lab addresses the mechanisms underlying interactions between cells, that give rise to the polarity of the embryo and formation of elaborate patterns. We employ a wide range of genetic, molecular and computational approaches, as we focus on two of these issues:
1. How are quantitative variations in cell communication during development buffered, such that the final pattern is fixed and robust to these fluctuations.
2. How do the developmental signaling pathways operate in the context of the cell, its organelles and the extracellular milieu. What are the mechanisms by which basic processes of the cellular machinery, e.g. actin polymerization, are recruited to drive specific morphogenetic events.