Research Area:
Genetics, Cell, and Developmental Biology
Neuroscience

Graduate Program Affiliation:
Biochemistry, Cell & Developmental Biology (BCDB)
Genetics and Molecular Biology

Education and Training:
1987-1990 B.Sc. with Honors, in Biochemistry from Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine University of London UK and Associateship of the Royal College of Science. London UK.

1990-1994 D.Phil. in Physiological Sciences. University of Oxford UK.

1994-1998 Post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Jonathan Raper, Department of Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

1998-2002 Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Pathology working in the laboratory of Dr. David Raible, Department of Biological Structure, University of Washington, Seattle.

My lab studies the genetic basis of the development of the vertebrate intestinal nervous system, which is know as the enteric nervous system (ENS). We use the zebrafish model system for our studies. The ENS is the largest most complicated subdivision of the peripheral nervous system and is completely derived from neural crest stem cells (NCSC). The lab is interested in determining what genes are involved in the specification of the NCSC that form the ENS. We are also interested in determining what molecules are involved patterning the migration of NCSC in the intestine. We use genetic, cell biological and embryological experimental techniques in our studies. These studies are clinically important. Hirschsprung’s disease is a pediatric ENS condition that affects 1 in 5000 live births the cause of which is only partly understood.