Title of Research Project:
Understanding the role of Yorkie in Drosophila eye development.
Research Description:
My lab uses Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies) to understand how cell division and cell growth are regulated in development. These processes are conserved through evolution and are also the same processes that often disrupted in human cancer development. This particular project focuses on a transcription factor named Yorkie which has a key role in cell survival, cell division, and cell fate determination. Further, the human homolog, YAP1, is mutated in a large array of human cancers. To address our hypothesis we are utilizing genetic disruption of Yorkie at different stages of Drosophila eye development.
If there is important prerequisite knowledge/skills required for students, please describe below:
Basic Mendelian Genetics