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Biography
I am a cell, developmental and cancer biologist with nearly two decades of cross-disciplinary training across diverse mammalian epithelial systems, including the retina, cerebellum, epidermis and oral epithelia. The researchers in my lab—comprising two post-docs, one graduate student, one post-bac, and two undergraduates—are broadly interested in barrier epithelial development and disease. The overarching goal of my lab at UNC for the past ten years has been to discover the molecular mechanisms that control the balance between self-renewing and differentiative divisions during development, homeostasis, wound healing, and in diseases such as cancer, using the skin epidermis and oral epithelia as our main model systems.
Tissue development, homeostasis and regeneration depend on the precise coordination of self-renewal and differentiation programs. A critical point of regulation of this balance is at the level of cell division. Stem and progenitor cells can divide symmetrically to favor self-renewal or asymmetrically to promote differentiation. During homeostasis, asymmetric cell divisions (ACDs) maintain a stable pool of stem cells that can be used to sustain tissue growth, or mobilized in response to injury. However, dysregulation of this machinery can lead to overgrowth or cancer, particularly in epithelia where tissue turnover is rapid and continuous. In the epidermis and other stratified epithelia, we have shown that the spatial orientation of the plane of cell division can dictate specific fate outcomes. Moreover, disrupting the normal balance of symmetric and asymmetric divisions during development can result in severe differentiation defects. We’ve also shown that division orientation in the epidermis is controlled by both intrinsic factors (e.g. the scaffolding protein LGN) and by extrinsic local cues (e.g., cell-cell adhesion complexes), and can be established by classical models which operate during early stages of mitosis, or refined by unconventional means that occur during late stages of mitosis. Finally, we’ve shown that oriented cell divisions play important roles in other stratified epithelia, specifically the oral mucosa. To perform these studies we rely on both classical mouse genetics as well as a novel, high-throughput in utero gene delivery technique which I term LUGGIGE (Lentiviral Ultrasound-Guided Gene Inactivation and Gene Expression)—that rapidly accelerates the pace and scope of complex, multi-allelic genetic studies in mice
My laboratory’s research has always been interdisciplinary, intentionally expansive, and prioritizes the training of future scientists. My graduate training in cellular neurobiology, combined with my postdoctoral studies on epidermal development, have facilitated my expansion into new research areas such as oral epithelial development and stem cells, and human disease models such as head and neck cancers, cleft palate and skin blistering diseases such as epidermolysis bullosa. I also continue to collaborate with neurobiologists such as Tim Gershon, as well as vascular biologists such as Vicki Bautch and Kathleen Caron. Finally, I place a high value on graduate training, because as the great neurobiologist Santiago Ramon y Cajal believed, “the greatest honor that can come to the master does not lie in molding pupils to follow [them], but in producing scholars who will surpass [them].” I am proud of the accomplishments my graduate and undergraduate trainees have achieved under my guidance, including NSF GRFPs, NIH F31, K08 and T32 awards, and Robert H. Wagner scholarships. Beyond my own lab, I have twice been recognized with the Joe Wheeler Grisham Award for Excellence in Graduate Education by my Department; I am the past Director of Graduate Studies for Pathobiology & Translational Science; I have chaired two BBSP admissions committees for the past four years; and I’ve served on the Executive/Steering committees for three different graduate programs. Most recently, I was appointed as the Assistant Dean for Graduate Education in 2022, and in this role I oversee the BBSP graduate program and its 500+ students and 300+ faculty.
Activities
Employment (3)
Education and qualifications (2)
Funding (8)
2019230
SKF-15-065
PF-07-045-01-DDC
Works (31)
10.1038/ncb3001
10.1016/j.ceb.2013.08.003
2-s2.0-84887625002
10.1016/j.cell.2011.05.030
21703454
PMC3135909
10.1038/ncb2163
21336301
PMC3278337
10.1038/nature09793
21331036
PMC3077085
10.1038/nm.2167
20526348
PMC2911018
10.1073/pnas.0807301105
18809907
PMC2547465
10.1016/j.neuron.2006.03.037
16701205
10.1016/j.mcn.2006.02.002
16574431
10.1242/dev.01431
15509772
10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1057-04.2004
15371503
10.1016/j.conb.2004.01.010
15018938
10.1016/j.neuron.2003.08.017
12971893
PMC3682641
10.1089/107632700320775
2-s2.0-0033998502
2-s2.0-0034235791
10864955
10.1089/ten.1999.5.453
2-s2.0-0032705950
2-s2.0-0031940336