Research
The goal of our research is to understand how tissue homeostasis is maintained by inter-organ communication within an organism in response to altered physiology.
Nuclear receptors as a model.
Nuclear receptors are widely expressed transcription factors that are essential for development, metabolic processes, and reproduction. Many circulating factors including steroid hormones, lipids, and other lipophilic molecules function as ligands for nuclear receptors, making them ideal models to understand how signaling from peripheral tissues influence oogenesis.
Nuclear receptors as a model to understand stem cell
lineages.
Most studies have focused on how an individual nuclear receptor acts within a specific cell type or tissue itself to control transcripts that directly influence that tissue of interest. However, nuclear receptors can act on a variety of tissues. Therefore, it is important to think about how they may have direct and perhaps indirect functions in other tissues.
The Drosophila ovary as a model.
Similarly to humans, the Drosophila ovary is regulated by hormone & steroid signaling, making it an excellent model to understand nuclear receptor control of oogenesis and stem cell lineages. The ovary is composed of a germarium & progressively older follicles. The germarium contains the niche - terminal filament & cap cells, germline and somatic stem cell populations, and their progeny.
Current Questions
What tissues require nuclear receptor signaling to regulate oogenesis?
What are the mechanisms downstream of nuclear receptors in tissues of interest used to talk to the ovary?
Do nuclear receptors use the same mechanisms in different tissues to communicate to the ovary?
What mechanism(s) does the ovary utilize to receive communication from peripheral tissues?
How do signals downstream of nuclear receptors in adjacent tissues converge to regulate distinct processes of oogenesis?