Our group focuses on the molecular mechanisms employed during development that transform totipotential stems into complex multicellular organisms. Our group approaches this process from several perspectives including the role of gap junctions in cell-to-cell communication that orchestrates development and later function in most tissues and organs, the role of secreted molecules such as the FGF family in basic body patterning and targeted differentiation of unique neuronal fates during CNS development, and the role of developmental transcription factors such the HOX clusters in determining basic body and organ-specific pattern patterning. A further interest is in linking our research to understanding the molecular basis of congenital anomalies and/or birth defects, i.e., molecular embryopathy.

Faculty

   

WILLIAM H. FLETCHER, PhD, University of California, Berkeley 1972
Professor of anatomy and of physiology and pharmacology
Microanatomy, cellular/molecular biology
Kirby  

MICHAEL A. KIRBY, PhD, University of California, Riverside 1984
Associate professor of pediatrics and of anatomy
Neurophysiology, neuroanatomy, developmental neurobiology, radiation neurobiology
Kerby C. Oberg  

KERBY C. OBERG, MD, PhD, Loma Linda University 1991, 1989
Assistant professor of pathology and human anatomy and of plastic and reconstructive surgery
Embryology, developmental biology, embryopathy