developmental and stem cell biologists
Organogenesis requires the integration of genetic information provided by signaling pathways and transcription factors, as well as mechanical information sensed by adhesion and cytoskeleton remodeling proteins. In my lab we investigate the role of the mechanosensing machinery and its interactions with the gene regulatory network that controls sea urchin skeletogenesis. We discovered that the genetic program that drives sea urchin embryonic skeletogenesis is similar to the genetic program that humans use to build their blood vessels. Yet, we revealed a mechanosensitive circuit that drives sea urchin skeletogenesis which also governs the differentiation of bone cells and pathological calcification in mammalians. Our studies demonstrate how mechanical and genetic information are integrated during organogenesis, and open the way to a system level understanding of the biological regulation of morphogenesis.
