In embryonic development, groups of cells accomplish incredible feats of engineering as they construct ornate and elaborate shapes with physiological functions. Such complex changes in tissue shape require precisely coordinated cell behaviors, and absence of this coordination underlies structural birth defects and tumorigenesis.
The Gredler lab investigates the cellular mechanisms of epithelial formation in live mammalian embryos. We ask how cells behave during development, how these behaviors are parsed in complex environments, and how global tissue patterns emerge from local cell interactions. Harnessing the power of live imaging, we use multi-scale approaches from subcellular to organismal levels to address the molecular and cellular mechanisms of morphogenesis.