Erickson laboratory
Our research questions
We are curious about how biological information processing cooperates and co-evolves with the physical principles of self organisation to generate tissue architecture. In pursuit of this question, we study a range of in vivo models (human, zebrafish, mouse, chicken) and employ both new and traditional methods (CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing, lineage tracing, single-cell RNA/ATAC sequencing, live cell imaging, confocal and light sheet microscopy, FACS, microCT and morphometrics).
Robustness in tissue patterning and boundary formation
Our life “begins” as a single diploid zygote. How do we get from a cell to an entire body? Why does the process of embryogenesis work so consistently well, despite environmental and genetic variability?
Genetic modeling of facial and musculoskeletal birth defects
We recapitulate disease by perturbing genetic and epigenetic factors in animal models, in order to discover the regulatory roles of non-coding genomic sequences.
Mechanisms of mesenchymal progenitor cell diversification
Mesenchymal cells can become a wide range of tissue types. Using recent advancements in clonal lineage tracing, we study how gene regulatory networks link cell state to tissue-building capacity.