CAA: Hedgehog Signaling in Growth and Development of The Teleostean Pharyngeal Skeleton

任何去过水族馆的人都知道鱼类的摄食结构的多样性。利用一种流行的模式生物斑马鱼进行的研究，重点是了解细胞如何经历变化，从而形成头部的最终结构。然而，这项工作的大部分是研究这些结构的分化，而不是随后的生长。刺猬基因已被证明参与了许多重要的增殖功能，包括参与头部发育的组织的增殖。这些基因在头部骨骼的早期发育和后期生长中都起着关键作用。Hernandez博士提出，这一途径在影响鱼类最终头部大小和形状的进化变化方面很重要，并提出了斑马鱼颅骨生长和发育过程中刺猬信号的详细功能分析，以及这些基因在密切相关物种头部生长中的作用的初步比较研究。埃尔南德斯博士是一名少数族裔私家侦探，他努力维持一个种族多元化的实验室，以综合调查为原则。PI还积极参与一些活动，以扩大科学领域的参与。

Anyone who has ever been to an aquarium knows the great diversity of feeding structures that characterize fishes. Research using a popular model organism, the zebrafish, has focused on understanding how cells undergo changes to give rise to the final structures of the head. However much of this work has investigated differentiation and not subsequent growth of these structures. The Hedgehog genes have been shown to be involved in a number of important proliferative functions, including proliferation of tissues involved in head development. These genes play a key role in both early development and later growth of the head skeleton. Dr. Hernandez proposes that this pathway is important in effecting evolutionarily changes in ultimate head size and shape within fishes and proposes a detailed functional analysis of Hedgehog signaling in the growth and development of the zebrafish skull, along with preliminary comparative examination of the role of these genes in growth of the head of closely related species. Dr. Hernandez is a minority PI who strives to maintain an ethnically diverse lab in which integrative investigation is the rule. The PI is also actively involved in a number of activities to broaden participation within the sciences.