Analysis of a Gene Regulatory Network in Early Animal Development

这个项目的目标是了解基因如何控制胚胎发育。它侧重于基因调控网络（影响彼此活动的复杂基因网络），并研究这些基因网络如何控制发育中的海胆胚胎的形态。该项目使用了多种实验方法，包括基因组学和胚胎学、分子生物学、计算和细胞生物学方法。因为海胆和哺乳动物早期胚胎发育的许多方面都是相同的，这项工作将帮助我们了解我们自己的解剖结构是如何与我们的DNA序列紧密相连的。该项目将通过在一流的研究环境中培养本科生和研究生，为下一代科学家的发展做出贡献。为了促进项目发现与公众的交流，我们与斯坦福大学的生物学家建立了合作关系，他们开发了一个互动的虚拟实验室工作台，允许高中生进行、修改和解释在传统实验室环境中过于复杂或难以执行的实验。该项目还将有助于开发一个创新的数字圆顶天文馆展览（题为“我们如何成长”），该展览使用先进的动画方法向普通公众宣传胚胎发育的基因控制。

The goal of this project is to understand how genes control embryonic development. It focuses on gene regulatory networks (complex networks of genes that influence each other's activity) and examines how these gene networks control the morphology of the developing sea urchin embryo. The project uses a combination of experimental approaches, including genomics and embryological, molecular biological, computational, and cell biological approaches. Because many aspects of early embryological development are shared between sea urchins and mammals, this work will help us understand how our own anatomy is hard-wired in the sequence of our DNA. This project will contribute to the development of the next generation of scientists by training undergraduate and graduate students in a top-tier research environment. To facilitate communication of the findings of the project with the general public, a partnership has been formed with biologists at Stanford University who have developed an interactive, virtual lab bench that allows high school students to carry out, modify, and interpret experiments that would be too complex or difficult to perform in a conventional laboratory setting. The project will also contribute to the development of an innovative, digital dome planetarium show (titled How We Grow) that uses advanced animation methods to educate the lay public about the genetic control of embryonic development.