Mechanisms of epithelial morphogenesis in drosophila

我的研究计划的目的是了解不同形式和功能的结构是如何随着生物体的发展而出现的。例如，最初均匀的细胞片或上皮，随着单个细胞改变形状或经历各种运动，可以呈现复杂的形式。我们用果蝇（Drosophila melanogaster）的卵巢作为一个简单的实验系统，来了解是什么分子在细胞内执行这些细胞行为。卵巢的卵泡上皮，包围着每个正在发育的卵子，开始时是一个均匀的薄片，但随着时间的推移，组织中的两组细胞经历了一系列的形状变化，在组织中产生褶皱，形成两个从扁平薄片伸出的细胞管。

The aim of my research program is to understand how structures with different form and function arise as an organism develops. For example, an initially uniform sheet of cells, or epithelium, can take on a complex form as its individual cells change their shapes or undergo various movements. We use the ovary of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, as a simple experimental system for understanding what molecules inside the cell carry out these cellular behaviors. The follicular epithelium of the ovary, which surrounds each developing egg, starts out as a uniform sheet but, over time, two groups of cells in the tissue undergo a series of shape changes, creating folds in the tissue that go on to form two tubes of cells that project from the flat sheet.