"Molecular mechanisms for the regulation of normal cell differentiation, proliferation, apoptosis/ survival and their aberrancies in disease states, primarily cancer"

"Research projects are focused on basic epithelial cell biology especially as it applies to the respiratory tract. Projects include studies on epithelial host defense responses, secretion, ciliary beating and reactive oxygen species metabolism."

The Synaptopodin family of actin binding proteins and its role in signal transduction in renal podocytes and cardiac myocytes

"We study survival and regeneration in the developing and adult nervous system, bridging molecular, cellular, and in vivo approaches. Additional projects focus on the use of stem cells and nanotechnology."

My lab focuses on embryonic heart development. Our goal is to determine the molecular and cellular regulatory mechanisms of heart valve formation using in vitro and in vivo model systems.

Cell Biology of podocytes and glomerular disease

"Our areas of research center on the development of the nervous system, neurotrophin signaling in neural cells and repair of the CNS after spinal cord injury. For the development of nervous system we try to understand how mitogenic factors influence cell numbers and how cell fates are linked to specific transcriptional networks. We use live fluorescent imaging techniques to study neurotrophin signaling. For spinal cord injury repair strategies, we utilize modified neurotrophins and grafting of CNS derived cells. We integrate several approaches including Cell Biology, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Genetics and Imaging techniques."