Piotrowski, Tatjana

During embryonic development, cells organize themselves into distinct and often complex three-dimensional organs or tissues. In order for proper morphogenesis to occur, a variety of cellular behaviors have to be tightly coordinated (e.g., cell migration, cell-cell adhesion, cell proliferation, cell death, interactions with the environment, changes in cell morphology). Because of this complexity, the molecular and cell biological mechanisms that regulate embryonic morphogenesis remain poorly understood. The central goal of my research is to identify the regulatory mechanisms that orchestrate morphogenetic processes during development and regeneration, and determine how their misregulation can lead to disease.
To dissect complex morphogenetic processes during development and regeneration we identified the zebrafish lateral line as a powerful experimental model. We have been performing genetic screens for mutants with defects in the development of the lateral line and hair cell regeneration and have already isolated approximately 20 mutations. The analysis of some of these mutations has already yielded fundamental insights into mechanisms underlying cell migration and stem cell regulation.