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The Rogers Lab
Lab: Veterinary Medicine 3B, 3rd Floor Office: Veterinary Medicine 3B, 3rd Floor |
Functional Analysis of Crest EffectorS (FACES) Funded by National Science Foundation Grant #2143217
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Neural crest cells hold the answer. These remarkable, stem-like cells emerge from the dorsal neural tube, migrate throughout the embryo, and give rise to an extraordinary array of tissues. These stem cells create derivatives from craniofacial bone and cartilage to pigment cells and the neurons and glia of the peripheral nervous system. When neural crest development goes awry, the consequences can be profound, leading to craniofacial malformations, pigment disorders, and nervous system defects.
At the Rogers Lab, we uncover the molecular choreography that allows neural crest cells to form, transform, and diversify. We study how these cells break free from the neural tube through the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), how they navigate and communicate during migration, and how they ultimately choose their fates.
Using avian models such as chicken, quail, and peafowl, as well as axolotl embryos, we explore how neural crest biology informs both human congenital disorders and evolutionary variation in craniofacial form. By revealing how environmental exposures and genetic programs interact during early development, our goal is to understand how the vertebrate face is built—and what happens when that process goes wrong.
At the Rogers Lab, we uncover the molecular choreography that allows neural crest cells to form, transform, and diversify. We study how these cells break free from the neural tube through the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), how they navigate and communicate during migration, and how they ultimately choose their fates.
Using avian models such as chicken, quail, and peafowl, as well as axolotl embryos, we explore how neural crest biology informs both human congenital disorders and evolutionary variation in craniofacial form. By revealing how environmental exposures and genetic programs interact during early development, our goal is to understand how the vertebrate face is built—and what happens when that process goes wrong.
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