Research in my lab focuses on uncovering the molecular and cellular mechanisms controlling annelid development for comparison with other animal groups. Annelids are in a clade called Spiralia for which a synapomorphy was likely a stereotypical cleavage program called “spiral cleavage”. In animals that develop by spiral cleavage, we can compare the fates and transcriptomic profiles of homologous cells (blastomeres) in cleavage-stage embryos across taxa, e.g., the cells that generate the CNS in distantly related species of annelids. Our goal is to understand the molecular changes in individual blastomeres that give rise to distinct tissues within an animal and then to compare that with other spiralian taxa. We combine classical embryological techniques with modern genetic approaches to address many different questions about annelid and spiralian development and evolution.
