Research Interests

 

Growth control is essential for the survival of multicellular organisms. A comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms underlying growth control is the foundation for the long-term objectives of developing cultured organs and combating cancer.

Drosophila melanogaster has been a classical model for investigating the mechanisms of growth control. For example, the Hippo pathway was discovered through genetic screenings in Drosophila. Studies of the Hippo pathway over the past twenty years have led to our current understanding that growth is controlled by intrinsic signals, including mechanical cues within tissue, that converge to regulate the activity of the Hippo pathway. However, many important questions remain unaddressed. For example, we do not understand whether the growth of different organs has some sort of coordination with each other during animal development, or whether systemic factors exist to control the scaling of organs. We also do not understand how different species evolve different body sizes. In our group, we combine genetic screens and cutting-edge multi-omics techniques to address these questions.