Welcome to the Laboratory of Molecular Regulatory Biology and Evolution!
The major research focus of our laboratory is on regulatory elements that constitute gene regulatory networks (GRNs), the execution code of animal genomes. The function and evolution of regulatory elements are important causal factors for shaping the structure, function, and evolution of GRNs. Our research involves developing experimental and analytical tools to functionally discover and analyze such elements and applying these tools to address various questions at the interface of molecular regulatory biology and molecular evolution such as the relationship between the evolution of a particular regulatory element, GRN, and ultimately, phenotype; structure and function relationship of regulatory circuits; tempo and mode of regulatory evolution in relation to regulatory logic operation. Sea urchin embryos and mammalian cells are our primary model systems.