Current Positions

Assistant Professor, Human Anatomy and Cell Science

Education

BSc (Molecular, Cell & Developmental Biology), University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus
PhD (Molecular Biology & Biochemistry), Simon Fraser University
Postdoctoral Fellow (Cell & Molecular Biology) St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Research Focus

I seek to understand how cells coordinate differentiation and spatial organization to form functional tissues and organs. My research focuses on contact-based signal delivery by long specialized signaling filopodia called cytonemes. I've developed tissue handling and imaging protocols allowing direct analysis of cytonemes and their cargo in developing mammalian tissues. This has revealed that cytonemes are essential during mouse neurodevelopment for the effective transport of Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) and Wnt morphogens in tissue patterning. The labs goal is to continue to develop new imaging approaches for researchers, while expanding our understanding of how cellular patterning is orchestrated during development and regeneration. We aim to understand how defects in cytoneme-mediated signaling contributes to developmental disorders, and tumor-stroma signaling.

Research Interests

It is firmly established that morphogens and other essential cellular signaling ligands spread in a spatial and temporal manner to instruct and maintain tissue patterning. Yet, the mechanisms of how these signaling ligands spread across tissues remains a topic of fervent debate. Perturbance to ligand spreading can lead to a wide range of developmental disorders or cancers. Approximately 1 in 25 Canadians are diagnosed with 1 or more congenital anomalies, many of which are associated with signal pathway defects, yet ~50% of all anomalies cannot be linked to a specific cause. My research focuses on understanding how ligands are delivered via long specialized signaling filopodia called cytonemes. Cytonemes have only recently been identified in mammalian cells and tissues due to advances in microscopy combined with new sample preservation methodologies I’ve developed. Using these approaches, I have shown cytonemes are essential for the transport of Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) and Wnt morphogens during mouse neurodevelopment. Furthermore, mutations in cytoneme-related genes are link to a wide range of congenital anomalies and neurodevelopmental disorders, including intellectual disability, microcephaly, and autism spectrum disorder. This suggests cytonemes likely contribute to many different aspects of human development. As such, I am interested in understanding the role these previously invisible structures play in the developmental origins of health and disease.