Multicellular organisms rely on the coordinated function of cells and tissues to support homeostasis. This cooperation begins very early in mammalian development, when embryos consist of single-digit cell numbers and functionally specialized groups of cells are formed by the time the embryo is a few hundred cells. Noise in gene expression generates early cellular heterogeneity[...]

What is life? To the casual observer, living things are easily distinguished from inanimate –they are entities that reproduce, grow, and adapt. But how do these processes occur? If we could fully understand them, would we control life and become masters of our own fates? Organisms exist through interactions with the very inorganic objects they[...]

Undergraduate researcher majoring in molecular and cellular biology at Johns Hopkins University

The classic network of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) is highly interconnected and controls a diverse array of biological processes. In multicellular eukaryotes, the MAPKs ERK, JNK, and p38 control opposing cell behaviors but are often activated simultaneously, raising questions about how input-output specificity is achieved. Here, we use multiplexed MAPK activity biosensors to investigate how[...]

We are each a wonder. How do trillions of individual units, our cells, function in harmony to build and maintain a functional organism over the course of a life? Cells are fine-tuned to respond to environmental cues to grow and divide, differentiate, navigate their surroundings, produce and consume resources, and countless other behaviors. Somehow, our[...]