Gene regulatory networks are composed of transcription factors and their DNA binding sites in cis-regulatory elements and control the timing, level, and pattern of gene expression in a cell.  The major goal of our lab is to define regulatory relationships between transcription factors and their cognate enhancers to understand how cardiovascular tissues are specified and how tissue-specific gene expression is controlled during development and in response to heart injury and repair.  We use a combination of gene knockouts and transgenic reporter assays in mice and zebrafish, coupled with biochemical, computational, and genomic approaches, to investigate basic developmental gene regulatory networks and mechanisms.

Current cardiovascular projects in the lab focus on control developmental gene expression in the endocardium and heart valves, outflow tract specific gene regulation, and gene activation in response to heart injury and regeneration.  A second research focus in our laboratory centers on the regulation and function Zfp106, an RNA-binding, zinc finger protein associated with neurodegenerative disease.