Developmental Biology Program
The Eric Lai Lab
Research
As a laboratory of developmental biology, our guiding interest is to comprehend how complex biological patterns can be assembled with stereotyped precision. This requires a detailed understanding of how cells come to execute appropriate behaviors — be it adoption of specific cell fates, proliferation, or apoptosis — and do so at the right times, in the right places, and in the right numbers. Dysfunction of processes that direct normal tissue patterning results not only in developmental disorder but also underlies adult disease. Tellingly, many factors whose mutation is relevant to human cancer were first identified and characterized with respect to development in model organisms. To study these topics, we utilize integrative approaches, combining genetics, biochemistry, and genomewide approaches, to elucidate detailed molecular mechanisms and use these to understand in vivo biology as well as decipher genomic regulatory networks.
Research Projects
Featured News
Publications Highlights
Zhang B, Duan H, Kavaler J, Wei L, Eberl DF and Lai EC (2023). A nonneural miRNA cluster mediates hearing via repression of two neural targets. Genes & development 37, Cover Article.
Lee S, Jee D, Srivastava S, Yang A, Ramidi A, Shang R, Bortolamiol-Becet D, Pfeffer S, Gu S, Wen J and Lai EC (2023). Promiscuous splicing-derived hairpins are dominant substrates of tailing-mediated defense of miRNA biogenesis in mammals. Cell Reports 42.
Shang R, Lee S, Senavirathne G and Lai EC (2023). microRNAs in action: biogenesis, function and regulation. Nature Reviews Genetics 24.
Vedanayagam J, Herbette M, Mudgett H, Lin CJ, Lai CM, McDonough-Goldstein C, Dorus S, Loppin B, Meiklejohn C, Dubruille R and Lai EC (2023). Essential and recurrent roles for hairpin RNAs in silencing de novo sex chromosome conflict in Drosophila simulans. PLoS Biology 21(6).
Zheng L, Liu J, Niu L, Kamran M, Yang A, Jolma A, Dai Q, Hughes TR, Patel DJ, Zhang L, Prasanth SG, Yu Y, Ren A and Lai EC (2022). Distinct structural bases for sequence-specific DNA binding by mammalian BEN domain proteins.Genes & Development 36.
People
Eric C. Lai, PhD
- The Lai laboratory integrates genetics, biochemistry, and genomewide approaches to study diverse regulatory networks during patterning and behavior.
- BA, Harvard College
- PhD, University of California, San Diego
- [email protected]
- Email Address
- 212-639-5578
- Office Phone
- Download CV
- PDF File
Members
- BS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Lab Alumni
Lab Affiliations
Achievements
- Louise and Allston Boyer Young Investigator Award for Basic Research, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (2009)
- Kimmel Scholar, Sidney Kimmel Foundation for Cancer Research (2007-2009)
- V Scholar, V Foundation for Cancer Research (2006-2008)
- Career Award in the Biomedical Sciences, Burroughs Wellcome Fund (2005)
- Special Fellow, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (2004-2006)
Read more
- Fellow, Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation (2000-2003)
- First elucidation of the major basis of miRNA-target recognition
- Discovery of novel transcription and signaling and factors that regulate neural development
Lab News & Events
Upcoming event
Symbionts and the Central Dogma of Sperm Biology: Unveiling a Century-Old Enigma of Germline Manipulation
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Zuckerman Research Center
417 East 68th Street
Room ZRC-105
New York, NY 10065
Open Positions
To learn more about available postdoctoral opportunities, please visit our Career Center
To learn more about compensation and benefits for postdoctoral researchers at MSK, please visit Resources for Postdocs
Career Opportunities
Get in Touch
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Disclosures
Doctors and faculty members often work with pharmaceutical, device, biotechnology, and life sciences companies, and other organizations outside of MSK, to find safe and effective cancer treatments, to improve patient care, and to educate the health care community.
MSK requires doctors and faculty members to report (“disclose”) the relationships and financial interests they have with external entities. As a commitment to transparency with our community, we make that information available to the public.
Eric C. Lai discloses the following relationships and financial interests:
No disclosures meeting criteria for time period
The information published here is a complement to other publicly reported data and is for a specific annual disclosure period. There may be differences between information on this and other public sites as a result of different reporting periods and/or the various ways relationships and financial interests are categorized by organizations that publish such data.
This page and data include information for a specific MSK annual disclosure period (January 1, 2023 through disclosure submission in spring 2024). This data reflects interests that may or may not still exist. This data is updated annually.
Learn more about MSK’s COI policies here. For questions regarding MSK’s COI-related policies and procedures, email MSK’s Compliance Office at [email protected].