The Joyner lab studies how genes regulate the cell behaviors (proliferation, differentiation, migration) that underlie organ development, tissue repair and cancer. They focus on the brain where stem cells must produce hundreds of cell types at the right times and in the correct numbers, and the cells then migrate to the correct positions and synapse with partners. The lab uses sophisticated mouse genetics approaches to probe how cell-cell communication and cell intrinsic genetic programs determine the way by which normal cerebellar circuitry is established and regulates behaviors, or are disrupted in diseases including cancer.