Education & Training

2014-present: Senior Research Scientist, Developmental Biology Program, Sloan Kettering Institute (lab of Kat Hadjantonakis)

2011–2014: Research Associate, Developmental Biology Program, Sloan Kettering Institute (lab of Kat Hadjantonakis)

2006–2011: Postdoctoral Fellow, Developmental Biology Program, Sloan Kettering Institute (lab of Kat Hadjantonakis)

2005–2006: Postdoctoral Fellow, Albert Einstein College of Medicine (lab of Bernice Morrow)

2002–2005: Graduate studies, University of Karlsruhe, Germany and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York (lab of Bernice Morrow)

Research Interests

My research interests are centered on investigating mechanisms of tissue morphogenesis and cell lineage patterning at the time of gastrulation. I use the mouse embryo, embryo-derived and pluripotent stem cells as mammalian model systems. The goal of my work is to formulate a blueprint for understanding analogous events in human development.

My studies specifically focus on the mechanisms driving cell fate decisions towards mesoderm and/or endoderm, the transitions between epithelial and mesenchymal (EMT & MET) states, and how these events are coordinated during embryonic development at gastrulation.

Optical imaging, single-cell transcriptomics, mouse genetics and embryology, and stem cell methods are central approaches that I use.