How simple tissues give rise to geometrically complex organs with robust shapes and functions is a fundamental question in biology with important implications in disease and translational medicine. The current mechanistic framework explains how upstream genetic and biochemical information pattern cellular mechanics and thereby tissue dynamics. In this framework, the main driving force is cell-intrinsic and generated by actomyosin contractility.

The long-term goal of the Kucenas Lab is to fundamentally understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms that mediate neural-glial and glial-glial interactions during nervous system development and injury/regeneration. Using Danio rerio (zebrafish) as a model system, we combine genetic and pharmacological perturbation, single cell manipulation, laser ablation/axotomy, small molecule screening, and in vivo, time-lapse imaging to directly and continuously observe glial cell origins, behaviors, and interactions in an intact vertebrate.

Using auxinic herbicides to probe the evolution of flowering plants
By: Romi Ramos (Nemhauser Lab)

Fractal Skeletons: Measuring sea star body complexity using micro-CT scans
By: Mo Turner (Ruesink Lab)

Dr. Jennifer Ruesink
Response and effect traits in a phenotypically-variable marine foundation species

Dr. Emily Carrington
Losing their lifeline? Mussel attachment in dynamic coastal environments