PreviousNext Research Interests We are interested in how important cellular decisions such as proliferation, growth and polarization are made during animal development. Dysregulation of these cellular processes are tightly associated with tumorigenesis and cancer formation. Our laboratory mainly uses Drosophila as a model organism to study the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying these cellular behaviors. The current research in my lab has three major foci (1) temporal regulation of cell proliferation, growth, and differentiation in the follicle cells, (2) the cellular mechanisms the oocyte uses to establish asymmetric maternal-determinant positioning and therefore its polarity, and (3) the molecular mechanisms underlying cell competition in epithelial cells. ... This just in! News and Announcements ~ April, 2019: Check out our new paper! Oncogenic Notch Triggers Neoplastic Tumorigenesis in a Transition-Zone-like Tissue Microenvironment.🕮 ~ February 2019: Welcome to our new lab members, Chih-Hsuan Chang and Shangyu Gong.😀 ~ November 5th, 2018: Congratulations to Dr. Sheng-An Yang on an excellent defense! 😁👍 ~ Welcome to our new lab members, Dr. Xian-Feng Wang and Kevin Jiang.😀 ~ May, 2018: Check out our new papers: Germline silencing of UASt depends on the piRNA pathway and Serrate-Notch Signaling Regulates the Size of the Progenitor Cell Pool in Drosophila Imaginal Rings.🕮 ~ Welcome to our new lab members, Ishwaree Datta and Amber Sherrard.😀 ~ Welcome to our newest lab members, Dr. David Corcoran and Caique Costa. ~ Congratulations to our (former) undergraduate lab members, Sanchita Adhikari, Sonja Mihailovic, and Nick Trembley , on thier recent graduation. You did it!🎓 ~ November, 2017: Check out our new paper Systematic analysis reveals tumor-enhancing and -suppressing microRNAs in Drosophila epithelial tumors.🕮 ~ Congratulations to FSU alumnus, Dr. Dongyu Jia , on his new position as Assistant Professor of Biology at Georgia Southern University 🎉 ~ June 27th, 2017: Congratulations to Dr. Zhiqiang Shu on an excellent defense! 😁👍 ~ April 24th, 2017: We have a new PhD candidate in the lab. Congratulations Deep on passing your prelims! ~Check out Zhiqiang's new paper Differential Regulation of Cyclin E by Yorkie-Scalloped Signaling in Organ Development. ~Congrats to Genqiang on the new paper The SWI/SNF complex protein Snr1 is a tumor suppressor in Drosophila imaginal tissues. ~ Spring 2017: Welcome to our newest undergraduate in the lab, Joseph Polanco.