Lepage Lab

Our lab is located at the Marine Station of Villefranche-sur-Mer (close to Nice). We are interested by various aspects of early development such as the processes of germ layer and axis specification. We use both zebrafish and sea urchin embryos as models. Our studies in zebrafish concern the cellular and molecular mechanisms regulating endoderm and mesoderm formation. We have identified several genes expressed early in response to Nodal signalling and try to understand their role in cell fate specification. We are also interested in development of the sea urchin embryo. Our studies on this embryo concern the processes of dorsal-ventral axis specification, epithelial mesenchyme transition and establishment of left-right asymmetry.