Eisenhoffer Lab

Our research focuses on understanding how cell division and death are coordinated to control overall cell numbers in epithelia. Epithelial tissues provide an essential protective barrier for the body and organs they encase, and are the primary sites where most solid tumors or carcinomas form. Alterations in both cell loss and proliferation have been implicated in numerous human diseases, including cancer, yet our knowledge of how these two processes influence each other to regulate cell numbers within normal epithelia remains limited. The goal of our research is to elucidate the mechanisms that regulate epithelial cell turnover while preserving barrier function. To investigate cell turnover in a living epithelial tissue, we have developed tools to study this process using the epidermis of developing zebrafish. This system provides unparalleled access to analyze epithelial cell turnover in vivo and in real time. We utilize a combinatorial approach that involves time lapse imaging and reverse genetic techniques to characterize cell turnover under physiological conditions, after damage, and when turnover is perturbed to gain a better understanding of the specific alterations that lead to epithelial pathologies and cancer.