Research group Group Dai
Regulation of cell fate decision is fundamental to development, disease, and regeneration. We address how gene regulatory systems guide the assembly of complex biological patterns by investigating stem cell biology and cell fate decision mechanisms.
Group description
Animal development is a fascinating process, as a single cell, the fertilized egg, develops into the adult body with many functional cell types. How do cells become different although they carry the same genetic material? Each cell type bears a unique gene expression program that decides what the cell should become into. Gene regulators control gene expression program by determining which genes should be turned on and/or how much of the gene products should be made. We are particularly interested in two classes of gene regulators, chromatin architectural proteins and cell-type specific transcription factors. We study the evolutionarily conserved function of these factors in cell fate decision and gene regulation. Our research is summarized in two projects.
- Cell-type specific role of chromatin organization
- Gene regulatory mechanisms in neural stem cell proliferation and differentiation
Group members
Group managers
Qi Dai
University Lecturer
Members
Li He
PhD student
Huazhen Wang
PhD student
Tatjana Lömker
PhD student
