The laboratories in Cell and Developmental Biology areas are engaged in cutting-edge research encompassing gene regulation, cancer biology, neurosystems, and reproductive system development and function. Experimental approaches include conventional and multidisciplinary tools, such as genetics, immunochemistry, transgenics, biochemistry, confocal and electron microscopy, tissue culture, genomics, and bioinformatics. Research questions are being addressed in both invertebrate and vertebrate model systems, including the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster and mammalian cells. This broad range of activities provides excellent training opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students, and post-doctoral fellows.

The heart is the organ most often affected by congenital malformations, as well as diseases associated with aging. Uncovering the molecular and genetic mechanisms that underlie these problems can be accelerated through study with simpler genetic models such as the fruitfly, Drosophila. The Jacobs lab employs the Drosophila genetic model to dissect heart formation and growth of the heart, with particular focus on adhesion signaling, cell polarity, morphogenesis and the formation and remodeling of the heart extra-cellular matrix.
The Jacobs lab is no longer recruiting students for graduate or undergraduate thesis work.
Cell and Developmental Biology; Genetics & Molecular Biology