An understanding of how cells control their identity (cell fate specification), and how they can organize themselves into tissues (morphogenesis) will provide the normal blueprint for fundamental processes that become deregulated in cancer.
The Hadjantonakis laboratory uses high-resolution quantitative methods to investigate the mechanisms underlying stem cell specification, cellular differentiation, tissue patterning and growth, using the early mammalian embryo as a platform, and the mouse as a primary model system. They also exploit pluripotent stem cells, including embryonic stem cells, for their studies.