Nicholas E. Baker, Ph.D.

Development and homeostasis are critically dependent on communication between cells.  Much has been discovered about the signals that define differentiated cell fates during development.  An emerging goal is to understand how tissue growth, proliferation and morphogenesis are controlled.  We study these processes in Drosophila melanogaster, both because of the sophistication of the in vivo studies that are possible, and the facility with which cell-autonomous and non-autonomous processes (which define cell-cell communication events) can be distinguished.  Interactions defined this way can be studied further by molecular, genetic, biochemical and imaging methods to understand cell communication mechanisms in vivo.

Currently we are interested in the following projects:

mathematical modeling of tissue patterning;

the cellular changes that accompany the terminal differentiation of multipotent progenitor cells as revealed by global changes in the gene expression and their regulation;

3) control of the cell cycle during development and growth;

the mechanisms that block cell cycle entry in differentiating neurons, the mechanisms that prevent cytokinesis in neurons, and the relationship of neuronal cell cycle defects to neurodegenerative disease;

the roles of HLH transcription factors and their homeostatic regulation in differentiation, growth, and their coordination, and their relationships to cancer;

cell competition, a mechanism by which ribosomal protein imbalances allow aneuploid cells to be detected and eliminated, its conservation in mammals and importance to cancer and aging.



For more details, and complete list of publications, please see our website at
http://fruitfly4.aecom.yu.edu/index.html