Smadar Ben Tabou de Leon

Email: sben-tab@univ.haifa.ac.il

Website: https://sites.google.com/marsci.haifa.ac.il/grd-lab/

Statement:
Our research is focused in deciphering how developmental programs are encoded in the genome, how these programs are executed in a changing environment and how alterations of these programs give rise to evolutionary innovations. Our main focus is the regulation of biomineralization in the sea urchin embryo. We discovered a striking resemblance of this process to vascularization in vertebrates. We are now investigating how the gene regulatory network activates the cytoskeleton remodeling proteins to drive skeleton formation and how this process is affected by environmental factors as hypoxia and mechanical forces.

Department: Marine Biology | Faculty: Sciences