Research & Publications

Our research aims to uncover the tissue interactions that govern proper hair follicle development and to understand how these interactions can be repurposed to promote adult hair follicle regeneration and regenerative wound healing. By combining classical mouse genetic tools with novel imaging and single-cell genomic and epigenetic approaches, we investigate the cellular and molecular interactions between the skin epithelium and underlying dermis that lead to hair follicle initiation and growth.

We are currently focused on three major questions:

1. How do hair follicles initially form during embryogenesis?
2. How can hair follicles form de novo in adult skin?
3. Can mechanisms of development and regeneration be repurposed to suppress skin cancer?

Our goal is to define the early cellular and molecular events that govern hair follicle morphogenesis and that can serve more broadly as a paradigm for understanding mechanisms of tissue patterning.

We are also interested in determining the dermal signals and dermal cell types that can reinitiate programs of embryonic development in adult skin following wounding, which can promote new hair follicle growth and scarless wound healing.

Finally, our research aims to develop novel therapies that take advantage of skin's innate methods of promoting proper epithelial growth to correct aberrant cell growth and suppress skin cancer.