Research
Overview
Broadly, my research in the McKay Lab is focused on the epigenetic regulation of tissue- and temporal-specific gene expression profiles during development. My work uses genomics to develop a high-level understanding of biological processes and combines it with targeted molecular biology experiments to validate and expand upon specific questions.
More specifically, I research how ecdysone hormone signaling in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, elicits different metamorphic responses throughout the animal and over time.
Questions:
- How does the ecdysone receptor (EcR) coordinate temporal- and tissue- specific gene expression responses?
- Is its binding dynamic across time and between tissues?
- How does EcR regulate individual enhancers?
- Does it regulate their temporal activity?
- What dictates where EcR binds?
This enhancer from the Delta (Dl) locus is beautifully patterned. A) Browser shot of EcR CUT&RUN from Drosophila wings at the Delta locus. DlSOP is highlighted. B) DlSOP driving nls::GFP (green) compared to Ac, a marker of proneural clusters. C) DlSOP driving destabalized GFP (dsGFP) compared to Dl protein. When driving dsGFP, DlSOP is active only in a few cells that we believe correspond to the sensory organ precursor. You can see this figure, and other cool ones here.