The Moody Lab

The Moody laboratory studies two aspects of neural developmental gene regulatory networks: (1) molecular mechanisms by which early ectodermal genes regulate the formation of the epidermis, neural border zone (neural crest and cranial placodes) and neural plate; and (2) novel co-factors and down-stream targets of the Six1 transcription factor, a key regulatory gene that specifies placode-derived sensory structures of the vertebrate head. This information is being used to discover new genes involved in neural tube and craniofacial birth defects.