Biological systems can remain unaltered for long periods. Yet to survive in fluctuating environments they must also undergo rapid diversification. Understanding this paradox offers the potential to thwart human pathologies ranging from cancer to neurodegeneration. It also has broad implications for our basic understanding of evolution and development. We study the molecular mechanisms that contribute to this balance between robustness and evolvability, employing multidisciplinary approaches including biochemistry, genome-scale analysis, high-throughput methodologies, and quantitative genetic techniques. Our aim is to identify and characterize systems that influence the interplay among genetic variation, phenotypic diversity, and environmental fluctuations at the molecular level, integrating our findings to gain insight into complex cellular systems. Ultimately we seek to understand how these mechanisms contribute to the acquisition of biological novelty, to identify means of manipulating them for therapeutic benefit, and to harness their power to engineer synthetic signaling circuits.
On this website you can learn more about the research team, our projects, and our publications. The laboratory opened in January 2013 and is located in the Center for Clinical Sciences Research (CCSR) at the Stanford University School of Medicine. We are currently recruiting talented graduate students and postdocs. Undergraduate students are also encouraged to inquire about research opportunities.