Research

We study the changes in the mechanisms that regulate the coordination between cell-cell adhesion and signaling during cancer invasion and metastasis.  Special emphasis is devoted to the following topics:

1. The dual role of beta-catenin in WNT signaling (as co-transcription activator) and as a key mediator of cell-cell adhesion linking adhesion receptors to the cytoskeleton.
2. Identification and role of WNT/beta catenin target genes in regulating cell motility, epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT), and cancer cell invasion and metastasis.
3. Investigation of genes induced by adhesion-mediated (WNT and others) signaling that are also expressed at increased levels in normal stem cells and during cancer progression.  We are studying the role of such genes in both tissue homeostasis and cancer progression.

Benjamin Geiger and his group focus mainly on the mechanisms responsible for communication between cells, both normal and cancerous. In doing so, they explore the specific molecules involved in recognition, adhesion, and communication with the extracellular environment, and the signaling triggered by these interactions. Such processes are investigated using diverse biological systems, including metastatic cancer cells, inflammatory cells associated with a variety of diseases, blood platelets, and immune cells.

Senescent cells accumulate in premalignant lesions, sites of tissue damage and in normal tissues during aging. We study how senescent cells affect cancer, aging and age-related diseases and also placenta during embryonic development.
• Cellular senescence in aging and age-related diseases
• Cellular senescence in premalignant lesions and cancer
• Interaction of senescent cells with the immune system
• Cellular senescence during embryonic development

Gil Levkowitz utilizes zebrafish as a vertebrate model organism to tackle basic questions concerning the development and function of the hypothalamus. Hypothalamic neurons regulate fundamental body functions including sleep, blood pressure, temperature, hunger and metabolism, thirst and satiety, stress and social behavior. Understanding these processes is especially important as developmental impairments of hypothalamic neuronal circuits are associated with neuronal circuits that have been associated with neurological conditions such as depression, chronic stress, autism and obesity.
In particular, the lab investigates the molecular and cellular processes underlying morphogenesis and function of hypothalamic neurons that produce the neuro-hormone oxytocin, whose axons project onto the pituitary and form the hypothalamo-neurohypophyseal system.   A primary research direction is studying the assembly and maintenance of the neuroendocrine interface between oxytocinergic neurons and neurohypophyseal vasculature, through which oxytocin is released into the general circulation without disrupting the blood-brain barrier (BBB).  Another major goal is studying how specific hypothalamic circuits regulate stress and social challenges using a set of behavioral assays in fish and mice.

Research in the lab focuses on the biology of Schwann cells and oligodendrocytes, the myelinating glial cells of the peripheral and central nervous system, respectively. We are using a variety of molecular, biochemical and genetic approaches to:  

• Identify the axonal signals that control myelination.
• Understand how glial cells recognize and wrap axon with myelin.
• Dissect the cytoskeletal machinery that drives myelination.
• Reveal how myelinating glia shape the membrane of the axons they wrap.

Our group aims to discover recurrent tumor-specific mutations in melanoma using whole exome and whole genome sequencing approaches. Once mutations are identified, our group focuses on characterizing the biochemical, functional, and clinical aspects of the most highly mutated genes. To facilitate this search, we have established a unique bank of metastatic melanoma tumors which is used for:
• In depth functional analysis of melanoma mutations using novel preclinical models such as somatic cell knockout and somatic cell knockin isogenic cells.
• Identification of melanoma protein/protein interactions using overexpression and endogenous epitope tagging,” (EET) approaches. This will uncover which signal transduction pathways mutated proteins impinge upon.
• Delineate clinically ideal melanoma protein targets using single and combination drug screens. 
• In addition to the potential insights into basic tumor biology, new opportunities for clinical intervention are likely to be generated through this research.

Heads a multi-disciplinary team of computational biologists and experimental scientists working in the area of Computational and Systems biology. Focuses on Nutrition, Genetics, Microbiome, and Gene Regulation and their effect on health and disease. His lab aims to develop personalized nutrition and personalized medicine using machine learning, computational biology, probabilistic modeling, and analysis of heterogeneous high-throughput genomic and clinical data. 

Our lab is interested in the developmental, molecular and cellular underpinnings of cardiac and skeletal muscle progenitors. We now form a bridge between developmental biology and the emerging field of regenerative medicine, with particular relevance to adult heart diseases and cancer. We work towards identifying new regulatory mechanisms that direct the proliferation of mammalian cardiomyocytes in order to replenish lost cardiomyocytes, associated with heart pathologies like ischemic heart disease. Our lab use cutting-edge approaches of developmental and regenerative biology.
We are interested in the following specific question:
1. Mechanisms of cardiac regeneration
2. Tumor-resistance mechanisms of the heart
3. Cardio-pharyngeal lineage diversification