Research Interests

We are interested in the cellular and molecular mechanisms that control the development and regeneration of sensory organs, such as eyes. Vertebrate eyes are complex sensory organs, defined as camera-type eyes. In the lab, we take full advantage of a newly established system, the golden apple snail Pomacea canaliculata, where - for the first time - full regeneration of adult camera-type eyes can be systematically explored at the molecular, cellular and genetic level.

We use sequencing techniques, light microscopy and CRISPR/Cas9 mutagenesis to expand our understanding of adult regeneration and stem cell biology. Our main goals are: identifying the cells that allow for regeneration, discover the gene regulatory network (GRN) that controls the regeneration of an adult eye and discriminate which components of this GRN are regeneration-specific and which one are shared with developmental programs.

P. canaliculata is a great new platform to discover novel concepts in regeneration, plasticity and evolutionary conservation of the visual system.