Charles Ettensohn

Professor of Biological Sciences

Our research is focused on understanding how the early development of multicellular animals in encoded by the genome. We study this problem using the sea urchin embryo as an experimental model. The complete DNA sequence of the genome of this organism has been determined and has been used to identify the full repertoire of genes. A major goal of our work is to test the developmental functions of specific genes by interfering with their expression. To that end, we are developing new photoactivatible, antisense oligonucleotide probes that allow us to block the functions of specific genes at precise developmental stages and in particular cells of the embryo. A second important application of nucleic acids in our work is in visualizing gene expression. We are developing new methods for multi-color, whole-mount in situ hybridizations using tagged nuclei acid probes. This approach allows us to visualize territories of differential gene expression in the developing embryo with great precision.

Lab Webpage: http://www.bio.cmu.edu/labs/EttensohnWebPage/home.html