A cell state, or the phenotypic behavior of an individual cell, is ultimately is governed by the gene products expressed within. Classically, groups of genes can be controlled together through the action of transcription factors or signaling cascades.. We study these behaviors through systems biology approaches to understand the molecular mechanisms in cells that group genes into functional networks, and ultimately states of behavior. Our early work has focused on enhancers and regulatory RNAs but we are broadly interested in all mechanisms by which cells can organize variation in gene expression at individual loci into functional phenotypes in development and cancer.
