Faculty
David M. Parichy, PhD
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Professor
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Our research program uses the zebrafish and related species to answer a variety of biological questions having both basic and translational relevance. Current efforts are focusing on: the establishment, maintenance, and recruitment of post-embryonic stem cells in the context of normal development, evolutionary diversification, and melanoma; the genes and cell behaviors underlying adult pigment pattern formation and how these mechanisms have evolved between closely related species to generate strikingly different pigment patterns; and the molecular mechanisms of the larval-to-adult transformation, or metamorphosis, which generates the adult form.
We have additionally studied: the behavioral significance of pigment pattern variation; molecular and endocrine factors in skeletogenesis and kidney function; and zebrafish natural history in India. We also recently published the normal table of post-embryonic developmental stages for zebrafish, covering a period of profound developmental importance that remains woefully under-studied.
