The Uribe lab studies how genetic, cellular, and environmental factors contribute to and influence stem cell and nervous system development in vivo. Our mission is to use a systems-level approach to enhance understanding of fundamental mechanisms that orchestrate stem cell transformation into specialized cells and tissues. Our approach integrates and leverages zebrafish organismal-level, tissue-level, and cellular-level developmental biology, synthetic and recombinant gene expression paradigms, single-cell omics, in vivo high-resolution microscopy, and computational methods. Our ultimate goal is to increase foundational knowledge to help build better therapies and cures for neurodevelopmental defects and cancer. We currently focus on two main research areas:

Enteric nervous system (ENS) development and differentiation: The ENS is a vast branch of the peripheral nervous system resident within the entire gut. It is also known as the gut-brain and is an essential portion of the gut-brain axis. The ENS regulates gut peristalsis, water balance, hormone secretions, and other essential gut functions. While we know that the ENS is primarily derived from the neural crest, we still know very little about its vast construction in the context of the gut. Our lab seeks to understand how the ENS differentiates in vivo. 

Neural crest stem cell diversification: Neural crest cells are stem cells that migrate to various locations and give rise to diverse and fundamental cell types in the vertebrate body–including craniofacial tissues, cardiac cells, and peripheral nervous system tissues like the ENS. What dictates whether neural crest will give rise to nervous system tissue or other derivatives remains elusive. 

Relevance to Human Health and the Nervous System: Understanding the genetic programs and cellular interactions that drive stem cells to form the ENS is of crucial concern. From a large view, knowing how neural crest differentiates into neural tissue is essential for understanding how cells make fundamental decisions in their native tissue context and, significantly, for also informing targeted designs for neural therapeutics.