Welcome to the Weisblat Lab!
Our research goals
- To obtain as satisfying as possible an understanding of leech development
- To understand how developmental processes are modified during the evolution of leeches compared to other animals. For example, leeches undergo spiral cleavages homologous to those of mollusks, yet generate a segmented body plan, like arthropods. How have cell fates been modified among the different spirally cleaving animal groups to generate different types of embryos and adults? And how is it that in annelids, chordates (and many arthropods) segment primordia arise sequentially from a posterior growth zone, whereas flies generate segments simultaneously from a syncytial blastoderm?