We are interested in understanding how the aging process is regulated. The most important issue in this effort is to uncover the mechanism of the aging process.

We are investigating the regulation of autophagy by myotubularin-related lipid phosphatases and its roles in development, using Drosophila (insect) and C. elegans (nematode) as genetic model systems. We focus on the Drosophila compound eye as a tissue model. In the frame of this project, we developed several novel autophagy reporter systems. 

We aim to identify novel genes involved in the determination of somatic cell fates in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Our approach is based on the identification of target genes that directly regulated by TRA-1, the terminal (effector) transcription factor of the pathway. To date we identified goa-1 (it encodes a component of the G-protein mediated signaling system that plays a critical role in the regulation of neuronal development and functions) and daf-16 (it codes for the effector transcriptioj factor of insulin/IGF1 signaling involved in lifespan determination). 

Gene activity is determined at epigenetic (chemical modification of chromatin structure without affecting DNA sequence) level. We have developed a novel, PCR-based method by which DNA methylation levels can be accurately determined at any genomic site in a tissue sample.