Rita Silva

Embryonic gut development

At the onset of gastrulation, the definitive endoderm germ layer undergoes a coordinated cascade of morphological movements that will re-shape the external sheet of endodermal cells into an internal primitive gut tube.

Interactions between endoderm, mesoderm and ectoderm are essential for morphogenesis and patterning of the embryonic gut, acting as a source of inductive signals and providing patterning cues. The early gut tube can be divided into foregut, midgut and hindgut domains from which the digestive tract and associated visceral organs emerge. The midgut and hindgut, which give rise to the small intestine, colon and rectum, have remained largely unexplored even though many disorders, including various types of cancer, are a direct result of impaired endoderm development within these regions.

New knowledge is key to improving existent therapeutics and designing novel approaches to treat a wide range of human diseases affecting this complex system. I aim to explore the mechanisms underlying the spatial and temporal orchestration of the many signaling pathways operating within these domains to better understand endodermal development, cell fate choice and ultimately organogenesis. In order to create a contextualized body of results, I will use multi and intra-disciplinary approaches that include both in vitro and in vivo work, as well as state-of-the-art imaging methodologies.