Research Description

The Dawes Lab works at the interface between mathematics and biology. Using theoretical and experimental techniques, we study how small scale interactions give rise to cell-level functional structures. We are studying how cells integrate internal and external signals to make critical decisions, such as specifying cell fate and division plane positioning. Using tools from differential equations and dynamical systems along with techniques in molecular genetics including genome editing and quantitative microscopy of the nematode worm C. elegans, we are working to understand how biochemistry, mechanics and cell geometry regulate each other to give rise to a functional cell.