Nathan D. Lawson, Ph.D.

Professor
Ph.D.: 1999, Yale University
Postdoctoral Research: National Institute of Health
Office:	UMass Chan Medical School 364 Plantation Street, LRB-617 Worcester, MA 01605
Phone:	508-856-1177
Email:	Nathan.Lawson@umassmed.edu

Research

Research in the Lawson Laboratory focuses on how new blood vessels are formed during embryonic development.  To investigate this process, we take advantage of the zebrafish as a model system.  We are interested in several aspects of vascular development, including how blood vessel identity is established, how cell behaviors are coordinated during angiogenesis, and how periendothelial support cells (e.g. vascular smooth muscle and pericytes) form during development.  We apply both forward and reverse genetic approaches, including the application of programmable nucleases (e.g. CRISPR), as well as in vivo imaging using 2-photon microscopy.  Current efforts in the lab also include generation of novel zebrafish vascular disease models and their application to identify therapeutic small molecules. For more information, please see our lab website. 

Click here for a complete list of published work

Rotation Projects

Rotation projects are available in a variety of areas and include the following:

1. participation in small molecule screening to identify compounds that alleviate vascular or lymphatic defects in zebrafish disease models

2. applying pipelines for rapid reverse genetic screening using CRISPR to identify essential vascular development genes in the zebrafish 

3. characterization of transcriptional regulatory networks responsible for blood vessel identity  

Positions Available

Postdoctoral positions are currently available in the Lawson Lab.  Please contact Dr. Lawson for information.