Halme Lab

The Halme Lab is studying Regeneration and Systemic Responses to Tissue Damage. In particular, we have been interested in addressing the following questions: How and why does development constrain the regeneration of certain tissues? How is tissue regeneration coordinated with developmental growth and differentiation? What is the relationship between neoplastic tumorigenesis and tissue regeneration? How is tissue function altered during regeneration?

We have been using the experimental model of Drosophila melanogaster to examine how tissue regeneration and tumorigenesis are regulated at multiple levels – individual cells, whole tissues, and via systemic endocrine signaling that affects the entire organism. This ongoing work has already generated new insights into how tissues regenerate, the signals that drive tumor formation and neoplastic transformation, and has led us to examine other human diseases such as asthma and inflammatory bowel disease, where we think that dysregulated regenerative activity contributes to disease pathology.