My broad research interests are to understand the fundamental mechanisms of cell morphogenesis and migration, with a specific focus on how these processes are regulated by interactions between surface receptors and the actin cytoskeleton.

My postdoctoral work defined a new family of signaling pathways in which a large number of membrane receptors, including protocadherins, ROBO receptors, Neuroligins, GPCRs and ion channels, can potentially control the actin cytoskeleton through direct interaction with a key regulator of the actin cytoskeleton named the WAVE complex (Chen et al Cell 2014). These pathways have been shown by different laboratories to play important roles in regulating various morphogenesis events in different animal models, including oogenesis, synaptogenesis as well as axonal growth, branching and targeting (Chen et al Cell 2014, Chia et al Cell 2014, Biswas et al MBoC 2014, and Hayashi et al Dev Cell 2014).

My current research program aims to further understand the molecular details of these signaling pathways, to discover novel pathways, and to develop chemical and genetic tools instrumental to in vivo studies and discovery of novel therapeutic agents, by using combinatorial approaches including biochemistry, bioinformatics, structural biology, chemical biology and C. elegans genetics.