Ongoing projects in the laboratory include:

1. Engineering and validation of conditional (floxed) zebrafish mutants. We are using our recently published oligonucleotide- mediated CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing to insert loxP sites into the zebrafish genome. Floxed alleles are crossed to various CreERT2 drivers to achieve tissue-specific loss of function. We are gearing up to test if loss of function will lead to severe regeneration defects, as recently observed for our tbx5a gene trap mutant. 
2. Engineering and validation of epitope-tagged transcription factors in order to understand gene regulatory programs of heart regeneration. 
3. Identification and testing of candidate regeneration enhancers. Here we use a variety of tools, from Tol2-mediated random transgenesis and phiC31-mediated targeted transgenesis to induction of mutations using CRISPR/Cas9.
4. Understanding the mechanisms and outcomes of CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing. Specifically, we are investigating if the homologous chromosome can be used to repair a CRISPR/Cas-induced double strand break.