The overarching goal of the research in Dr. Axelrod's lab is to understand how signal transduction pathways regulate morphogenesis - the emergence of spatial organization - during development. Development requires that cells differentiate to acquire the necessary complement of cell fates, and that they adopt the structure required to carry out their functions. In multicellular organisms, signal transduction is essential to these processes, yet while our understanding of how signals regulate gene expression is relatively advanced, our understanding of how signals direct the acquisition of specific shapes and forms is less advanced.