Richard Carthew Professor

Research Summary:

Free-living cells navigate a challenging world using solitary solutions. In contrast, cells within a multicellular organism must act as a collective to carry out functions for the benefit of all. We study the unique and complex biology of cells in the context of tissues and organs. Model organisms such as the fruit fly Drosophila provide an unprecedented opportunity to understand the cell biology of multicellularity. Our lab uses a variety of high-throughput experimental tools such as genomics, genetics and quantitative imaging. We couple such data-intensive experiments with computational analysis and modeling. The goal is to gain a comprehensive and predictive understanding of how multicellular properties emerge from the collective of cells present in a tissue or organ. Such understanding has implications for diseases such as cancer, as well as methods of tissue regeneration to treat disease.

Selected Publications:

Global constraints within the developmental program of the Drosophila wing. Alba V, Carthew JE, Carthew RW, and Mani M. eLife 2021;10:e66750. (2021)

MicroRNA regulation of glucose and lipid metabolism. Agbu P, and Carthew RW. Nature Reviews Molecular and Cell Biology  22, 425-438. (2021)

MicroRNA miR-7 regulates secretion of insulin-like peptides. Agbu P, Cassidy JJ, Braverman J, Jacobson A, and Carthew, RW. Endocrinology 161, 1-15. (2020) 

Ordered patterning of the sensory system is susceptible to stochastic features of gene expression. Giri R, Papadopoulos DK, Posadas DM, Potluri H, Tomancak P, Mani M, and Carthew RW. eLife 2020;9:e53638. (2020) 

The Wg and Dpp morphogens regulate gene expression by modulating the frequency of transcriptional bursts. Bakker R, Mani M, and Carthew RW. eLife 2020;9:e56076. (2020) 

Repressive gene regulation synchronizes development with cellular metabolism.  Cassidy JJ, Bernasek S, Bakker R, Giri R, Pelaez N, Eder B, Bobrowska A, Bagheri N, Amaral LAN, and Carthew RW. Cell  178, 980-992. (2019)