Welcome to the Di Gregorio Laboratory: we study the development and evolutionary origins of the spine
Di Gregorio Lab
Associate Professor
Molecular Pathobiology
345 East 24th Street, Room 1025B
Lab: room 808
tel.: 212-998-9564
E-mail: adg13@nyu.edu
Biography
Anna Di Gregorio graduated summa cum laude and received her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University “Federico II” of Napoli (Naples), Italy. After her post-doctoral training at the University of California at Berkeley, she received a faculty appointment at the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City in 2002, where she established her laboratory. In 2014, she moved to the Department of Basic Science and Craniofacial Biology at New York University College of Dentistry.
The Di Gregorio Lab studies the molecular mechanisms underlying the formation of the notochord, an axial structure that is the embryonic and evolutionary precursor of the spine. The notochord is necessary for the correct development of all chordates, from sea squirts to humans; faulty notochord development causes severe birth defects and vertebral malformations. The Di Gregorio Lab has identified numerous genes expressed in the notochord, has reconstructed part of the regulatory network that these genes form in order for the notochord to develop, and has identified numerous regulatory DNAs that act as molecular switches of notochord gene expression. The results of these studies are reported in over 30 peer-reviewed publications, reviews and book chapters. This research is currently funded by the NIH, and has been funded in the past also by the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation and other national and international funding agencies.