Kelly earned her Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Pennsylvania studying the role of the EGF - Ras - ERK signaling pathway
in cell fate specification.
Cells are only transiently pluripotent
as cell fate specification signals initiate differentiation soon after the formation of pluripotent blastomeres.
Among them, there are genetic instability (mainly aneuploidy, a defect in chromosome number), defects in the symmetry of cell division (important
for cell fate specification and tissue architecture) and impaired ciliogenesis.
Although Pdgfrα appears downstream of the fluorescent signal observed here, the dynamic nature
of cell fate specification appears similar.
We focus on how changes in chromatin structure orchestrate the developmental transitions from fertilization to genome activation to
cell fate specification.
The regulation of transcription during the transitions from fertilization to genome activation to
cell fate specification is a critical developmental process, yet it is poorly understood.