I am interested in the field of Developmental Biology because it takes events that we tend to visualize as isolated, such as transcriptional and translational regulation, cell cycle control, cell signalling or differentiation and ultimately melds them to a coherent whole by studying how each occurs in a regulated and orchestrated fashion in order to form a biological structure or a whole organism. The aspects that I would like to focus my graduate research on are morphogenesis and patterning, perhaps because I have always been fascinated by the enigma of how structures as complex as the appendages or the extremities can arise from what was previously a group of undifferentiated and in most aspects non- committed cells in a gastrula, an embryo or a limb bud. By studying these events I will not only satisfy my curiosity but will also contribute to a relatively young field that is presently flourishing and moving forward with great speed.
