demonstrated that the germline and somatic gonad appear to act in concert as part of a signaling relay.
This project has been so much fun to work on. Many thanks to my collaborator Grace, mentor Iva, and the worms!

exactly insulin is acting has been a long-standing mystery.
By tissue-specifically disrupting DAF-2 (the insulin receptor) and AKT in the somatic gonad, we discovered that insulin signaling in the somatic gonad is critical for regulating the dauer entry decision. Laser ablation experiments

When C. elegans worms are exposed to stressful conditions, they can put reproduction and development to adulthood on hold and arrest their development as stress resistant (and very weird/cool) dauer larvae. We have long known that insulin signaling influences the dauer entry decision, but where

This is such a clever idea!