My lab is primarily focused on studying the "life history" of the thymus, the primary lymphoid organ responsible for the generation of T cells. This approach encompasses the evolution, fetal development, postnatal function, and aging of this critical organ. Our basic hypothesis is that these diverse aspects of the biology of the organ are controlled by common regulatory networks, cellular dynamics, and physiological processes. We also study the parathyroid, which is required for calcium homeostasis, and has a shared developmental ontogeny with the thymus. We use a variety of approaches to accomplish these goals, including genetic analysis of tissue-specific and inducible mutant mouse strains, comparative and experimental embryology, and immunological techniques. Several of our current projects include natural and induced cellular fate transformations to generate thymic epithelial cells from heterologous cell types, that are either natural sources of ectopic T cell generation, or may be sources of thymus organs for transplant.