Stanford
Beachy Lab

Welcome to the Beachy Lab!

Our lab studies the function of Hedgehog proteins and other extracellular signals in morphogenesis (pattern formation) and in injury repair and regeneration (pattern maintenance). We study how the distribution of such signals is regulated in tissues, how cells perceive and respond to distinct concentrations of signals, and how such signaling pathways arose in evolution. We also study the normal roles of such signals in stem-cell physiology and their abnormal roles in the formation and expansion of cancer stem cells.

We are affiliated with the Department of Urology and the Department of Developmental Biology at Stanford University School of Medicine and are housed on the third floor of the Lokey Building for Stem Cell Research (SIM1), as a member of the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine, Stanford Cancer Institute, and Bio-X.

Science

Fascinated by the hedgehog signaling pathway? Here is a story of how the cyclops sheep in a rancher’s field in Idaho led to a skin cancer treatment.