I am interested in characterizing the events downstream of the JAK/STAT signaling pathway during spermiogenesis in Drosophila melanogaster. Although it has been well known that the JAK/STAT signaling pathway plays an important role in the testis for stem cell maintenance during early spermatogenesis, RNAi knockdown of components of the JAK/STAT signaling pathway in the somatic cyst cell has shown to prevent individualization, a later stage in spermiogenesis where 64 individual spermatids are formed from a 64-interconnected spermatid bundle. My research is currently focusing on potential downstream effects that the JAK/STAT pathway might have on individualization and how this effect is communicated from the somatic cyst cells to the spermatid.
