Megan Martik

Megan Martik is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Genetics, Genomics, Evolution, and Development, focusing on neural crest development and its implications in regeneration, evolution, and disease. Her research explores gene regulatory networks (GRNs) controlling neural crest differentiation into cardiac, skeletal, and nervous system components. Key projects include studying cardiac neural crest contributions to heart development and congenital defects, redeployment of embryonic GRNs during zebrafish heart regeneration, and evolutionary origins of vertebrate neural crest diversity using lampreys.

Her work integrates developmental biology, genomics, and systems-level approaches to address mechanisms underlying regeneration failure in amniotes versus successful regeneration in anamniotes. The Martik Lab also investigates GRN dysregulation in neuroblastoma, aiming to identify therapeutic targets. Notable contributions include discoveries linking neural crest-derived cardiomyocytes to heart regeneration and uncovering ancestral GRN configurations in lampreys.

• Lab: Martik Lab (www.martiklab.org)
• Research Themes: Cardiac Development, Evolutionary Biology, Regenerative Medicine, Cancer Biology

Publications emphasize zebrafish and lamprey models, with recent focus on neural cell type atlases and ancestral brain reconstruction. The lab's interdisciplinary approach bridges basic science with translational applications in heart disease and cancer therapy.