The Dalton Lab


Our lab studies the genes essential for life (i.e. we need them to survive).

These genes:

  • Underlie many rare diseases, such as Congenital Disorders of Glycosylation (CDGs) and aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase (ARS) deficiencies.

  • Represent rich, untapped biology due to interconnected pathways and challenges in modeling null mutations.

  • Are well-conserved and thereby great to study with model organisms - like fruit flies!

    Some of the things our lab does:

  • Drug screens for therapeutics and biology

  • Making and phenotyping new models in flies and cells

  • Testing human cell lines to determine the impact of pathways and treatments

  • Unexplored-but-exciting ideas like aging and retrocopy analysis of essential genes

  • Please see research for more information!



  • News

    March 2026

    Hans and Mandi will be presenting at the 2026 Drosophila Meeting in Chicago. Come say hello!

    December 2025

    Our student Mandi Wild was accepted as part of the T32 Chemical Biology Training Grant! Congrats Mandi!

    June 2025

    At 1:37:30pm, June 12th, 2025, Mandi and Maya did the first lab PCR!

    May 2025

    A month of changes! We say goodbye to Tiffany Chan, and hello to Viet Le and KJ Pittman!

    May 2025

    Congratulations to Maya Hull for receiving two undergraduate research awards this summer!

    Mar 2025

    Welcome Mandi Wild, our first graduate student! Mandi will be studying glycosylation disorders and their relation to degradation pathways (ERAD) and more.

    Mar 2025

    Hans presented at the 2025 Drosophila Meeting in San Diego.

    Jan 2025

    Our first “Super Lab Meeting” with Drs. Emily Beck, Allie Graham, and Coral Zhou! Thanks to all rotation students, and great presentations Aidan O’Hara and Zach Opoka!

    Nov 2024

    Hans presented at the 2024 ASHG annual meeting in Denver.

    ... see all News