The Robin Wharton Laboratory is part of the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at Duke University Medical Center. Its primary interest is to understand the molecular mechanisms that underlie the generation of pattern during development. The lab studies the localization of maternal mRNAs during oogenesis, translational control in the early embryo and ovary, the mechanism of sequence-specific RNA binding and the assembly of translation repressor complexes, and the role of translational repressors in neural stem cells.