The Lasko Lab's research is focused on oogenesis and pole plasm assembly using the model organism Drosophila melanogaster, a.k.a. the fruit fly. Oogenesis is the process by which an egg is formed and matures. Pole plasm assembly is necessary for the formation of germ cells, immortal cells that are needed for gonad formation, which are necessary for sexual reproduction. There have been many successful genetic screens to identify genes necessary for oogenesis and pole plasm assembly and many of our projects are based on studying genes found in these screens.

Drosophila oogenesis provides an excellent system to study processes conserved in many different metazoan species. Such processes include translational control and RNA localization. Pole plasm assembly also provides insight on the formation of stem cells.