We are interested in understanding how vascular endothelial cells are orchestrated to form a functional tubular network after the initial angiogenic induction. A better knowledge of this complex process may lead to the development of new treatment strategies for diseases associated with abnormal vascular growth. To that end, my group carried out a molecular screen based on expression patterns and we identified a significant number of novel factors that are abundantly expressed in the developing vasculatures. We are now carrying out functional analysis of these factors using several in vivo and in vitro systems, including zebrafish knockdown, mouse knockout, organ culture, and xenograft tumor models.