The primary goal of Dan Larson's laboratory is to understand gene expression in eukaryotic cells, starting from the mechanistic behavior of individual macromolecules and proceeding to their regulation in cells and tissue. The laboratory utilizes a battery of biophysical and molecular approaches, including single-molecule microscopy, fluorescence fluctuation analysis, RNA visualization in fixed and living cells, and computational modeling of gene regulation. Dr. Larson helped pioneer in vivo single molecule studies of transcription and splicing. The view that has emerged from these studies is that gene regulation is a dynamic process resulting in stochastic variation within populations. This 'noise' in gene expression influences phenotype selection and disease progression