How do cells coordinate their polarity in multicellular tissues?

David is a developmental biologist interested in pattern formation and morphogenesis, with a particular focus on understanding how cell polarity is coordinated between neighbouring cells in developing tissues. Primarily using epithelial morphogenesis in the fruit fly Drosophila as a model system, his lab studies the mechanisms by which two conserved pathways, the ‘core’ planar polarity pathway and the Fat/Dachsous pathway, mediate cell-cell communication and cell polarisation. His current work has a strong emphasis on understanding the role of protein dynamics in coordinated cell polarisation, using genetic, cell biological and computational methods.