Email: portico-services@ucl.ac.uk
Help Desk: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ras/portico/helpdesk
- Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology
- Lab for Molecular Cell Bio MRC-UCL
- Faculty of Life Sciences
I started my scientific career at the French INSERM unit 349 (university Paris6), in Paris, completing a PhD in Biochemistry in the Moukhtar/Jullienne Lab. During this time I studied the mechanisms of osteoclast cell differentiation. These large multinucleate cells are essential for the maintenance, repair, and remodelling of bones of the vertebrate skeleton. I discovered that prostaglandins were important regulators of osteoclast differentiation in humans, and completed my PhD in 1997. During my PhD, I became interested in using genetics and model organisms to study cells in vivo. This prompted me to move to the Rockefeller University (NYC), as a post doc in the lab of Claude Desplan, to study the mechanisms of cell fate specification during development. In the Desplan lab, I used the genetically amenable fly eye to study how different classes of photoreceptors are born and differentiate. During this time, I became fascinated with cell morphogenesis, and in particular with how cells become polarised to support organ function. I started my lab at UCL in 2003, at the LMCB, where I decided to study the mechanism of polarised cell and tissue morphogenesis during organogenesis.


Our objective is to understand how different cell types work together to generate polarised tissue organisation, to support organ function. We make use of Drosophila genetics to reveal fundamental mechanisms and discover new pathways of cell and tissue morphogenesis.
Cell Signaling in Health and Disease, Lecture and JC, UCL (PHOL3004);
01-JUN-2013 | Professor of Cell & Developmental Biology | LMCB | UCL, United Kingdom |
01-OCT-2007 – 01-JUN-2013 | Tenured Group leader- MRC Cell Biology Unit | LMCB | UCL, United Kingdom |
01-JUN-2003 – 01-OCT-2007 | Career track- MRC Cell Biology Unit, UCL | LMCB | UCL, United Kingdom |