 | Ilan Davis
| | | No longer a member of F1000[ 19-OCT-2007 - 21-MAY-2008 ] |
| | [ Biography ] [ Evaluations ] | Biography
NAME Ilan Davis, PhD http://homepages.ed.ac.uk/ilan/
CURRENT POST Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow
PREVIOUS POST Lister Institute Senior Research Fellow
DEPARTMENT Wellcome Centre for Cell Biology, ICMB,
University of Edinburgh.
DATE OF BIRTH 26 May 1964
NATIONALITY British
EDUCATION, QUALIFICATIONS, PREVIOUS FELLOWSHIPS
2002-2007: Wellcome Trust Senior research fellow
2000-2002: Lister Senior Research Fellow
1996-2000: Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellow
1994-1995: Boyer Post-doctoral Fellow, UCSF, San Francisco.
1992-1994: SERC/NATO post-doctoral fellow, UCSF, San Francisco.
1986-1990: PhD in Developmental Biology, New College, University of Oxford. Asymmetric subcellular transcript localization in Drosophila.
1983-1986: BA/MA Honours, Natural Sciences. King''''s College, University of Cambridge.
Research Interests:
One of the key questions in biology is how cellular and developmental polarity is established. Our goal is to understand how molecules that set up the initial embryonic axes are targeted to their intracellular sites of function during Drosophila development. Sorting of mRNA and proteins within the cell involves active transport in and out of the nucleus as well as cytoplasmic trafficking. mRNA localisation targets proteins to specific cytoplasmic locations and is responsible for symmetry breaking in a wide range of organisms.
We have developed novel techniques for visualising mRNAs in fixed material and in living embryos at high resolution and sensitivity. We have discovered that wingless and pair-rule RNA particles are transported by cytoplasmic dynein, a minus end directed microtubule associated motor protein. We have also carried out successful genetic screens for factors required for mRNA export from the nucleus and its cytoplasmic localisation. We are using similar techniques to study the mechanism of intracellular localisation of gurken mRNA in the oocyte, which encodes the Drosophila homologue of TGFa. Gurken mRNA localisation plays a key role in the formation of the anteroposterior and the dorsoventral axes of the oocyte and embryo. We are currently working on the RNA signals that guide mRNAs to their correct intracellular destinations and on the factors that provide specificity to the process and link RNAs to molecular motors.
Recent Selected Publications
MacDougall, N., Lad, Y., Wilkie, G., Francis-Lang, H., Sullivan, W., and Davis, I. (2001). Merlin, the Drosophila homologue of Neurofibromatosis-2, is specifically required in posterior follicle cells for axis formation in the oocyte. Development. 128: 665-673.
Wilkie, G. and Davis, I. (2001) Drosophila wingless and pair-rule transcripts localise apically by dynein mediated transport of RNA particles. Cell 105: 209-219.
Tekotte, H., Berdnik, D., Török, T., Buszczak, M., Jones, L., Cooley, L., Knoblich, J. and Davis, I. (2002). Drosophila dcas is required for Importin-alpha3 nuclear export and mechano-sensory organ cell fate specification. Developmental Biology 244: 396-406.
Tekotte, H., and Davis, I. (2002). Intracellular mRNA localization: motors move messages. Trends in genetics 18: 636-642.
MacDougall, N., Clark, A., MacDougall, E. and Davis, I. (2003). Drosophila gurken (TGFalpha) mRNA localizes as particles that move within the oocyte in two Dynein-dependent steps. Developmental Cell, in press March 11 issue.
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