Research

The wings of insects offer a spectacular model to study how phenotypic diversity can arise from modifications of a single developmental pathway. The aim of the research in my lab is to provide a mechanistic explanation for how the gene regulatory network controlling wing development in insects has been modified over the course of evolution to give rise to the remarkable diversity of shapes and patterns that we observe in nature. Our understanding of the wing patterning mechanism is rooted in the classical genetic and developmental studies on the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, and we use this model as a platform for studying the mechanisms controlling wing patterning in other insect species. Our research uses approaches from a wide range of disciplines including genetics, genomics, cell biology, developmental biology, biophysics and theoretical biology to study how insects wings are built and function, and how pattern innovations have been incorporated into the developmental program to give rise to novel morphological forms.