Pattern formation is a central question in developmental biology. Patterns of differentiated cells that are invariant across individuals can be generated by interpreting a fixed pre-pattern or via self-organization. The patterns of sensory organs in insects are model systems to study how simple patterns dynamically emerge during development. In this lecture, the speaker will discuss the role of self-organized Notch dynamics in generating a stereotyped pattern of sensory bristles in adult flies.
About the speaker
Prof. Francois Schweisguth obtained his PhD in Developmental Biology from Université Pierre et Marie Cure in 1990. He joined the University of California, San Diego as a Post-doctoral Fellow in 1990 and obtained a group leader position at the Ecole Normale Superieure in 1996. In 2008, he moved to the Institut Pasteur to head the Global Disease Detection Unit. He was also appointed as the Research Director of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in 2011.
Prof. Schweisguth’s research focuses on the cell biology of Notch, the control of cell fate, the regulation of epithelial morphogenesis and tissue homeostasis using Drosophila as a model system.
Prof. Schweisguth was awarded the Charles-Leopold Mayer Prize by the French Academy of Sciences (2015) and a Silver Medal by the CNRS in 2006. He was also elected a Member of Academia Europaea in 2016 and a Member of European Molecular Biology Organization in 2012.
