Professor
University of Basel
Markus Affolter researches into the cellular and molecular processes involved in the formation of organs and blood vessel networks in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster and zebrafish. Markus Affolter has extensively used live-imaging, high-resolution microscopy in studying network formation in Drosophila and zebrafish. This now enables the better understanding of the function of molecules in morphogenesis. Furthermore, his lab has shown, in collaboration with the University of Freiburg, Germany and the University of Lausanne, that the morphogen Dpp and the feedback regulator Pentagone take on key functions in proportional tissue growth (scaling) in the wing disc of the fruit fly.