Dr. Paul N. Adler
is Kenan Professor of Biology at the University of Virginia.
Dr. Adler's research has principally been focused on planar
polarity and how cells within a tissue coordinate their structure
and cytoskeletons with their neighbors. Dr. Adler developed
the Drosophila wing model for studying planar polarity and his
early studies lead to the identification of the frizzled pathway
and that it functioned to polarize all of the cells in the wing.
This pathway functions in both vertebrates and invertebrates
in a number of different cellular contexts to polarize cells.
More recently he has focused on the role of downstream components
of the frizzled pathway and on how they locally activate the
cytoskeleton. This research has led to new insights into how
epidermal cells produce polarized extensions, insure their integrity
and on a new conserved pathway that regulates cell shape and
morphogenesis.
