Gavin Wright
Cell Surface Signalling
Gavin Wright read biochemistry at Oxford, where he stayed to do a D.Phil in molecular immunology, studying the proteins on the surface of white blood cells, and on similar proteins used by viruses. He started working in developmental biology at The Cancer Research UK laboratories, where he worked with Julian Lewis on the Notch signalling pathway in zebrafish. He has led a team at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute since 2003.
Gavin's group are investigating the ways in which cells signal to their close neighbours, and the positional information they share in order to ensure that even though they are all genetically-identical they each develop and maintain the correct character. One major class of proteins acting in this area sit across the cell membrane, and Gavin's group have developed new ways of studying the incredibly short-lived relationships between some of these molecules.
