Welcome to the Axelrod Lab! The Axelrod lab is studying developmental patterning events at the level of morphogenesis, using a combination of genetic, molecular, cell biological and mathematical approaches. We wish to understand how genes orchestrate the elaborate choreography of development to reproducibly give rise to morphological patterns seen in multicellular organisms. We use the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster and the mouse as model systems in these investigations. Our primary focus is on Planar Cell Polarity (PCP), a signaling mechanism that orients cells within tissues and organs. Our studies aim to understand the mechanisms responsible for providing, interpreting and executing orientation signals. Furthermore, these signals are important not only in development, but also are of central importance to a variety of developmental defects and disease states, including neural tube closure defects, congenital deafness, polycystic kidneys, ciliary dyskinesia and cancer, in which PCP mechanisms are mis-regulated. Please see this page if you are interested in opportunities.