Dr. Alex Gould FRS FMedSci
Senior Group Leader
Francis Crick Institute
Elected Fellow 2013
growth and development, developmental neurobiology, nutrient sensing, lipid metabolism, drosophila genetics and physiology
Alex Gould has made seminal contributions towards uncovering fundamental mechanisms of growth, metabolism and developmental patterning. His early work uncovered the first in vivo targets of a Hox transcription factor, demonstrated that specific regulatory enhancers are shared between Hox genes, and showed that Hox expression in the mouse neural tube is induced by retinoic acid signaling from adjacent tissue. Gould has carried out pioneering studies to establish Drosophila as a powerful model for studying the mechanisms by which nutrients regulate metabolism and growth. His recent work has opened up the new field of developmental metabolism and has established genetically amenable models for elucidating how nutrition during development affects the long-term physiology of the adult.