Ethan Bier

Ethan Bier is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of BIO at the University of California, San Diego. His research focuses on molecular and genetic analysis of Drosophila neural development, including studies on developmental patterning and the use of Drosophila as a model to understand human disease processes. His work explores how graded BMP signaling establishes cell fates along the dorsal-ventral axis of Drosophila embryos and the role of BMPs in patterning the CNS. He has also investigated mechanisms of human disease in flies, including studies on Angelman syndrome, Alzheimer’s disease, and congenital heart defects. Additionally, he has developed quantitative tools for analyzing gene expression and genome data.