The Drosophila Model in Cancer

Wu-Min Deng

After earning a PhD in developmental biology from the University of Edinburgh (Scotland, UK), following earlier studies at Sichuan University and the Shanghai Institute of Cell Biology in China, Wu-Min Deng conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Washington (Seattle, WA), where he explored developmental mechanisms in the Drosophila ovary. In 2003, he launched his independent laboratory at Florida State University (Tallahassee, FL), focusing on Notch signaling, cell competition, and tumorigenesis in flies. In 2019, his group moved to Tulane University School of Medicine (New Orleans, LA), where he currently holds the Gerald & Flora Jo Mansfield Piltz Endowed Professorship in Cancer Research. Wu-Min edited the first volume of Drosophila Model in Cancer and co-founded the Fly Bayou research network. In 2025, he was elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). His lab uses Drosophila to investigate tumor initiation, progression, and interactions between tumors and host tissues.

Cayetano González

After completing a PhD on fly genetics in the laboratory of Pedro Ripoll at the Centre for Molecular Biology (CBM, Madrid, Spain), Cayetano González moved to David Glover's lab in the UK, first as a postdoc at Imperial College in London and later as a CRC Joint Principal Investigator at University of Dundee. In 1994, he took his first independent position, as a Group Leader at EMBL (Heidelberg, Germany). After the customary nine-year period at EMBL, his laboratory moved to the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas (CNIO, Madrid, Spain). In 2004 he moved to his present post as ICREA Research Professor at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) where he leads the Cell Division Group. In 2007 he was elected to full membership of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO). The Gonzalez's lab uses Drosophila to investigate the molecular and cell biological mechanisms that drive cell proliferation and malignant growth.