Ilan Davis

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I am the lab head and Principal Investigator of the Davis lab. I am also a Wellcome Trust Senior Fellow, a Research Fellow of Jesus College and I hold the University of Oxford Chair of Cell Biology. I have been working in the Department of Biochemistry here in Oxford since 2007, where I am also the director of the Micron advanced imaging facility. 

email: ilan.davis@bioch.ox.ac.uk / ilan.davis@glasgow.ac.uk

Tel: 01865 613265

 Chapple KJ, Green TRF, Wirth S, Chen Y-H, Gerwig U, Aicher ML, Kim Y, Komarek L, Brown A, Crawford CL, Smith RS, Lee J, Pardo-Fernandez L, McHugh RE, Celia Kassmann CM, Werner HB, Davis I, Kneussel M, Brown ER, Goebbels S, Nave K-A, Edgar JM. (2024) A myelinic channel system for motor-driven organelle transport (2024). bioRxiv 2024.06.02.591488; DOI: 10.1101/2024.06.02.591488

Jeffrey Y Lee, Niles Huang, Tamsin J Samuels, Ilan Davis. Imp and Syp in vivo temporal RNA interactomes uncover networks of temporal regulators of Drosophila brain development (2024). bioRxiv 2024.06.30.600407; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.06.30.600407

Lee JY, Gala DS, Kiourlappou M, Olivares-Abri J, Joha J, Titlow JS, Teodoro RO, Davis I. (2024). Murine glial protrusion transcripts predict localized Drosophila glial mRNAs involved in plasticity. Journal of Cell Biology, 223: e202306152. DOI: 10.1083/jcb.202306152

Mangione F, Titlow J, Maclachlan C, Gho M, Davis I, Collinson L, Tapon N. Co-option of epidermal cells enables touch sensing (2023). Nat Cell Biol. PDF

 Joshua S Titlow, Maria Kiourlappou, Ana Palanca, Jeffrey Y Lee,  Dalia S Gala, Darragh Ennis, Joyce J S Yu, Florence L Young, David Miguel Susano Pinto, Sam Garforth, Helena S Francis, Finn Strivens, Hugh Mulvey, Alex Dallman-Porter, Staci Thornton, Diana Arman, Aino I Järvelin, Mary Kay Thompson, Ilias Kounatidis, Richard M Parton, Stephen Taylor,  Ilan Davis Systematic analysis of YFP gene traps reveals common discordance between mRNA and protein across the nervous system (2023). JCB PDF 

Kounatidis I, Stanifer ML, Phillips MA, Paul-Gilloteaux P, Heiligenstein X, Wang H, Okolo CA, Fish TM, Spink MC, Stuart DI, Davis I, Boulant S, Grimes JM, Dobbie IM, Harkiolaki M.  (2020) Correlative cryo-structured illumination fluorescence microscopy and soft X-ray tomography elucidates reovirus intracellular release pathway. Cell 182: 515–530.e17. pdf

Titlow J, Robertson F, Jarvelin A, Ish-Horowicz D, Smith C, Gratton E, Davis I. (2020). Syncrip/hnRNPQ is required for activity-induced Msp300/Nesprin expression and new synapse formation. Journal of Cell Biology 219: 1-17. pdf  

Hailstone M, Waithe D, Samuels T, Yang L, Costello I, Arava Y, Robertson E, Parton RM and Davis I. (2020) CytoCensus, mapping cell identity and division in tissues and organs using machine learning. eLife 9:e51085. pdf

Samuels T, Järvelin A,  Ish-Horowicz D, Davis I (2020) Imp/IGF2BP levels mo0dulate individual neural stem cell growth and division through myc mRNA stability. eLife 9:e51529. pdf

Garcia-Moreno M, Noerenberg M, Ni S, Järvelin AI, González-Almela E, Lenz CE, Bach-Pages M, Cox V, Avolio R, Davis T, Hester S, Sohier TJM, Li B, Heikel G, Michlewski G, Sanz MA, Carrasco L, Ricci EP, Pelechano V, Davis I, Fischer B, Mohammed S, Castello A. (2019). System-wide Profiling of RNA-Binding Proteins Uncovers Key Regulators of Virus Infection. Molecular Cell 74: 196-211.e11. pdf

Davidson A, Parton RM, Rabouille C, Weil TT and Davis I (2016). "Localized Translation of gurken/TGF-alpha mRNA during Axis Specification Is Controlled by Access to Orb/CPEB on Processing Bodies." Cell Reports 14: 2451-2462. pdf

McDermott, S. M., L. Yang, J. M. Halstead, R. S. Hamilton, C. Meignin and I. Davis (2014). "Drosophila Syncrip modulates the expression of mRNAs encoding key synaptic proteins required for morphology at the neuromuscular junction." RNA J 20: 1593-1606. pdf

Weil TT, Parton RM, Herpers B, Soetaert J, Veenendaal T, Xanthakis D, Dobbie IM, Halstead JM, Hayashi R, Rabouille C and Davis I (2012). "Drosophila patterning is established by differential association of mRNAs with P bodies." Nature Cell Biology 14: 1305-13. pdf

Zhang F, Wang J, Xu J, Zhang Z, Koppetsch BS, Schultz N, Vreven T, Meignin C, Davis I, Zamore PD, Weng Z, Theurkauf WE (2012). UAP56 couples piRNA clusters to the perinuclear transposon silencing machinery. Cell. 151: 871-84. pdf

Brown AN, Dobbie IM, Alakoskela J-M, Davis I and Davis DM (2012). Super-resolution imaging of remodeled synaptic actin reveals different synergies between NK cell receptors and integrins. Blood 120: 3729-3740. pdf

Parton RM, Hamilton RS, Ball G, Yang L, Cullen CF, Lu W, Ohkura H and Davis I (2011). "A PAR-1-dependent orientation gradient of dynamic microtubules directs posterior cargo transport in the Drosophila oocyte." Journal of Cell Biology 194: 121-135. pdf

Zimyanin VL, Belaya K, Pecreaux J, Gilchrist MJ, Clark A, Davis I and St Johnston D (2008). "In vivo imaging of oskar mRNA transport reveals the mechanism of posterior localization." Cell 134: 843-853. pdf

Delanoue R, Herpers B., Soetaert J., Davis I and Rabouille C (2007). "Drosophila Squid/hnRNP helps Dynein switch from a gurken mRNA transport motor to an ultrastructural static anchor in sponge bodies." Developmental Cell 13: 523-538. pdf

Van De Bor V, Hartswood E, Jones C, Finnegan D and Davis I (2005). "gurken and the I factor retrotransposon RNAs share common localization signals and machinery." Developmental Cell 9: 51-62. pdf

Delanoue R and Davis I (2005). "Dynein anchors its mRNA cargo after apical transport in the Drosophila blastoderm embryo." Cell 122: 97-106. pdf

MacDougall N, Clark A, MacDougall E and Davis I (2003). "Drosophila gurken (TGFalpha) mRNA localizes as particles that move within the oocyte in two Dynein-dependent steps." Developmental Cell 4: 307-319. pdf

Wilkie GS, Zimyanin V, Kirby R, Korey C, Francis-Lang H, Van Vactor D and Davis I (2001). "Small bristles, the Drosophila ortholog of NXF-1, is essential for mRNA export throughout development." RNA Journal 7: 1781-1792. pdf

Wilkie GS and Davis I (2001) Drosophila wingless and pair-rule transcripts localize apically by Dynein mediated transport of RNA particles. Cell 105: 209-219.  pdf

Davis I, Girdham CH and O’Farrell PH (1995). "A nuclear GFP that marks nuclei in living Drosophila embryos; maternal supply overcomes a delay in the appearance of zygotic fluorescence." Developmental Biology 170: 726-729. pdf

Davis I and Ish-Horowicz D (1991) Apical Localization of Pair-rule Transcripts Requires 3’ Sequences and Limits Protein Diffusion in the Drosophila Blastoderm Embryo. Cell 67: 927-940. pdf

For a full list of my publications on ORCiD please click here

I have always held a keen interest in the influence of RNA localisation and how this influences development. In the past my lab has focussed on how mRNA transport and localised translation impacted on Drosophila embryonic axis specification. In recent years we have expanded our interest to include the same basic molecular processes to the Drosophila nervous system, in particular the brain and neuromuscular junction.  

In order to achieve our scientific aims we use a wide range of scientific techniques, including advanced imaging techniques as well as an array of genetic and biochemistry-based methods. 

1986 BA/MA Natural Sciences - Genetics, King College, University of Cambridge
1990 DPhil ICRF, Zoology Department, New College, University of Oxford
1992 SERC Postdoc Fellow, UCSF, San Francisco
1994 Boyer Postdoc Fellow, UCSF, San Francisco
1996 Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellow, University of Edinburgh
2000 Lister Fellow, Wellcome Trust Centre Cell Biology, Edinburgh University
2002 Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow, University Chair of Cell Biology, Wellcome Trust Centre Cell Biology, Edinburgh
2007 Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow, University Chair of Cell Biology, Department of Biochemistry, Oxford University

EMBO member, elected 2010

Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellowship 1996-2000

Lister Senior Fellowship 2000-2002

Wellcome Trust Senior Fellowship 2002-2007, 2007-2012, 2012-2017