Dr Ian Smyth is a Fellow at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. His research interests centre on understanding the developmental mechanisms which shape the differentiation of epithelia in the mouse embryo. His group principally employs mouse genetics to identify novel factors which contribute to development of the skin and kidney, with a focus on animals models of human disease. Recent studies have also included the application of imaging and image analysis to provide insights into branching morphogenesis during organ development. He was awarded his PhD from the University of Queensland in 1999 and undertook postdoctoral training as a Wellcome Trust Traveling Research Fellow at the MRC Human Genetics Unit (Edinburgh) and Baylor College of Medicine (Houston). After a stint in London as an LRI Fellow at Cancer Research UK he returned to Australia in 2006 as an NHMRC RD Wright Fellow to establish his own laboratory in Melbourne.