Research Interests
David Bilder studies cancer from a comparative and evolutionary perspective. While most cancer research focuses on humans or mice, his lab discovered that the fruit fly Drosophila can form tumors that recapitulate systemic ‘paraneoplasias’ that kill human cancer patients, including cachexia (wasting) and coagulopathy (excessive clotting). He is now using the fly’s powerful genetics to uncover the molecular mechanisms underlying these tumor-host interactions. As a Miller Professor, Bilder will pursue two aims: dissecting the ancient origins of the therapeutically transformational phenomenon of anti-tumor immunity, and developing a coherent conceptual framework — a "philosophy of cancer" — to clarify how model organisms illuminate, and constrain, our understanding of human malignancy.
