About Us

The Alex Ludwig lab (ALab) is affiliated with the School of Biological Sciences (SBS) at NTU Singapore. Our lab and offices are located at the NTU Institute of Structural Biology (NISB).

We are interested in the formation, organisation and regulation of epithelial tissue barriers. Epithelial cells line all internal body cavities and thereby separate outside from inside. They determine the shape and function of tissues and constitute a semi-permeable barrier that controls the flux of molecules across the tissue. Defects in the formation or regulation of epithelial barriers causes developmental defects and various human diseases.

Our goal is to understand how the Par and Crumbs polarity complexes control epithelial polarity, tight junction assembly and plasticity, and epithelial tissue morphogenesis. We address this in 2D and 3D epithelial cell cultures and in the zebrafish, which offers a powerful vertebrate model organism to study gene function in vivo.