Ruth Johnson is a developmental biologist who aims to understand how epithelial tissues develop in order to function correctly. The Johnson Laboratory uses the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) eye and wing as models to explore the processes that direct the organization of tissues. These processes are also essential for the correct formation and function of our organs and are later reused in adult tissues – this time to maintain the correct organization and function of an organ. For example, orthologs of the protein Cindr (first described by Ruth Johnson) are essential to maintain the structure of our kidneys and have been implicated in cancer. Current work in the Johnson Laboratory focusses on understanding how changes in adhesion, the actin cytoskeleton and cell-signaling are coordinated to correctly organize functional organs.