I study the mechanisms that regulate and underlie ciliary development in animals (Drosophila in particular). While cilia are ubiquitous on animal cells and intriguing for their fantastic ultrastructure, they have only recently been recognized as having fundamental roles in development and human disease. In my lab we seek to understand one of the earliest steps in cilia formation, how the centrioles, a component of the microtubule-nucleating centrosome, are respecified to initiate cilia formation. Recently I have been pursuing the function of kokopelli, a novel cyclin isolated using a yeast 2-hybrid protein interaction screen for proteins involved in altering centrioles to produce ciliogenic basal bodies.