Jean-Paul Vincent got his first degree in applied physics from the University of Louvain in Belgium. He then obtained a Fulbright fellowship for postgraduate studies in biophysics at the University of California, Berkeley. His thesis showed that the dorso-ventral axis of frog embryos is specified by the so-called subcortical rotation in the egg. From Berkeley, he moved across the bay to the University of California, San Francisco, for postdoctoral training with Pat O’Farrell. There, in collaboration with O’Farrell and Tim Mitchison, he devised the first cell-lineage tracer based on caged dye technology. In 1993, he started is own research group at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge (UK) where he developed his interest in epithelial patterning. He moved to his present job at the National Institute for Medical Research in Mill Hill in 1997. His work there has shown that degradation of Wingless, an important signalling molecule, is developmentally regulated. He continues to investigate Wingless trafficking, and also has an interest in the maintenance of epithelial organisation during embryogenesis.