Davies Lab

Prof. Jamie Davies, Dr. Jane Armstrong, Brenda Bekker, Dr. Jane Brennan, Dr Elise Cachat, C-Hong Chang, Weijia Liu,
Sue Lloyd-MacGilp, Kim Martin, Mr. Roland Partridge, Dr Matthieu Unbekandt

(click here to visit JAD's academic networking page on academia.edu)

The Big Question: How do complex biological forms develop from simple beginnings?

The interdisciplinary approach of the lab addresses that question through a variety of approaches;

Developmental studies of mammalian organs growing in organ culture: this uses a variety of techniques ranging from classical 'cut-and-paste' embryology to advanced molecular biological methods
Tissue engineering of organ rudiments from stem cells
Bioinformatics: in particular, we host the Editorial Office of the GUDMAP database of urogenital development - www.gudmap.org
Computer modelling
Synthetic morphology

The lab also has a strong interest in developing alternatives to in-vivo testing.

An overview of the lab's activities can be downloaded from here.

Funding:

BBSRC
Anatomical Society
MRC
NIH/NIDDK
Leverhulme Trust
EU Framework 7

Publications:

Books:

Davies JA (2005) Mechanisms of Morphogenesis (1st Edition) Elsevier.	Davies JA (Ed) (2005) Branching Morphogenesis Springer.	Davies JA (Ed) (2012) Replacing Animal Models
Davies JA (Ed) (2012) Tissue Regeneration	Davies JA (Ed) (2013) Mechanisms of Morphogenesis (2nd Edition)

Papers:

Davies JA, Garrod DR (1995) Induction of early stages of kidney tubule differentiation by lithium ions. Dev. Biol. 167 50-60

Davies JA, Lyon M, Gallagher J, Garrod DR (1995) Sulphated proteoglycan is required for collecting duct growth and branching but not nephron formation during kidney development. Development 121 1507-1517

Bard J.B.L. and Davies JA (1996) Development, Databases and the Internet. BioEssays 17999-1001

Bard JBL, Davies JA, Karavanova I, Lehtonen E, Sariola H, Vainio S (1996) Kidney development: the inductive interactions.Sem in Cell & Dev Biol 7: 195-202.

Davies JA, Bard JBL (1996) Inductive interactions between the renal mesenchyme and the ureteric bud. Experimental Nephrology 4: 77-85

Davies JA (1996) Mesenchyme to epithelium transition during development of the mammalian kidney tubule. Acta Anatomica (in press)

Davies JA, Buchman VL, Krylova O, Ninkina NN (1997) Molecular cloning and expression pattern of rpr-1, a resiniferatoxin-binding, phosphotriesterase-related protein expressed in rat kidney tubules. FEBS Lett 410, 378-382

Davies JA, Garrod DRG (1997) Molecular aspects of the epithelial phenotype. BioEssays19,699-704

Sainio K, Suvanto P, Davies JA, Wartiovaara J, Wartiovaara K, Saarma M, Arumäe U, Meng X, Lindahl M, Pachnis V, Sariola H (1997) Glial cell-line derived neurotrophic factor is required for bud initiation from ureteric epithelium. Development 124: 4077-4087

Davies JA, Hunter DA, Brandli A , Nieminen P (1997) Design considerations for small, special system developmental databases. Seminars in Cell & Dev Biol 8:519-525.

Davies JA and Bard JBL (1998) Development of the metanephric kidney. Curr. Top. Dev. Biol. 39: 245-302

Milbrandt J, de Sauvage F, Fahrner TL, Baloh RH, Leitner ML, Tansey ML, Lampe PA, Heuckeroth RO, Kotzbauer PT, Simburger KS, Golden JP, Davies JA, Vejsads R, Kato AC, Hynes M, Sherman D, Nishimura M, Wang L-C, Vandlen R, Moffat B, Klein RD, Poulsen K, Gray C, Garces A, Henderson CE, Phillips HS, Johnson E (1998) Persephin, a neurotrophic factor related to GDNF and Neurturin. Neuron 20:1-20

Davies JA, Millar CB, Johnson E, Milbrandt J (1999) Regulation of renal collecting duct development by neurturin.Dev Genet 24: 284-292

Davies JA (1999) The Kidney Development Database. Dev Genet 24: 194-198.

Davies JA & Davey MD (1999) Collecting duct morphogenesis. Paediatric Nephrology 13: 535-541

Davies JA, Perera A, Walker C (1999) Mechanisms of epithelial development and neoplasia in the developing kidney. Int Rev Dev Biol 43: 473-478

Davies JA (2001) Branching Morphogenesis of the Urinary Collecting Ducts. Journal of Anatomy 198: 257-264

Davies JA, Fisher CE, Barnett MW (2001) Glycosaminoglycans in the study of mammalian organ development. Biochem. Soc. Trans. 29: 166-171.

Fisher C, Barnett M, Davies JA (2001) Erk MAP-kinase regulates branching morphogenesis in the developing mouse kidney. Development 128: 4329-4338.

Davies JA (2002) Development of the collecting duct system – chapter in The Development of the Kidney (Eds Bard and Vize).

Davies, JA (2002) The Extracellular Matrix (Encyc Life Sci, article 1274).

Fisher CE (2002) “Genes in renal development” Experimental Nephrology 10: 102-113

Davies JA (2002) The individual success of musicians, like that of physicists, follows a stretched exponential distribution. Eur Physics J B 27:445-447 This paper was the subject of an article in The Guardian, 18th July 2002

Davies JA (2002) The Kidney Development Database. Chapter in Analyzing Gene Expression, Ed Stefan Lorkowski

Davies JA (2002) Morphogenesis of the kidney. TheScientificWorld Journal 2: 120-

Davies JA (2002) Do different branching epithelia use a conserved developmental mechanism? BioEssays. 24: 937-948

Barnett MW, Fisher CE, Perona-Wright G, Davies JA (2002) Signalling by glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) requires heparan sulphate glycosaminoglycan. J Cell Sci 115: 4495-4503

Davies JA (2003) Journals: impact factors are too highly valued. Nature 421: 210.

Davies JA (2003) Modulation of developmental signalling by GAGs. Recent Research Developments in Biochemistry 283-301

Davies JA,Yates E, Turnbull J (2003) Importance of 2-O-sulphation for interactions between heparin and the GDNF signalling system. Growth Factors 21:109-119

Davies JA, Ladomery M, Hohenstein P, Michael L, Spraggon L, Schafe A, Freeman T, Hastie N (2004)Development of an siRNA-based method for repressing specific genes in renal organ culture and its use to show that the Wt1 tumour suppressor is required for nephron differentiation.Hum Mol Genet13: 235-46

Michael L, Davies JA (2004) Pattern and regulation of cell proliferation during morphogenesis of the mouse ureteric bud. J. Anat 204: 241-255.

Davies JA (2004) Inverse correlation between an organ’s cancer rate and its evolutionary antiquity." Organogenesis 1: 60-63

Davies JA (2005) Branching morphogenesis in the mammalian kidney. In Davies JA (Ed) Branching Morphogenesis. Landes/ Springer

Davies J [Ed.] (2005) Branching Morphogenesis (Book). Landes/ Springer

Davies JA (2005)Mechanisms of Morphogenesis(Book). Elsevier

Davies JA (2005) Watching tubules glow and branch. Curr Op Genet Dev 15:364-370

Michael L, Sweeney DE, Davies JA(2005) A role for microfilament-based contraction in branching morphogenesis of the ureteric bud. Kidney International 68: 2010-2018

Willnow TE, Antignac C, Brändli A, Christensen EI, Cox RD, Davidson D, Davies JA, Devuyst O, Eichele E, Hastie N, Verroust P, Schedl A, Meij IC(2005) The European Renal Genome Project – an integrated approach towards understanding the genetics of kidney development and disease. Organogenesis

Davies JA, Armstrong J (2006) The anatomy of organogenesis: novel solutions to old problems.Progr. Histochem Cytochem

Davies JA (2006) Renal Structure and Function in Vertebrates (Hans Ditrich), book review. J. Anat 208, issue 3, start page 391

Lee WC and Davies JA (2006). Dapper1 and dapper2 are expressed in distinct parts of developing metanephroi. Nephrol Dial Transplant. 21(Suppl 4): 18-9

Davies JA(2006) The embryonic kidney: isolation, organ culture, immunostaining and RNA interference. Chapter in Mouse Cell Culture Eds Ward A and Tosh D.

Davies JA (2006)Branching Morphogenesis of Mammalian epithelia. Chapter in Principles of developmental genetics.

Davies JA (2006) A method for cold storage and transport of viable kidney rudiments.Kidney International 70, 2031–2034.

Michael L, Sweeney D,Davies JA(2007) The lectin, Dolichos biflorus agglutinin, is a sensitive indicator of branching morphogenetic activity in the developing mouse metanephric collecting duct system. J. Anat. 210: 89-97

Murray P, Camussi G, Davies J, Egdar D, Hengstschlaeger M, Kenny M, Remuzzi G, Werner C. (2007) The KIDSTEM European Research Training NetworkOrganogenesis 3: 2-4

Lee W-C & Davies JA (2007) Epithelial branching: the power of self loathing.BioEssays 29: 205-7

Little M, Brennan J, Georgas K, Davies J, Davidson D, Beverdam A, Bertram, J, Capel B, Christiansen E, Cullen L, Fleming J, Gilbert T, Herzlinger D, Kaufman M, Kleymenova E, Koopman P, Kris W, Lewis A, McMahon A, Mendelsohn C, Mitchell E, Saunders P, Spencer T, Spears N, Sweeney D, Thomson A, Valerius T, Yamada G, Yu J.(2006). High-resolution anatomical ontologies of the developing murine genitourinary tract for the annotation of data from the Genitourinary Development Murine Atlas Project. MoD Gene Expr Patterns 7 :680-99

Davies JA (2007) Developmental biologists’ choice of subjects approximates to a power law, with no evidence for the existence of a special group of organisms’. BMC Dev Biol (2007) 7:40

Blenkiron M, Arvind DK, Davies JA (2007) Design of an irreversible DNA memory element. Natural Computing 6: 403-411

Davies J (2008) Cellular mechanisms of morphogenesis. Scholarpedia, 3(2):3615

Lee, WC, Berry, R, Hohenstein, P and Davies, JA (2008) siRNA as a tool for investigating organogenesis – the pitfalls and the promises. Organogenesis 4(3):176-81.

Davies JA (2008) Synthetic Morphology: prospects for engineered, self-constructing anatomies. J. Anat 212:707-19

McMahon AP, Aronow B, Davidson D, Davies JA, Gaido K, Grimmond S, Lessard J, Little M, Potter S, Wilder E, Zhang P (2008) GUDMAP – the genito-urinary developmental molecular anatomy project. J. Am Soc Nephrol 19: 667-671.

Sweeney D, Lindström N, Davies JA (2008) Developmental plasticity and regenerative capacity in the renal ureteric bud/collecting duct system. Development 135:2505-2510.

Unbekandt M & Davies JA (2009) Control of Organogenesis. Chapter in Fundamentals of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine (Springer).

Davies JA (2009) The embryonic kidney: isolation, organ culture,immunostaining and RNA interference. Chapter in Mouse Cell Culture. Editor - Ward. A. (Humana Press, ISBN 978-1588297723)

Davies JA (2009) Mammalian embryo: branching morphogenesis. Encyclopedia of Life Sciences Article A741

Davies JA (2009) Synthetic morphology: modules for engineering biological form. In Columbus F (Ed.), Synthetic Biology: Parts and Systems, Design Theory and Applications in press.

Davies JA (2009) Regulation, necessity, and the misinterpretation of knockouts. BioEssays 31:826-30

Unbekandt M, Davies JA (2010) Dissociation of embryonic kidneys followed by reaggregation allows the formation of renal tissues. Kidney International 77: 406-416

Davies JA (2010) The embryonic kidney: isolation, organ culture, immunostaining and RNA interference. Meth Molec Biol 633:57-69.

Sebinger DDR, Unbekandt U, Ganeva V, Ofenbauer A, Werner C & Davies JA (2010) A novel, low-volume method for organ culture of embryonic kidneys that allows development of cortico-medullary anatomical organization. PLoS One 5(5): e10550. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0010550

Siegel N, Rosner M, Unbekandt M, Fuchs C, Slabina N, Dolznig H, Davies JA, Lubec G, Hengstschläger M (2010) Contribution of human amniotic fluid stem cells to renal tissue formation depends on mTOR. Hum Molec Genet 19: 3320-31.

Lee W-C, Hough M T, Liu W, Ekiert R, Lindstrom N O, Hohenstein P, Davies JA (2010) Dact2 is expressed in renal collecting ducts and controls morphogenetic behaviour of renal epithelial cells. Am J Physiol 299(4): F740-751.

Berry R, Harewood L, Pei L, Fisher M, Brownstein D, Ross A, Moss J, Hastie ND, Hohenstein P, Davies J, Evans RM, FitzPatrick DR (2011) Esrrg functions in early branch generation of the ureteric bud and is essential for normal development of the renal papilla. Human Molecular Genetics 20: 917-26.

Ganeva V, Unbekandt M, Davies JA (2011) An improved kidney dissociation and re-aggregation culture system results in nephrons arranged organotypically around a single collecting duct system. Organogenesis 2011 Apr 1;7(2):83-7.

Burn SF, Webb A, Berry RL, Davies JA, Hastie ND, Hohenstein P (2011) Calcium/ NFAT signalling promotes early nephrogenesis. Dev Biol 352: 288-298

Harding, S.D., Armit, C., Armstrong, J., Brennan, J., Cheng Y, Haggarty B, Houghton, D., Lloyd-MacGilp, S., Pi, X., Roochun Y, Sharghi, M., Tindal C, McMahon A, Goodison B, Little MH, Georgas K, Aronow B, Baldock RA, Davies JA, Davidson, D. (2011) The GUDMAP Database - An Online Resource for Genitourinary Research. Development 138: 2845-2853.

Essafi A, Webb A, Berry RL, Slight J, Burn SF, Spraggon L, Velecala V, Martinez-Estrada OM, Wiltshire JH, Roberts SGE, Davies JA, Hastie ND, Hohenstein P (2011) A Wt1-controlled chromatin switching mechanism underpins tissue-specific Wnt4 activation and repression. Dev Cell. 21:559-74

Davies JA (2011) Self-organization as a tool in mammalian tissue engineering. Chapter for Regenerative Medicine (Ed Winslet-Gendebien, S). 261-274. Intech. ISBN 978-953-307-838-0. http://www.intechopen.com/articles/show/title/self-organization-as-a-tool-in-mammalian-tissue-engineering

Davies JA, Unbekandt M, Ineson J, Lusis M, Little M (2012) Dissociation of embryonic kidney followed by re-aggregation as a method for chimaeric analysis. Methods Molec Biol in press

Tai G, Hohenstein P, Davies JA (2012) Making immortalized cell lines from embryonic mouse kidney, to use as an alternative to in vivo experiments in renal research. Methods Molec Biol in press

Davies JA, Unbekandt (2012) RNA interference in renal development. Methods Molec Biol in press

Davies JA, Little M, Aronow B, Armstrong J, Brennan J, Lloyd-MacGilp S, Armit C, Harding S, Piu X, Rochun Y, Haggarty B, Houghton D, Davidson D, Baldock R (2012) The GUDMAP database of mouse urogenital development. Methods Molec Biol in press

Davies JA (2012) Culture of Foetal Kidney Chapter for Replacing animal models: a practical guide to creating and using culture-based biomimetic alternatives (Ed. Davies JA) Wiley-Blackwell

Tai G, Davies JA (2012) Immortalized cell lines as high-throughput alternative to animal experiments in screens for pathways that control renal development. Chapter for Replacing animal models: a practical guide to creating and using culture-based biomimetic alternatives (Ed. Davies JA) Wiley-Blackwell

Davies JA (2012) Potential advantages of using biomimetic alternatives. Chapter for Replacing animal models: a practical guide to creating and using culture-based biomimetic alternatives (Ed. Davies JA) Wiley-Blackwell

Davies JA (2012) Replacing animal models: a practical guide to creating and using culture-based biomimetic alternatives (Ed. Davies JA) Wiley-Blackwell

Chi L, Skovorodkin I, Anthony S, Davies J and Seppo Vainio S (2012) The intrinsic program that controls mammalian kidney size is regulated by Cerberus. PloS ONE 2011;6(11):e27676.

Kuzma-Kuzniarska M, Kenny S, Edgar D, Wilm B, Davies J A., Murray P (2012) Integration potential of mouse and human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells. Differentiation in press

Cachat E & Davies JA (2012) Application of synthetic biology to regenerative medicine. J Bioeng Biomed Sci in press

Woolf AS, Davies JA (2012) Development of the ureter. JASN in press.

Davies JA (Ed.) (2012) Tissue Regeneration InTech ISBN: 978-953-307-876-2

Partridge R, Conlisk N, Davies JA (2012) In-lab 3-dimensional printing: an inexpensive tool for experimentation and visualization for the field of organogenesis. Organogenesis in press.

Xinaris C, Benedetti V, Rizzo P, Abbate M, Corna D, Azzolini N, Unbekandt M, Davies JA, Morigi M, Benigni A, and G. Remuzzi G (2012) Engineering of nephrons that are vascularized and functional in vivo, from simple suspensions of embryonic precursor cells. JASN 23:1857-68

Chang C-H, Davies JA. (2012) An improved method of renal tissue engineering, by combining renal dissociation and re-aggregation with a low-volume culture technique, results in development of engineered kidneys complete with loops of Henle. Nephron: Experimental Nephrology. 121:e79-e85 (DOI: 10.1159/000345514)

Tai G, Davies JA (2013) FAK/Src signalling is important to renal collecting duct morphogenesis: discovery using a hierarchical screening technique. Biology Open in press.

This page was last edited on 15th February 2013