Our big question ... how does complex biological form develop from simple beginnings?.

We tackle this by a combination of the following;

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 * Studying normal development (especially of internal organs)
 * Tissue engineering of organs from stem and other progenitor cells
 * Synthetic morphology (engineering naive cells to do build designed entities)
 * Computer modelling to test ideas and to inform experiments
 * Running two international databases, as a service to the wider field
 * Sharing the wonders of development with university students and the public

The laboratory has a strong interest in the 3Rs (Refinement, Reduction and Replacement of animal studies) and for that reason makes much use of cell and organ culture instead of in vivo experimentation.

We are located in the University of Edinburgh Centre for Integrative Physiology.