To understand mechanisms of organ development, the Headon Lab group investigates cell signaling and cell behavior within tissues, integrating experimental observations with mathematical simulations of pattern-forming processes. This approach has uncovered key roles for cell movement and regulatory signaling networks in skin development, and uncovered the existence of a hierarchy of pattern-forming systems operating in composite organs that are composed of epithelium and mesenchyme. Animals are complex beasts. They display a fantastic array of structures from horns to hair, feathers to fur. Animals look very different from one another and go about their business in very different ways, but the process of development links them together because for every animal, or indeed every organism, the journey to sophisticated adult begins with a single cell which divides, develops, and differentiates according to a pre-programmed plan.Studying that plan tells us not only how a ball of cells decides that an arm will be an arm and not antennae, but can provide insights into the development of traits in species important to agriculture, such as wool in sheep and feathers in chickens. A wave of feather formation sweeping across the back of a day 8 chicken embryo. This article was published on 2025-09-03
