The course studies the processes by which complex organisms develop from fertilized eggs; research investigates the fundamental events underlying normal development and how these are subverted in disease; specific interests include: Pluripotency; cell fate specification and differentiation; patterning and organogenesis; cell signalling; epithelial development and morphogenesis; cell adhesion in development; and the developmental role of genes involved in human diseases including epidermal, heart and craniofacial defects.