Mechanisms of Morphogenesis

Since 1995 Davies has run his own laboratory at the University of Edinburgh, with a multidisciplinary focus on discovering how mammalian organs construct themselves and how we can use apply knowledge to build new tissues and organs for those in need. Some of the work of his 20-strong research team is 'conventional' developmental biology; identifying signals and mechanisms used in natural organ development. Some is bioinformatic analysis (we host the editorial office of an international database for renal development – www.gudmap.org – funded by the USA National Institutes of Health, and the www.guidetopharmacology.org database, an international effort for the International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology). Some of his work is in tissue engineering – his lab has recently developed a method to produce engineered 'fetal kidneys' from simple suspensions of stem cells, an activity that attracted considerable press attention last year. Finally, his lab is pioneering the application of synthetic biology techniques to tissue engineering, to 'program' cells to make structures that are designed rather than evolved.Davies has published around 140 research papers in the field of mammalian development, has published one major specialist monograph (Mechanisms of Morphogenesis, Elsevier, 2005 2nd Ed 2014), one public engagement book (Life Unfoloding, OUP, 2013 (Hardback), 2015 (paperback), now in translation also) and has edited three multi-author books in the fields of development, stem cells and tissue engineering. His contributions to research and teaching in this area have been recognized by having been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Davies served as Deputy Chair of the National Centre for 3Rs, a government agency that promotes research that refines, reduces or replaces animal experiments. He has also served as Editor-in-Chief of the research journal Organogenesis for 8 years, and is currently an Editor of Journal of Anatomy and PLOS One.

• Section I: Introduction1. General introduction – the aims and structure of this book.2. Key principles of morphogenesis3. The power and limitations of self-assemblySection II: Cell shape and the cell morphogenesis4. Morphogenesis of individual cells5. Animal cell shape: the importance of the cytoskeleton6. Cellular morphogenesis in plantsSection III: Cell Migration7. Cell migration in development: a brief overview8. The nanomachinery of locomotion9. Guidance by chemotaxis10. Guidance by galvanotaxis11. Guidance by contact12. Waypoint navigation in the embryo13. Cooperative migration of mesenchymal cells14. Condensation of cellsSection IV: Epithelial Morphogenesis15. The epithelial state: a brief overview16. Neighbour exchange and convergent extension17. Closure of holes18. Invagination and evagination19. Epithelial fusion20. Epithelial branching21. Boundaries to epithelial movementSection V: Morphogenesis by cell proliferation and death 22. Growth, proliferation and death: a brief overview23. Morphogenesis by orientated cell division24. Morphogenesis by elective cell deathSection VI: Morphogenesis in context25. From mechanisms to morphology: a brief overview26. Morphogenesis in embryos: some illustrative examples27. Morphogenesis in organoids, embryoids and engineered tissues28. Pathological morphogenesisSection VII: Modelling morphogenesis 29. Modelling morphogenesis: a brief overview30. Mechanical and mathematical models of morphogenesis31. Modelling using living cells – tissue engineering and synthetic morphologySection VIII: Conclusion and perspectives32. Conclusion and perspectives