Dr Megan Davey will continue the 2020-21 BLS seminar series on Wednesday the 20th of January at 13:00: "How Do Fingers and Toes Grow?".

Megan is a Group Leader at the Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh. Work in her lab examines the causative alterations of gene expression which lead to variations in phenotype using comparative anatomy, genomics and embryonic manipulation of avian species. She utilizes naturally occurring polydactylous chicken mutants to understand how the limb bud is patterned with a focus on the action of the Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) protein. This protein is produced in the cells which will eventually become the little finger and ulna. These cells use SHH to tell the other cells of the developing limb how many fingers and toes to make and what type of finger they should become.