The interplay of Notch and Wnt signalling in the formation of a segmented embryonic body axis.

The broad interest of the laboratory aims to further our understanding of how several genetic interactions come into play at the earliest stages of development to build the developing embryo. A segmented body axis is a fundamental characteristic of all vertebrates. The paraxial mesoderm is the first tissue to segment in the embryo and these segments or somites differentiate into the segmented bones of the skeleton and the associated skeletal muscles and they pattern surrounding structures. Disruption of segmentation in humans can result in congenital scoliosis conditions, such as spondylocostal dysostosis (SCD), a disease characterised by rib fusions and spinal truncations. Infant mortality occurs in 50% of SCD cases and all genes associated with congenital scoliosis so far are linked to the segmentation clock. The segmentation clock is a molecular oscillator that regulates somitogenesis by driving cyclic gene expression in the presomitic paraxial mesoderm (PSM). We recently showed that the Wnt signalling pathway plays a conserved role in regulating the periodicity of this process.

We aim to investigate the molecular mechanism underlying this regulation.