Craniofacial patterning: developmental mechanisms of evolutionary changes

Craniofacial development in vertebrates involves a complex series of molecular and morphogenetic events that generate a coordinated pattern of interconnected tissues, and result in species-specific craniofacial morphologies. We are also interested in understanding how the developmental genetic program has evolved to generate the impressive morphological diversity of particular craniofacial structures across amniotes (i.e., mammals, reptiles and birds), using new non-classical model organisms at key phylogenetic positions and showing high levels of morphological variation/innovation.