My lab studies the mechanisms controlling vertebrate limb development and the origins of diseases affecting the limbs.  We are combining work using animal models with analysis of human tissue samples. Our work focuses on two fundamental events: the early signals that recruit the initial cohort of limb bud progenitors and later morphogenesis events that organise these progenitor cells into mature limb tissues, particularly muscle and bone. We are interested in understanding how disruption of these events can explain the aetiology and pathology of congenital limb abnormalities and diseases affecting the musculoskeletal system. We are also studying how our knowledge of how tissues are constructed and maintained can be harnessed for regenerative strategies. We are exploiting our proximity to London hospitals to develop collaborative projects with colleagues in clinical genetics, plastics and orthopaedics departments.