19 May 2004

How to make a limb

The last of this year's highly successful Saturday Evening Lectures take place on Saturday 22nd May with one of the University's top researchers Professor Cheryll Tickle delivering an insight into how a limb develops.

Professor Tickle, a member of the scientifically prestigious Royal Society explains: "Embryonic development is one of the most fascinating problems in biology. The understanding of development has relied on the study of embryos from a wide range of different animals from flies and frogs to mice and chickens. I will be looking at how a limb develops in a chick embryo and the identification of the interactions between cells that determine growth and shaping and ensure that the different parts of the limb arise in their proper places.

Professor Tickle will also discuss how some of the genes shown to be involved in chick limb development are now known to be associated with human birth defects - rare inherited conditions which affect the limb such as Aperts and Holt-Oram.

The lecture entitled "Embryos, Genes and Evolution" will take place at 6pm in the Tower Extension Lecture Theatre at the University of Dundee. The lecture is free and is open to the public.

By Jenny Marra, Head of Press 01382 344910, out of hours: 07968298585, j.m.marra@dundee.ac.uk