Kevin Painter, Heriot-Watt University

Abstract:

“This model will be a simplification and an idealization, and consequently a falsification.” Despite the opening disclaimer, Turing’s famous morphogenesis theory remains a touchstone of theoretical biology and has inspired enormous interest, both from theoretical and experimental communities. With ups and downs along the way, technical advances and increased interdisciplinary collaboration have now led to a number of convincing examples where Turing’s idea may hold. In this talk I will recount key milestones in the history of this theory and explain how it is clarifying our understanding of development in a number of processes, using our exploration of skin morphogenesis as a principal case study. I will also describe how recent results are pointing the way towards exciting new extensions and directions for Turing’s theory, particularly as links emerge between chemical and mechanical based mechanisms for generating tissue pattern formation.

Bio:

PhD Oxford (1998) with Philip Maini.

Post Doc (1998-2000) University of Utah – and University of Minnesota.

2000-2020 – Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK.

From October 2020 – Politecnico di Torino, Italy.