Our research is directed at understanding the genetic control of animal development and the relations of developmental biology to human disease. The fly Drosophila provides starting points: remarkable homeotic mutations that transform one body part into another, such as antennae into legs, and segment polarity mutations which cause reversals of polarity and duplications of structures such as wings. Both the homeotic genes and the segment polarity genes are conserved in all animals, and by comparing their functions in different species such as flies and mice and humans we learn about the fundamental relationships among the gene products and the mechanisms through which they govern pattern formation in embryos.

Visit the Scott Lab.