Developmental Biology

The development of multicellular organisms from single cells to adult animals requires the dynamic interplay of many cellular processes, coordinated in space and time.

Groups in this unit seek to elucidate general principles and mechanisms underlying the emergence of a dynamic organization in developing organisms. Members of the unit combine the power of genetic model organisms with quantitative imaging and –omics technologies, synthetic biology, reduced (in vitro) systems and theoretical modelling, to create a cross-cutting approach to modern developmental biology.

Our unit aims:

Towards these aims, our unit asks some key questions:

Unit support

Groups in this unit

Ephrussi group

RNA localisation and localised translation in development

Vu Group

Control principles of animal body size


Unit resources

Drosophila transgenesis service

Provides EMBL scientists with the expertise necessary to micro-inject Drosophila embryos for generating transgenic lines.


Developmental biology


Research jobs

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The 74 research groups at EMBL are organised into nine units spanning six European sites.