Open Collections

Description

Turingâ s famous theory for explaining embryonic pattern formation, laid out in his seminal study ``The chemical basis of morphogenesis'', remains a cornerstone of theoretical biology and has inspired enormous interest, both from theoretical and experimental communities. Despite a number of ups and downs along the way, technical advances coupled to the increased collaboration between experimentalists and theoreticians has led to a number of convincing cases in which Turingâ s idea may play a key role. In this talk I will recount some key milestones in the history of this theory and describe how it is clarifying our understanding of development in a number of processes, using our exploration of feather bud morphogenesis as a principal case study. Yet Turingâ s paper opens with the disclaimer that ``This model will be a simplification and an idealization, and consequently a falsification.'' I will therefore also describe how recent results are pointing the way towards exciting new extensions and directions for Turingâ s theory, particularly as links emerge between chemical-based and mechanical/cell motility based mechanisms for generating tissue pattern formation.