More info on CDB:

Division of Cell and Developmental Biology

The Division of Cell and Developmental Biology is located on the 3rd floor of the Wellcome Trust Biocentre and in the Medical Sciences Institute.


Head of Division: Professor Kees Weijer

Deputy Head of Division: Professor Inke Näthke

Divisional Secretary: Mrs Marie Pryde

Laboratory Manager: Mrs Marianne Reilly

The Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification
Head of Centre: Professor Sue Black



In the Division of Cell and Developmental Biology, we study how the differentiation of cells and tissues into functional organs and organisms is determined and maintained. Our research projects address the integration of subcellular processes into higher order multicellular organisation, from cell signalling processes that determine developmental morphogenesis to the mechanisms by which structural proteins maintain and facilitate complex tissue function and anatomy. Understanding how molecular biology determines tissue structure and whole body function is the basic issue facing post-genomic biology, and it lies at the heart of understanding the molecular basis of human disease.

The Division comprises ten actively collaborating research groups with major interests in:

  1. Jonathan Chubb: Transcriptional dynamics (Group website)
  2. Kim Dale: Analysis of Primitive Streak stem cells and the role of Notch in their axial mesoderm derivatives
  3. Miguel Maroto: Molecular mechanism of cyclic Notch signalling 
  4. Arno Müller: Genetic control of epithelial/mesenchymal morphogenesis (Group website)
  5. Inke Näthke: The Adenomatous Polyposis Coli protein in cell adhesion, migration, and division
  6. Pauline Schaap: Regulation of developmental decisions by cAMP signaling (Group website)
  7. Kate Storey: Neural differentiation in embryos and embryonic stem cells (Group website)
  8. Kees Weijer: Chemotactic cell movement during development (Group website)
  9. Jeffrey Williams: Cellular differentiation in Dictyostelium ()


The Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification is affiliated to the Division with major research interests in:

  1. Sue Black: All aspects of forensic human identification
  2. Caroline Wilkinson: Facial anthropology
The University of Dundee is a Scottish Registered Charity, No. SC015096