We are a developmental biology lab at UCL, within the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology (CDB). We are affiliated with COCO (Centre for Organelles to Cells to Organisms) and IPLS (Institute for the Physics of Life Sciences).

Our goal is to unravel the principles of multicellular morphogenesis using a combination of tools from experimental embryology, biophysics, and molecular biology. We work with different models, including zebrafish, chicken, and in vitro systems derived from human iPS cells.

We’re drawn to processes that happen at the tissue scale, yet we strive to link different levels of organizations, from molecules to organs. We believe that cells, more than simple “bags of RNA”, are the dynamic organizing centers of tissue morphogenesis.

Alessandro Mongera

Principal Investigator

I'm a developmental biologist fascinated by the causes and constraints of multicellular morphogenesis. After earning my Master's in Evolutionary Biology from the University of Padua, Italy, I pursued my PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Germany under the guidance of Dr. Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard. Following that, I conducted postdoctoral research first as an EMBO Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Santa Barbara, under the mentorship of Otger Campàs, and later at Harvard Medical School under the mentorship of Olivier Pourquié. In April 2023, I established the Multicellular Morphogenesis Lab at the UCL Department of Cell and Developmental Biology.

Contact Us

We are proudly located on the second floor (the ‘Embryology floor’) of the Anatomy Building at University College London. This is where notable figures like evolutionary embryologist Gavin de Beer, cell biologist Michael Abercrombie , neurophysiologist J.Z. Young, and developmental biologist Lewis Wolpert once had their own laboratories.

We share this space with fantastic colleagues working across biological scales, from cell signaling to animal development, from stem cell biology to evolutionary morphology. You can explore more about them here.

Multicellular Morphogenesis Lab
Department of Cell & Developmental Biology
University College London
Anatomy Building, Gower Street
London
WC1E 6BT