The living world has an infinite variety of shapes and sizes at the scale of whole organisms and this diversity contributes to our wonder for nature. Nevertheless, the existence of this diversity is not based on aesthetic criteria but on functional constraints. This is the case with the neck of the giraffe, reaching the highest leaves, or the fins of the flying fish mimicking the wing of the birds. The same diversity of forms, based on the same functional constraints, exists also at the level of our organs. For example, the tree structure of our lungs maximizes the exchange surface between air and blood to facilitate gas exchange. It is therefore important to understand how our genes sculpt these organs into a specific form (morphogenesis) and with an appropriate size (growth). The study of mechanisms controlling growth and morphogenesis is based on dynamic multi-scale biological processes (molecular, cellular and tissular) and requires approaches involving developmental biology, genetics, cell biology and biophysics.

In addition to these basic aspects, our work is also medically relevant since 80% of cancers have an epithelial origin and deregulation of the mechanisms controlling their growth or their morphogenesis are involved in tumor development. In fact, many of the genes we are studying are tumor suppressors or oncogenes in humans. In addition, some of these genes are also involved in dystrophies in humans - including the gene encoding dystrophin, involved in Duchenne and Becker dystrophies - and their study in our system sheds a new light on their involvement in these genetic diseases.