Organogenesis begins with the formation of patterned developmental fields during early embryogenesis, which provide environments appropriate for the induction of specific organs. Most organs emerge from primordia induced by interactions between epithelial and mesenchymal tissue and, following organ-specific morphological changes, develop into functional structures.

Our group is working to gain a more complete understanding of the roles of epithelial-mesenchymal interactions in organ induction, development, and morphogenesis. Using technologies developed in our group for the three dimensional (3D) control of epithelial stem cells and mesenchymal stem cells, we have generated regenerative primordia for teeth, hair follicles and endocrine tissue, such as salivary glands, and shown that these functionally integrate with surrounding tissue following transplantation into adult mice.