The activities of the MSM department "morphogenesis, signaling, modeling" are dedicated to the study of the mechanisms of plant morphogenesis. Our studies are focused primarily on the cellular level (control of cell division, cell polarity ...) but also extend to the whole plant (eg signaling between organs). We are interested in the issues of totipotency and cell differentiation in the plant but also in vitro. We use modeling approaches to better understand these complex phenomena.
The teams from the MSM department not only work on biological models such as Arabidopsis thaliana, Brachypodium or the moss Physcomitrella patens but also on species of agronomic interest such as pea or cotton. We mainly use classical approaches of genetics and functional genomics complemented by methods of biochemistry and chemistry. We exploit many imaging techniques for which we develop novel quantitative approaches. The purpose of our work is a better understanding of plant development in order to propose innovative strategies to improve plant resources and their uses. This happens, for example by modifying plant architecture, and further upstream, by improving processing techniques and regeneration.