Our aim is to characterise stem cells and their daughters during embryonic and postnatal development of skeletal muscle to understand how this tissue is established, and how it regenerates. We are examining the genetic networks which regulate myogenic stem cell emergence, and relating this to how cell order is established in this lineage. We are also investigating how stem/progenitor cells self-renew, essentially via symmetric and asymmetric cell divisions, and how the stem cell niche is defined.