Higher Education · London
The UCL Centre for Integrative Anatomy (the CIA) uses diverse and cutting-edge approaches to study anatomy in order to understand structure and function, embryonic development, phylogenetic relationships, ecology and evolution. The centre is highly multi-disciplinary, combining expertise of colleagues based in other centres, departments and faculties at UCL, and from associates in other organisations. The skeletal anatomy of fossil organisms provides us with clues to their appearance and ecology, which in turn tell us how the modern biosphere came to be and how living animals may respond to ongoing environmental changes. Medical and forensic researchers use the study of human anatomy to understand how we live and grow, as well as to provide insights about aging, disease and death. The history of the CIA reaches back to 1826, when UCL established Chairs of Anatomy and Comparative Anatomy. The Centre (CIA) grew out UCL's Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, one of the university's most prestigious research departments, internationally renowned for its inter-disciplinary research. The CIA continues to maintain a question-driven approach to science, backed up by the application of the very latest in research technologies, such as our Nikon XT H 225 CT scanner. Research - and teaching - at the CIA is undertaken in the context of the CDB's mission to gain mechanistic insight into biological processes across scales, from cells through tissues to whole organisms, and from milliseconds through minutes to hundreds of millions of years. Departmental research groups include around 200 research fellows, technicians, PhD students and support staff, with the recently-established CIA providing a representative and specialised group.