Establishment and Maintenance of Hair Follicle Size

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We have a fair understanding of how each of our organs begins development before birth, but know much less regarding how the growth of each organ is controlled to give us a correctly proportioned anatomy. This project will examine the events that determine the size of our hair follicles, one of our most numerous organs. Mammals carry hair follicles of different sizes across almost all of the skin. The areas with large follicles, such as the scalp, produce thick, visible hairs. The areas with small follicles, such as the forehead, produce tiny, almost invisible hairs. The idea behind this work is that hair follicle size differences are set in the embryonic skin in a very dynamic cell signalling process. This signalling process is temporary, but leaves a lasting impact on the skin by converting some skin cells into the root of the hair follicle. The number of cells converted to hair root is based on the relative amounts of conflicting signals present in the embryonic skin, and once these temporary signals have faded the job of controlling hair size is taken on permanently by the cells at the very base of the follicle. This project will test each step of this process using mouse skin from different parts of the body. As hair follicles develop in a manner similar to that of internal organs, such as the gut, lung and kidney, the results will help us to understand how organ size in general is controlled. Also, understanding the control of hair follicle size will enable us to control this in the future, for example increasing follicle size in humans with baldness and engineering sheep that produce more, and better quality, wool.