Principal Investigator and Professor of Development & Evolution, Professor Tucker is a leading anatomist whose research has made sustained and influential contributions to craniofacial biology, tooth and oral development, and regenerative medicine.

The Tucker Laboratory is interested in the development of the head, with particular focus on structures that form in association with the jaw. These include development of the dentition, salivary glands, jaw joint and ear, influencing our understanding of how tissues receive instructions and achieve their normal size and shape. The research addresses questions related to human health and to evolutionary biology and uses several model and non-model organisms, including mouse, chick, opossum, guinea pig, shrew, bearded dragon, snake, gecko and chameleon. Through this understanding of the principles of development, the lab has contributed to the understanding of key craniofacial disorders, including Treacher Collins Syndrome, Di George Syndrome, Ectodermal dysplasia, LADD syndrome and Branchio-Oto-Renal syndrome.

Professor Tucker obtained her DPhil from Oxford University in 1996 in the lab of Prof Jonathan Slack. She then worked as a post-doctoral fellow at Guy’s Hospital, London, in the labs of Prof Paul Sharpe and Prof Andrew Lumsden. Here she started her interest in formation of the head. She set up her own lab as a Wellcome Trust Research Career Development fellow in 1999 in the MRC centre for Developmental Neurobiology at King’s. In 2002 she moved to the department of Craniofacial Development within the Dental Institute at King’s College London (now FoDOCS) and was promoted to Professor in 2015.

Professor Tucker is currently the UoA3 (Allied Health Professionals) Lead for REF and was Dean for Research for FoDOCS from 2018-2025.

Professor Tucker has a history of successful research funding, with current projects funding by the MRC, BBSRC, ERC and RNID, and previous funding as a Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator. She has won awards for her contribution to the field of developmental biology (Cheryl Tickle Medal from the British Society of Developmental Biology 2016; New Fellow of the year award from the Anatomical Society 2014), for her supervision of PhD students (King’s faculty supervisory excellence award 2011, 2015, 2023) and engagement with audiences outside academia (King’s Outstanding Individual Award for Engaged Research 2026).

The Tucker lab is actively involved in engaging scientifically with the public through festival stands, school visits, documentaries and museums, focusing particularly on how evolution shapes our bodies. Professor Tucker appeared in the EMMY award winning series “Your inner Fish” (PBS 2015).

Professor Tucker is currently President of the Anatomical Society, Awards Officer for the British Society of Developmental Biology, Treasurer/Secretary of the Craniofacial Biology group of the IADR, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, Anatomical Society, Linnean Society and Higher Education Academy.

Hear from Professor Tucker on her research on the development and evolution of the face: