Studies of morphogens: keep calm and carry on

Morphogens are signaling factors that direct cell fate and tissue development at a distance from their source, and various modes of transport and interpretation have been suggested for morphogens. The recent EMBO Workshop on 'Morphogen gradients', which took place in Oxford, UK in June 2013, centered on the formation and interpretation of such morphogen gradients during development. This meeting allowed an exchange of views in light of recent results. Here, we provide a brief overview of the talks, organized in relation to several major themes of discussion at the meeting: (1) morphogen gradient formation; (2) morphogen gradient interpretation; (3) signaling networks and feedback in morphogenesis; (4) emergence of patterns; (5) scaling of patterns; (6) the control of growth; and (7) new techniques in the field.