Research into the biology and physiopathology of the bovine claw has become interdisciplinary employing epidemiology, cellular and molecular biology. Foot disorders in cattle are a global problem causing substantial economic losses to farmers. New hypotheses demonstrate possible links between systemic problems and local damage in the claw. Tissue explant and cell culture studies have already provided important insights into regulation of differentiation in healthy and diseased claw tissue (Hendry et al 1997, 2003; Nebel et al 2002, 2004). Detailed knowledge of the links between systemic events and the claw tissue as well as knowledge on the local regulatory cascades in response to metabolic and biomechanical challenges provide the key to understanding of the development of claw diseases. The development and experimental application of novel organotypic in vitro culture systems and an ex vivo isolated haemoperfused distal cow limb model (Wüstenberg 2004) was a major task and outcome of the EU framework 5 project Lamecow (http://www.abdn.ac.uk/lamecow).