the community site for and by developmental biologists
Posted by Teisha on August 26th, 2010
Many human embryonic stem cell (hESC) researchers are now scrambling for funding and concerned about the future of their research, following a recent ruling in the United States by Chief Judge Royce C. Lamberth. To understand this ruling, both how it came about and its implications moving forward, it’s important to take a look at[…]
Posted by Eva Amsen on August 24th, 2010
At the recent SDB meeting in Albuquerque, Eric Olson took the stage twice: on Friday morning he spoke in the organogenesis session about the role of microRNAs in muscle, and on Sunday evening he entertained the attendees of the conference’s closing ceremony with his band, the Transactivators. In between these two performances, I asked him[…]
Posted by Seema Grewal on August 24th, 2010
Non-muscle myosin II translates cilia polarity In the brain, cilia on the multiciliated ependymal cells that line the brain ventricles circulate cerebrospinal fluid over the brain surface. To generate this directional fluid flow, the ependymal cell cilia and their basal bodies must be orientated in one direction. This ‘rotational’ polarity is regulated by the planar[…]
Posted by Lance Davidson on August 20th, 2010
Postdoctoral Positions are available for highly qualified and motivated candidates to study the physical principles of morphogenesis in the Davidson Laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh in the Department of Bioengineering. The laboratory focuses on studying the molecular-, cellular, and tissue-scale processes that regulate mechanical properties and force-production during morphogenesis. Projects involve a combination of[…]
Posted by Jon Moulton on August 20th, 2010
Worth 1000 words? http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2010/08/a_zebrafishs_first_minutes_of.html [update 31/8: I added the first of the videos (below) – Eva] (The original paper is in Science) (+2 rating, 2 votes) Loading…
Posted by benoitbruneau on August 19th, 2010
It seems that following on the tracks of Cell Press, which is reducing the maximum number of supplemental figures to one per manuscript figure, now J. Neuroscience is doing away with it altogether. Hooray? I agree that it is not a very good thing at times that the amount of Suppl Figs has risen (or[…]
Posted by Eva Amsen on August 17th, 2010
Some Canadian postdocs are awaiting the next academic year with bated breath: will they earn less than they did during their PhD, or twice as much as their colleagues? Canada’s 2010 research budget, announced this past spring, was full of surprises for the thousands of postdoctoral researchers in the country. To promote top-level talent, the[…]
Posted by Eva Amsen on August 13th, 2010
Many of you are probably familiar with the web comic Piled Higher and Deeper (PhD), which chronicles the lives of graduate students and perceptively points out some of the peculiarities of academia. Recently, we met up with the comic’s creator, Jorge Cham, and talked about graduate school, recognizable academic situations that cross all disciplines, and[…]
Posted by Eva Amsen on August 11th, 2010
(This interview by Kathryn Senior originally appeared in Development on August 10) Shin-Ichi Nishikawa is Group Director of the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe, Japan, where his stem cell research focuses on understanding the mechanisms involved in cell differentiation. He joined Development as an editor in 2009. We interviewed Shin-Ichi to find out[…]
Posted by Seema Grewal on August 10th, 2010
The Bicoid gradient, epigenetic control of BMP signalling, haematopoietic stem cells and more…here are the highlights from the current issue of Development: The Bicoid gradient gets into shape without nuclei Morphogen gradients provide key positional information during embryogenesis but how they are established is not well understood. A gradient of the transcription factor Bicoid is[…]
