October 2010 - the Node

An interview with Shinichi Aizawa: President of the Japanese Society of Developmental Biologists

Posted by Eva Amsen on October 29th, 2010

(This interview previously appeared in Development) This August, the Society for Developmental Biology (SDB) held their annual meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, jointly with the Japanese Society of Developmental Biologists (JSDB). The JSDB has recently increased their international profile under the presidency of Dr Shinichi Aizawa from the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology (CDB).[…]

WormBase: It’s not just for C. elegans anymore

Posted by kyook on October 29th, 2010

WormBase — wormbase.org — is the central data repository for Caenorhabditis elegans and related nematodes. C. elegans is a well-known system for studying problems in developmental biology, the benefits of which I will quickly rehash here. Its rapid generation time from fertilized egg to gravid adult (3.5 days) and small size (1mM) permit 1000’s of[…]

Postdoctoral position in Developmental Biology, University of Manchester

Posted by Hilary Ashe on October 28th, 2010

Hilary Ashe’s research group Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Manchester I seek a motivated candidate to work on a project applying sophisticated cell biological, genetic, biochemical and genomics approaches to study the regulation of the Bone Morphogenetic Protein (BMP) signalling-responsive transcription network. This work will expand upon recent exciting discoveries revealing different tiers of[…]

Making life out of noise: “Stochasticity in cell and developmental processes”. Cumberland Lodge, Windsor, UK, 17-20 October, 2010. Organized by The Company of Biologists.

Posted by Fer Casares on October 28th, 2010

I always travel with my suitcase packed with genes. Airports, planes and trains offer me the only instances where I find two hours solid of work, and they (genes) are then my best companions. However, in my discipline – developmental biology – it seems lately that, by simply analysing more genes, we are not getting[…]

Grant writing in Africa

Posted by Kim Cooper on October 27th, 2010

Today I gave a grant writing seminar for about 25 participants and went through the general structure and preparation as well as the expectations of reviewers and granting agencies. The whole presentation went really well, and I clearly had an interested audience actively taking notes and asking really insightful questions. A good conversation followed about[…]

Postdoc positions in developmental neurobiology

Posted by CoHouart on October 27th, 2010

POSTDOC POSITIONS IN DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROBIOLOGY The MRC Centre for Developmental Neurobiology in London (UK) is opening two 3-5 years post-doctoral fellowships to work in Prof. Corinne Houart’s team, investigating the cellular and molecular mechanisms controlling telencephalon regionalisation and regulation of forebrain complexity in zebrafish and mouse. The comparative studies will use molecular and cell biology,[…]

PhD studentship available: Chemical systems biology in zebrafish

Posted by dlyons on October 27th, 2010

We are seeking applications from highly motivated candidates, with a physical sciences background, and an interest in biology, to carry out a PhD to establish zebrafish as a model organism for chemical systems biology with which to carry out high-throughput chemical biology screens. The zebrafish is a well-established vertebrate model organism due to its amenability[…]

ReplicationDomain

Posted by Dave Gilbert on October 26th, 2010

ReplicationDomain is an online database resource for storing, sharing and visualizing DNA replication timing and transcription data, as well as other numerical epigenetic data types. Data is typically obtained from DNA microarrays or DNA sequencing. Our site has a user registration system that allows registered users to upload their own data sets. While non-registered users[…]

In Development this week (Vol. 137, Issue 22)

Posted by Seema Grewal on October 26th, 2010

Research highlights from the current issue of Development: Novel Hh targets fly in Hedgehog (Hh), a secreted morphogen, acts in a paracrine fashion to regulate tissue patterning during embryogenesis. Its tissue-specific effects are mediated by the transcription factor Cubitus interruptus (Ci), but how it exerts such effects is unclear. On p. 3887, Thomas Kornberg and[…]

Hello from Nairobi

Posted by Kim Cooper on October 24th, 2010

My apologies for the lag in updates from field collections in China. I got a little distracted with submitting a paper and writing a K99/R00 that seem to have consumed the last month of my life. But what better reward than a 3 week trip to Kenya! Yes, I am a roving postdoc. Boston is[…]