the community site for and by developmental biologists
the community site for and by developmental biologists
Posted by the Node Interviews on May 28th, 2019
This interview, the 63rd in our series, was recently published in Development Butterfly eyespots are striking examples of animal patterning, but their developmental origins are still relatively poorly understood. A new paper in Development– the result of a collaboration between two Singapore-based labs – now combines CRISPR-Cas9 gene targeting with theoretical modelling to address the role of the[…]
Posted by the Node Interviews on May 23rd, 2019
This interview, the 62nd in our series, was recently published in Development Vascular development critically involves pruning, which helps to remodel an immature network containing excess microvessels into a mature and functioning one. The mechanisms of vascular remodelling and the relationship between the endothelial cells and the other cell types with which they are closely associated are,[…]
Posted by the Node Interviews on May 9th, 2019
This interview, the 61st in our series, was recently published in Development A fundamental aim in developmental biology is to understand how the various cell types of the body are specified by differential gene regulation. Caenorhabditiselegans nervous system development provides a powerful system for studying this, as exemplified by a new Development paper reporting on how the BAG neurons that help[…]
Posted by the Node Interviews on April 18th, 2019
This interview, the 60th in our series, was recently published in Development In development and during regeneration in adults, muscle fibres develop from muscle progenitor cells, and the proliferation, differentiation and fusion of these progenitors needs to be tightly controlled and co-ordinated. A new paper in Development studies the role of the mTOR protein in this process using genetic[…]
Posted by the Node Interviews on March 13th, 2019
This interview, the 59th in our series, was recently published in Development The control of timing in development is crucial, both within and between tissues. Heterochrony involves shifts in the rate of development of some tissues relative to others, and although the first heterochronic genes were identified in Caenorhabditis elegans in the early 1980s, their role in inter-tissue developmental[…]
Posted by the Node Interviews on February 28th, 2019
This interview, the 58th in our series, was recently published in Development While many vertebrates have multiple sets of teeth over their lifetime, some, like humans, have just a single set of replacement teeth (diphydonty), while others, like mice, manage with a single set (monophydonty). This diversity raises both evolutionary questions – how did different tooth[…]
Posted by the Node Interviews on February 8th, 2019
This interview, the 57th in our series, was recently published in Development The molecular regulation of pluripotency has been most intensively studied in early mammalian development, but whether the transcriptional networks revealed in mouse and man also regulate pluripotency in other deuterostomes has remained unclear. A paper in this issue of Development now addresses the evolution of pluripotency[…]
Posted by the Node Interviews on January 22nd, 2019
Last year I was lucky enough to travel to California for the first time for the Santa Cruz Developmental Biology meeting – see the meeting report, written with Jordan Ward, here. At the meeting I was lucky enough to interview three amazing scientists, one of whom was Vilaiwan Fernandes, winner of the SCDB Young Investigator Award[…]
Posted by the Node Interviews on January 19th, 2019
This interview, the 56th in our series, was recently published in Development Radial growth in plants is driven by proliferating cells in the cambium that give rise to the vascular tissues of xylem and phloem, and increases plant girth. However, the identity and dynamics of the stem cells that drive this crucial process remain poorly understood. A[…]
Posted by the Node Interviews on January 18th, 2019
This interview, the 55th in our series, was published in Development last year Sperm development and differentiation are regulated by somatic cells and the extracellular signals they produce – often regulators of proteolysis. Premature or delayed differentiation can compromise fertility, and thus tight spatiotemporal control of the process is crucial. A paper in Development addresses how two secreted proteins[…]
