the community site for and by
developmental and stem cell biologists

Behind the paper stories

Behind the paper stories

Every paper has a story behind it, and we regularly commission scientists to tell theirs. In this collection you’ll discover the highs and the lows, the chance encounters and life changing discoveries from the breadth of developmental biology and stem cell research.

Recent posts

A journey of understanding the distinct molecular mechanisms underlying plant photoperiodism

Posted by , on 29 February 2024

In a new study, Joshua Gendron and colleagues find that plants can measure two different photoperiods to independently control seasonal flowering and growth, and the vegetative growth is partially dependent on …

Exploring Mammary Gland Development and Evolution with Organoid Technology

Posted by , on 6 February 2024

What is the set of instructions that directs cells as they form a tissue, and how did this set of instructions evolve throughout species evolution? In a new study, we …

My journey to explore the mystery during spermatogenesis

Posted by , on 9 November 2023

Find out about the story behind the paper ‘Mouse Pramel1 regulates spermatogonial development by inhibiting retinoic acid signaling during spermatogenesis’

Be beating, my still heart!

Posted by , on 25 October 2023

Read this story behind the paper “A bioelectrical phase transition patterns the first vertebrate heartbeats” from first author Bill Jia.

Behind the paper: What bats can tell us about the evolution of mammalian teeth

Posted by , on 25 September 2023

Find out about the behind the paper story from Alexa Sadier about the origin of tooth classes in bats.

Patterning the butterfly wing through Wnt signaling

Posted by , on 31 August 2023

Read the story behind the paper from Tirtha Das Banerjee and Antόnia Monteiro about Wnt signaling in setting up butterfly wing patterns.

A tale of two fishes

Posted by , on 25 August 2023

Krista Gert, a recent doctoral graduate from Andrea (Andi) Pauli’s lab at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) in Vienna, Austria, recently published a study on how Bouncer, a small egg …

Assembling a “Stem Cell Zoo”

Posted by , on 12 July 2023

One of the most fascinating observations that comes from comparing mammalian development is the difference in developmental tempo across species (Ebisuya & Briscoe, 2018). Mice and humans develop through a …

“If you notice something unusual in your experiments, don’t just throw it away!”

Read Laura Pellegrini’s piece on choroid plexus organoids 

Do you have a story to tell? We can give comments on drafts and any level of editing you want, and we particularly encourage contributions from researchers for whom English is not their first language.

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Our full archive going back to 2010 is filterable by category, tag and date.

Updated on 22 February 2024