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
Exploring Mammary Gland Development and Evolution with Organoid Technology
Posted by Gat Rauner, 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 Mingyao, 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 Bill Jia, 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 Alexa Sadier, 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 Tirtha Das Banerjee, 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 Krista Gert, 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 Jorge Lazaro, 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 …Living up to your cnidarian potential
Posted by Áine Varley, on 22 June 2023
Áine Varley tells the story behind the paper “Pluripotent, germ cell competent adult stem cells underlie cnidarian regenerative ability and clonal growth”.
“If you notice something unusual in your experiments, don’t just throw it away!”
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.