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
Conflict between neighbours: a perfect way of rebuilding a complete organ system
Posted by the Node, on 16 November 2022
Mabel Mathew gives us some insights into the story behind their paper on the mechanism underlying de novo shoot regeneration.Behind the paper: Characterising the spatiotemporal dynamics of microglia across the human lifespan
Posted by David Menassa, on 17 October 2022
Dr David A. Menassa and Professor Diego Gomez-Nicola at the University of Southampton, UK recently published an article in Developmental Cell where they reveal how the microglial population colonises the human …Behind the paper: Uncovering the dual origins of human cortical astrocytes
Posted by Denise Allen, on 18 August 2022
Behind the paper story from Denise Allen and Tomasz NowakowskiAn embryo-maternal dialogue in Arabidopsis
Posted by Yujuan Du, on 20 July 2022
In our recent paper, we uncovered a WIP-mediated embryo-maternal communication in Arabidopsis, which specifically regulates embryonic root development (Fig. 1). WIP2, WIP4 and WIP5 expression in the embryonic root is …Behind the Story: Immunity, Involution and Indefatigable Women
Posted by ChrisJWatson, on 19 July 2022
A behind the paper story from Christine Watson about the role of immune cells in mammary gland involution and the women who worked on the project.Odor sensing, metabolism, and blood-progenitors
Posted by Manisha Goyal, on 5 May 2022
In their recent Development paper, published in our Immune Special Issue, Manisha Goyal, Tina Mukherjee, and colleagues examine the pathways controlling ROS homeostasis during hematopoietic growth control.A journey towards understanding the embryo – maternal vasculature interactions during implantation
Posted by Niraimathi Govindasamy, on 27 March 2022
Niraimathi Govindasamy from the Bedzhov lab, takes us through the story behind their paper on the interactions between the embryo and maternal vasculature.Hanging by a hair: the life of a semi-aquatic bug.
Posted by Cédric Finet, on 23 February 2022
A evo-devo research story from Cédric Finet asking why are water striders so hairy.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.
Writing tips and ideas
Check out our page for writing tips for Node bloggers. We also have a mailing list for occasional writing ideas — simply update your email preferences once you’ve registered an account with us.
Our full archive going back to 2010 is filterable by category, tag and date.