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
Tensed beginnings: how membrane tension gates early differentiation
Posted by Henry De Belly, on 9 June 2021
Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells (ES cells) have the capacity to generate any tissue in the organism; this remarkable ability is called naïve pluripotency. Intriguingly, when ES cells start to differentiate …When statistical physics meets developmental biology: Predicting the structural properties of embryonic tissues from a simple cell parameter
Posted by Petridou, on 7 May 2021
By Bernat Corominas-Murtra and Nicoletta I. Petridou Embryo morphogenesis is a play whose outcome is the result of a complex and delicate plot, made of balances and agreements among many …Continuous and Extended Ex Utero Embryogenesis in Mammals
Posted by Alejandro Aguilera Castrejon, on 6 May 2021
Alejandro Aguilera Castrejon and Jacob Hanna on how to culture mouse embryos for longerNew strings for the puppeteer of evolution
Posted by Mark Rebeiz, on 30 April 2021
Sarah Jacquelyn Smith, Lance Davidson and Mark Rebeiz share the story of their recent paper on the evolution of morphological novelties.Out on a Flimb or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Trust the Mapping
Posted by mbrenthawkins, on 20 April 2021
Brent Hawkins recalls how mapping the zebrafish rephraim mutation brought insights into the fin-to-limb transitionMCC loss during mucociliary epithelium remodeling: new insight into a debated topic and a decade mystery.
Posted by Alexia Tasca, on 29 March 2021
Introduction In mucociliary epithelia, such as the mammalian airway epithelium or the embryonic epidermis of Xenopus tadpoles, the correct balance between multiciliated cells (MCCs) and secretory cells provides the functional …Is it in yet? How the direct transdifferentiation of glia-to-neurons ensures nimble male mating
Posted by Carla Lloret-Fernandez, on 25 March 2021
Rachel Bonnington, Carla Lloret Fernández and Laura Molina García tell a tale of transdifferentiationReshaping morphogen gradients, one miRNA at a time
Posted by Marcos Simoes-Costa, on 15 March 2021
Jacqueline Copeland and Marcos Simoes-Costa Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA The neural crest has long been referred to as “the fourth germ layer” for …
“If you notice something unusual in your experiments, don’t just throw it away!”
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