JoVE for developmental biology research and eduction

Dear Developmental Biologists,

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Node for the chance to write a post about JoVE and how our resources can be beneficial for the research and teaching of developmental biology and multiple other disciplines.

All researchers will be familiar with the challenges of replicating an experiment you’ve read in a paper, or learning a new technique in the lab. Spending hours looking through reference lists or trying to work out exactly what is meant by “shake vigorously” or “aspirate gently”. In an ideal world you ask someone who knows the technique to show you how, but with the global nature of scientific research, time restraints and physical distance means this isn’t always possible. But what if a researcher on the other side of the world could show you how to perform their methodology at any time of day with no travel costs involved? This is where JoVE comes in!

JoVE is dedicated to publishing scientific research in a visual format, capturing the intricate details of life science research and overcoming two of the biggest challenges faced by the scientific community:

1) Poor reproducibility and low transparency of biological experiments

2) The time, labour, and cost intensive nature of learning new experimental techniques

With technology so ubiquitous in our everyday lives, it stands to reason that we should harness its power in scientific research and education.

Since launching in 2006, JoVE Video Journal has published more than 12,000 scientific video demonstrations on experimental methods in 13 discipline specific sections including Developmental Biology. JoVE Video Journal was the first and remains the only peer-reviewed journal of visualised experiments, and today JoVE video articles are viewed by millions of users making scientific research more productive and reproducible.The field of developmental biology employs a multitude of complex and rapidly developing research methodologies. As such, the Developmental Biology section of JoVE Journal, featuring insightful video articles authored by renowned experts in the field, is invaluable for researchers worldwide to learn experimental methods quicker and more precisely.

With more than 500 articles in our developmental biology section, it’s difficult to to highlight just a few examples of the excellent discoveries that have furthered our knowledge in this field. Why not take a look at this selection of some of our more recent additions to the journal that demonstrate the broad range of research:

Thawing, Culturing, and Cryopreserving Drosophila Cell Lines

A Static Self-Directed Method for Generating Brain Organoids from Human Embryonic Stem Cells

Genotyping and Quantification of In Situ Hybridization Staining in Zebrafish

Whole Mount Immunohistochemistry in Zebrafish Embryos and Larvae

Cell-cell Fusion of Genome Edited Cell Lines for Perturbation of Cellular Structure and Function

Human Egg Maturity Assessment and Its Clinical Application

It’s not just seasoned researchers that can benefit from this video format, we also have visual teaching aids for students at the start of their scientific careers. JoVE’s database of educational videos are designed for educators and students, to better teach and learn key scientific concepts with the aid of animations, and fundamental lab techniques with easy-to-understand video demonstrations. By providing a visual approach to learning basic techniques, JoVE Science Education makes experimentation more accessible to undergraduates in developmental biology classes.

Our Science Education collections cover a range of lab techniques valuable to developmental biologists from very basic skills such as centrifugation, volume measurements, and pipetting, to more advanced developmental biology specific techniques such as culturing embryonic stem cells, explant culture, and genetic engineering of model organisms.

For teaching foundational scientific theory we have JoVE Core Biology, an animated textbook organised into sections including cellular processes, genetics, and human biology. Instead of flicking through hundreds of pages of dry text and confusing diagrams, Core Biology uses concise animated videos to bring the concepts alive.

During the current COVID-19 pandemic, JoVE is aiding universities, colleges and secondary schools in the transition to online teaching by providing free access to all of our educational content until the 15th of June 2020. So now is the perfect time to try it out. Just head to www.jove.com to activate your free trial, and take a look at our faculty resource center for help setting up remote access for your students.

We are constantly adding to our content with new educational resources released all the time, and 150 new journal articles published each month. However, this does not mean that we prize quantity over quality. We believe carefully produced, peer-reviewed scientific videos represent the best way for scientists to share a new technique, and for researchers and students to learn from it. With every video, we aim to drive the next breakthrough in science research and education.

So remember, the next time you are in the lab or want to boost student performance, check JoVE first.

Rebecca Ellerington, Curriculum Specialist UK and Ireland

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