The Danish Stem Cell Center (DanStem) and the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research (CPR) at Faculty of Health & Medical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen are looking for a sequencing specialist to join the DanStem and CPR lab facilities starting February 2017 or upon agreement.

DanStem comprises of two sections: The Novo Nordisk Foundation Section for Basic Stem Cell Biology, where we address basic research questions in stem cell and developmental biology (BasicStem). The second Section for Strategic Translational Stem Cell Research and Therapy (TransStem) is focused on the translation of promising basic research results into new strategies and targets for the development of new therapies for cancer and diabetes. Find more information about the Center athttp://danstem.ku.dk

CPR promotes basic and applied discovery research on human proteins of medical relevance. The vision of CPR is to be the world leading center in combining the power of integrative protein technologies and their application to accelerate understanding of the biological processes underlying health and disease. For more information about CPR, please visit http://www.cpr.ku.dk

We are seeking a highly motivated and ambitious candidate to join our lab facilities funded jointly by the CPR and DanStem.

Job description
The next generating sequencing (NGS) specialist will focus on running the new DanStem/CPR sequencing facility and providing assistance to users with processing their data. The work involves programming and maintenance of a liquid handling robot and sequencer. The major responsibilities of the position will be to optimize robotic applications to NGS and to map user’s data. In addition, stocking and supplying consumables for these and any additional equipment purchased for the facility.  The applicant will also be assisting users in the processing and storage of their data.  The applicant will be expected to push forward new approaches to single cell sequence and other related techniques.

Your profile
– A degree in biotechnology, molecular biology, bioinformatics, or appropriate biological or biomedical science with either PhD or MsC.
– Candidate must have experience with both dry (computer based) and   wet (laboratory) work.
– Previous experience in Java programming and NGS bioinformatics (mapping of NGS data) would be a big advantage
– Theoretical and practical knowledge of Next Generation Sequencing sample preparation workflows and applications would be a plus.
– Proven ability in single cell analysis or PCR would be a plus.
– Good English communication skills, both oral and written, are prerequisite for the successful candidate

We offer
– Stimulating, challenging and multifaceted research environment
– Possibility for continued education and training
– Attractive employment conditions
– Centrally located work place

Employment conditions
The employment has an initial duration until the end of 2020 with a possibility of extension. The employment is scheduled to start 2017 or upon agreement with the chosen candidate. The place of work is at DanStem, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 3B, Copenhagen.

Salary, pension and terms of employment are in accordance with the provisions of the collective agreement between the Danish Government and AC (the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations). In addition to the basic salary a monthly contribution to a pension fund is added (17.1% of the salary).

The application must include 
1. Motivation letter
2. Curriculum vitae incl. education, experience, previous employments, language skills and other relevant skills
3. Copy of diplomas/degree certificate(s)

Questions
For further information about the position please contact Professor Joshua Brickman,joshua.brickman@sund.ku.dk. 

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This Editorial originally appeared in Development, Volume 144, Issue 1

Olivier Pourquie

The past 15 years have witnessed major evolutions in the field of developmental biology – in imaging technology, genome editing, development of new ‘model’ systems and many other areas. Much of the action in our domain is now taking place in the stem cell field. Since I took over as Editor in Chief of Development, I have encouraged submission and publication of the best possible stem cell papers in the journal. We created a dedicated ‘Stem Cells and Regeneration’ section and have tried to promote the area in our front section (review-type content) with the recruitment of Caroline Hendry, our Reviews Editor dedicated to the stem cell field. More recently, we have extended this initiative to try to capture papers relating to human developmental biology, a field that has grown beyond its descriptive anatomical roots largely thanks to the development of stem cell-based technologies such as organoids; from 2017 onwards, these papers will also be collected together in a special ‘Human Development’ section of the journal. To demonstrate our commitment in these fields, we have published special issues on stem cells and regeneration in 2013 (http://dev.biologists.org/content/140/12) and on human development in 2015 (http://dev.biologists.org/content/142/18), which proved to be great successes.

We have also built a team of editors that include world leaders in stem cell biology. To further promote Development in this area, we recruited Melissa Little, who pioneered kidney organoids, to act as a guest editor for one year (2016), focusing on putting together a Special Issue on organoids to be published in early 2017. Finally, in 2014 and 2016, we organized very successful dedicated meetings on the theme ‘From Stem Cells to Human Development’. The 2016 meeting showcased the newest developments in the field of human developmental biology, including progress in emerging technologies such as organoids, bioengineering and single cell analyses (Craft and Johnson, 2017). We hope to continue this series of meetings in 2018, so look out for further announcements.

This editorial strategy – to promote the stem cell field – was initiated in 2010 and it is now time to look back and examine whether our efforts have been successful. But how do we measure success? Like large sectors of the community, I and Development’s editors feel that inappropriate prominence has been given to the Impact Factor (IF) (Pourquié, 2013). Development’s IF is essentially stable, and the journal performs well in other metrics, particularly the cited half-life, reflecting the longevity of our papers (see http://dev.biologists.org/content/about#metrics). Looking at a more granular level, the Stem Cells and Regeneration section of the journal (which now represents roughly one quarter of the research papers published) outperforms other research content in terms of citation levels, as do Techniques and Resources papers. Looking at other measures of journal performance, download and altmetrics data also speak to the success of our stem cell strategy, with stem cell papers typically among the most accessed research content each year. Along with the support we have received from the community (Pourquié and Brown, 2016a), these metrics give us confidence that our strategic focus on the stem cell field has been justified.

However, this is not to say that we have forgotten other aspects of developmental biology, or that we do not see and value the significant advances being made in many areas of the field. The plant field continues to fare very well in the journal – plant papers rank alongside animal stem cell papers in terms of citation rates – and we recently published a Special Issue dedicated to plant development (http://dev.biologists.org/content/143/18) in honour of the pioneering plant developmental biologist Ian Sussex.

Looking forwards, we see a growth in the areas of biophysical, mechanical, quantitative and computational developmental biology. 2017 sees the 100 year anniversary of the publication of D’Arcy Thompson’s landmark book On Growth and Form (Thompson, 1917) and we are planning to mark this occasion with a Special Issue of the journal entitled ‘On Growth and Form – 100 years on’ – which will celebrate the advances we have made in the past century, and look forwards to the future challenges of the field. We’re delighted to announce that this issue will be guest edited by L. Mahadevan (Harvard University), working alongside our longstanding editor Thomas Lecuit (see http://dev.biologists.org/content/special-issue-growth-and-form for more information). More generally, we hope that Development’s pages reflect the broad (and growing) scope of our field, and showcase some of the most exciting advances being made in labs across the world.

To continue to attract such papers, we need to respond to community concerns around the publishing process. To this end, we have recently introduced several important changes to the reviewing process. We now provide more explicit reviewing guidelines and forms, aiming to streamline the reviewing process as much as possible. Importantly, we have now introduced cross-referee commenting in the review process (Pourquie and Brown, 2016b). This means that once the reviews are completed, the reviewers are able to see each other’s reviews and have a 48 h window in which to provide extra feedback to help the editor make a decision. Although it is still early days for this new system, we feel it will help generate more consensual reviews and shorten the time to process papers. In addition, we are looking at ways of making it easier for authors to submit their work to Development. We recognise that you have a wide choice of journals to which you can submit, and we hope to minimise the effort required to send your paper to us. Although our Guide to Authors details specific formatting guidelines, we aim to be as flexible as possible in terms of article format at initial submission, and are working on streamlining this process further; we welcome your feedback on what changes we could make to improve the author experience.

Finally, preprints are also becoming a hot topic in life-science publishing, and Development has adopted a preprint-friendly policy. Preprints are manuscripts that are deposited in a public repository such as bioRxiv (http://biorxiv.org/) prior to publication. These manuscripts, which usually have not yet been peer-reviewed, are freely accessible to the entire scientific community. In 2015, we made it possible for authors submitting to Development to have their paper automatically deposited in bioRxiv, making it public in a matter of days. Now, you can also submit to Development through the bioRxiv submission system. This preprint model has been in place for more than 20 years in the maths and physics communities and it offers many advantages. Most importantly, research results are not held up from the scientific community for months or years due to the ever-increasing length of the review process. Thus, the data are immediately available and not hidden behind a paywall. This also offers the scientific community an opportunity to comment and help the authors consolidate the work prior to formal journal publication. In the past year or so, the number of preprints submitted to bioRxiv and other preprint servers has exploded and this trend is unlikely to slow down. The Node now posts a monthly list of new developmental biology-related preprints, making it easier for you to find the latest research in your field. Preprints have a digital object identifier (DOI) and are thus citable, and there is increasing support for allowing (and encouraging) preprints to be listed and considered in evaluation of grants and CVs. Although there is currently no direct conflict between preprint servers and traditional journals, the increasing use of preprint repositories will clearly impact the publishing world and as a community we need to start thinking about the future of scientific publications. Through what feels like a period of change, Development will strive to make publishing a less painful process for authors, and a richer experience for readers. Although Bob Dylan clearly wasn’t talking about either developmental biology or scientific publishing, the times certainly are a-changin’ for all of us.

I would like to conclude by thanking the team of academic editors who deserve great credit for their dedication and enthusiasm for the job, and our editorial board for their engagement and support. I particularly want to acknowledge Melissa Little for her great contributions as a guest editor. I also thank the Development staff: Editorial Administrators Hannah Morton and Debbie Thorpe; Production Editors Andrea Bowden, Colin Davey, Jane Gunthorpe and Lindsay Roberts; the Executive Editor Katherine Brown and Reviews Editors Seema Grewal and Caroline Hendry; the Node’s Community Managers Catarina Vicente, who left the Company in June, and her replacement Aidan Maartens; as well as the company’s production department and Publisher Claire Moulton. I also thank everyone who has reviewed for the journal this year (see supplementary information for a full list of our referees from the past 12 months) – without your assistance, the journal would cease to function. We look forward to a successful 2017 and wish all our authors, reviewers and readers the same.

References

Craft, A. M. and Johnson, M. (2017). From stem cells to human development: a human perspective on early embryology, cellular differentiation and translational research. Development 144, 12-16.

Pourquié, O. (2013). The San Francisco declaration on research assessment. Development 140, 2643-2644.

Pourquié, O. and Brown, K. (2016a). Future developments: your thoughts and our plans. Development 143, 1-2.

Pourquié, O. and Brown, K. (2016b). Introducing cross-referee commenting in peer review. Development 143, 3035-3036.

Thompson, D. W. (1917). On Growth and Form. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

© 2017. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd

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Here are the highlights from the new issue of Development – the first one of the year. Happy reading…and Happy New Year!

Embryos rewired: the changing metabolome of early embryogenesis

During early mammalian embryogenesis, the developing embryo must adapt to changing metabolic demands and substrate availability. It has long been thought that a metabolic shift from glycolysis to OXPHOS takes place during this period and may be linked to the onset of choroallantoic branching, a major milestone in placental development that increases nutrient availability via the maternal circulation. But a simple shift from glycolysis to OXPHOS cannot explain how the array of macromolecules that are required to fuel cell proliferation are made, since OXPHOS produces mainly cellular energy and little else. Now, on p. 63, Yoshifumi Yamaguchi, Masayuki Miura and colleagues revisit this theory using state-of-the-art mass spectrometry techniques to survey the carbon flow of intracellular metabolites in the whole mouse embryo from embryonic day (E) 8.5 to E10.5, the period in which extensive choroallantoic branching occurs. The authors first establish the metabolic profile of the embryo during this period and show that, while metabolites indicative of OXPHOS do increase over this period, this is not accompanied by a decrease in glycolysis. Rather, the end product of glycolysis, lactate, also increases markedly from E8.5 to E10.5. The authors observe a decrease in the activity of phosphofructokinase-1 and go on to show how this results in the redirection of glucose into the pentose phosphate pathway, which is key for biomass production. This study provides insight into the dynamic metabolic profile of the developing embryo and sheds light on the long-standing question of whether and how a metabolic shift occurs during choroallantoic branching.

A new rule for spiral cleavage school

Spiral cleavage – the process by which cells of the early embryo divide and spiral around the pole-to-pole axis of the embryo – is the most common mode of animal development. Many hypotheses exist to explain how the precise spatial arrangement of cells is coordinated during this process, but to date there has been no systematic approach to verify which, if any, of these hypotheses are true. Now, on p. 54, Isaac Salazar-Ciudad and colleagues construct a computational framework in order to simulate early spiral cleavage behaviour. Using this model, they are able to constrain the behaviour of cells with existing hypotheses so as to determine which are important for the emergence of spiral cleavage and which are not. The authors find that none of the hypotheses proposed over time can produce the precise arrangement of cells observed during spiral cleavage, but that a small subset of them can do so if combined. Specifically, animal-vegetal polarization of cell division, Sachs’ rule in which cell division is oriented perpendicularly to the previous cell division, cortical rotation and adhesion are the main contributing variables to spiral cleavage. Finally, the authors show that their model can be used to generate a range of different embryo geometries corresponding to what is seen in seven different spiralian species. This elegant study highlights the power of computational approaches in understanding developmental processes, and brings insight into the specific parameters that govern spiral cleavage.

A supporting (cell) role for Wt1 in gonad development

The developing mammalian gonad comprises multiple different cell types, each with unique and important roles. Among these are the germ cells, which eventually become gametes and are crucial for generational inheritance, as well as supporting cells and steroidogenic cells, which support and nourish the gametes and provide important hormonal regulation, respectively. Despite the importance of supporting and steroidogenic cell types, the molecular mechanism that leads to their specification remains unclear. In this issue, on p. 44, Fei Gao and colleagues uncover a mechanism by which the expression of Wilms’ tumor 1 (Wt1) directs the lineage specification of supporting cells via the suppression of steroidogenic factor 1 (Sf1). Sf1 usually directs the specification of steroidogenic cells; however, the authors show that Wt1 binds directly to the promoter region of Sf1 in both sexes, supressing its expression. Deletion of Wt1 in the mouse undifferentiated genital ridge somatic cells before sex determination completely blocked the differentiation of the supporting Sertoli (in male) and granulosa (in female) cells, and resulted in the differentiation of steroidogenic cells instead. This study provides novel insight into somatic cell differentiation during gonadal development and provides a molecular mechanism for the specification of the supporting cells in both sexes.

PLUS:

The times they are a-changin’

The past 15 years have witnessed major evolutions in the field of developmental biology – in imaging technology, genome editing, development of new ‘model’ systems and many other areas. In his Editorial, Development’s Editor in Chief Olivier Pourquie highlights how Development has evolved with these changing times and discusses the journal’s plans for the future.

Towards a CRISPR view of early human development: applications, limitations and ethical concerns of genome editing in human embryos

The application of CRISPR-Cas technology to human cells has evolved in parallel with increasingly powerful methods of cell culture and analysis, and it is now possible to modify the genome of a human embryo in a highly efficient and specific way. In their Spotlight article, Alvaro Plaza Reyes and Fredrik Lanner summarize the CRISPR-Cas genome editing system and discuss its potential applications and limitations in human pre-implantation embryos, and the ethical considerations thereof.

From stem cells to human development: a distinctly human perspective on early embryology, cellular differentiation and translational research

In late September 2016, over 100 scientists with common interests in human development, disease and regeneration gathered  for The Company of Biologists’ second ‘From Stem Cells to Human Development’ meeting, which was held in historic Southbridge, USA. In their Meeting Review, April Craft and Matthew Johnson highlight some of the exciting new findings that were presented, and discuss emerging themes and convergences in human development and disease that arose during these discussions.

Understanding development and stem cells using single cell-based analyses of gene expression

In recent years, genome-wide profiling approaches have begun to uncover the molecular programs that drive developmental processes. In their Review, Patrcik Cahan and colleagues discuss how single-cell RNA sequencing has provided key insights into mammalian developmental and stem cell biology, emphasizing the analytical approaches that are specific to studying gene expression in single cells.

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CONTEXT

We are seeking a highly motivated and collaborative postdoc in the area of human embryology and stem cell biology to join Dr. Kathy Niakan’s laboratory.

We have identified several transcription factors and components of key signaling pathways that are highly expressed in pluripotent epiblast cells of the developing human embryo. The pluripotent epiblast has the unique potential to give rise to the entire fetus in vivo and can self-renew indefinitely as embryonic stem cells (hESCs) in vitro. Understanding the molecular basis of lineage specification in the early human embryo is of fundamental biological importance and has significant clinical implications for infertility treatment as well as the use of hESCs to treat various diseases. Importantly, the genes we identified as enriched in human embryos are not expressed in mouse embryos at the equivalent developmental stage, further suggesting differences in pluripotency mechanisms between these species.

The aim of the project is to characterise putative regulators of human pluripotency and embryogenesis using currently the most efficient and precise genome editing technique (CRISPR/Cas9) in human embryos and stem cells. This will provide fundamental insights into human biology and facilitate the development of conditions for the establishment of novel human stem cells. We also seek to establish novel human embryonic stem cells by modulating signaling pathways that we have identified as specific enriched and functional in the development of the pluripotent human epiblast.

The successful candidate is likely to be an energetic, focused, and productive individual with a desire to work in a congenial, dynamic, and collaborative research environment. Good organisational, analytical, and communication skills are essential.

ORGANISATION

Dr Niakan’s laboratory focuses on understanding the mechanisms of lineage specification in human embryos and the derivation of novel human stem cells. Details of research projects currently being undertaken can be seen at: http://www.crick.ac.uk/kathy-niakan

Research techniques used in the laboratory include: molecular biology, advanced microscopy and image quantification, human and mouse preimplantation embryo culture and micromanipulation, genome modification, genome-wide techniques including single-cell RNA-sequencing, human embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cell derivation.

OBJECTIVES

In this project, some of the specific objectives could include, but not be limited to:

• Stem cell derivation from embryos
• Reprogramming using induced pluripotent stem cell approaches
• Genome editing using CRISPR-Cas9
• Genomic profiling of early human embryos and microdissected cells
• Ensuring the design and implementation of the project
• Liaising with collaborators within the Crick, the UK and abroad
• Writing and contributing to the preparation of scientific manuscripts, reports, presentations and records of experimental plans and results
• Working closely with the Group Leader and other team members to report on the results via publications
• Supervising and providing technical advice to more junior members of the team when appropriate

ABOUT US

The Francis Crick Institute has a distinctive vision of how biomedical research is conducted. It is one of the most significant projects in UK biomedical science for a generation. The institute’s labs have an international reputation for cutting edge research into basic biology and are committed to training the next generation of research scientists.

On 1 April 2015, staff from the London Research Institute (CRUK) and National Institute for Medical Research (MRC) transferred to the Crick to form a fully functional research institute on four sites. In 2016, the Crick will move to a single new, purpose built research centre in St. Pancras which will house some 1,500 staff.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

The post holder should embody and demonstrate our core Crick values: Bold, Imaginative, Open, Dynamic and Collegial, in addition to the following:

Essential

• PhD in the areas of Developmental Biology, Stem Cells, Molecular Biology or similar (or in the final stages of PhD submission)
• Good knowledge and experience in molecular biology and microscopy
• Technical expertise in embryo and/or cell culture
• Proven track record of research (i.e. publication record)
• Excellent communication skills required – both oral and written presentation
• Ability to communicate ideas and results effectively and interact fluidly with computational biologists
• Ability to work independently and organise own workload
• Ability to design experiments, report on research progress and outcomes openly and review methodologies in response to feedback
• Highly motivated, organized and analytical
• Ability to update knowledge in the specialist area and implement relevant technologies to advance the project

Desirable

• Experience in preimplantation mouse or human embryo culture
• Experience in human and mouse pluripotent stem cell culture
• Experience in preparing samples for advanced sequencing
• Experience in genome editing using CRISPR-Cas9 technology

• Experience in lentivirus production and transduction

Postdoctoral Training Fellows are expected to lead their own projects, contribute to other projects on a collaborative basis (both in the lab and with external collaborators) and guide PhD students in their research. The ability to work in a team is essential.

If you are interested in applying for this role please apply through our online system:

Jobs.crick.ac.uk

For any questions relating to this role, please contact Kathy.Niakan@crick.ac.uk or jobs@crick.ac.uk    

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2016 will live in infamy for many reasons, but perhaps we can seek a little catharsis in science, and in some of the wonderful developmental biology that the Node has  promoted this year.

This end of year roundup comes in two sections – the top 20 most read posts, and then some of my personal favourites that may have been posted late in the year or gone somewhat underneath the radar. I joined the Node half way through the year and one of the real highlights of the job so far (aside from making GIFs) has been helping out with – and reading –  a diverse and interesting suite of posts.

Skate development from the Gillis lab, who reached #4 in our top 20.

2016 Most Read Top 20

1. In memory of Marcos Vidal – Ross Cagan and Eyal Gottlieb
2. BarBarPlots – Helena Jambor
3. Woods hole cover competition – Round 1
4. Gills, fins and the evolution of vertebrate paired appendages – Andrew Gillis
5. The Doctor of Delayed Publications – the remarkable life of George Streisinger – Máté Varga
6. Raw Data: a cautionary tale – Katherine Brown
7. Sweetening with a pinch of salt: maximized Cas9 efficiency in zebrafish – Alexa Burger
8. MBL Embryology Course 2016 – Joaquín Navajas Acedo, Aleisha Symon and Tsai-Ming Lu
9. Woods Hole cover competition – Movie round
10. A day in the life of a spider lab – Anna Schönauer, Daniel Leite and Christian Bonatto
11. An interview with Peter Lawrence
12. Preprints in publishing – Katherine Brown
13. The people behind the papers #1
14. A day in the life of an embryonic stem cell lab –  Helena Pérez Valle
15. drosophila.me – manage your fly stocks and crosses –  Mario Metzler
16. Drawing Embryos, Seeing Development –  Beatrice Steinert
17. Revisiting the classics: coupling embryology with genomics to alter cell fate – Marcos Simoes-Costa and Marianne Bronner
18. An interview with Melina Schuh
19. A Tale of Trunks or Zen and the art of doing a PhD – Rita Aires
20. Time-Lapse Recording of Pre-Implantation Mouse Development – Katie McDole

As you can see this represents quite an accurate cross section of typical Node content – from interviews to resources, and research to personal histories.

My personal favourite from the top 20 is Máté Varga’s magisterial history of George Streisinger. I knew nothing of Streisinger before reading this piece, one of the few ‘longread’ types we featured. I urge you to sit down with a coffee and take the time to read it; his really was a remarkable life, and developmental biology owes him a lot for initiating the zebrafish field. As a fan of the history of science, I also loved Beatrice Steinert’s piece on Edwin Conklin and drawing in early embryology. The introductory paragraph sets the scene beautifully:

“Today, when we want to capture an image given by the microscope we can either snap a photograph of it or obtain a computer-generated image. But prior to when photographic methods began making their way into biology labs and journals, this meant you had to draw it. For embryologists, this meant creating accurate, detailed drawings of either live or fixed embryos. Because developing embryos are three-dimensional, complex, and constantly changing, being able to render them by hand, let alone to see and make sense of them, was no simple feat. The task required meticulous observation of both the form and movement of cells, tissues, and structures. Pencil and paper weren’t used only as a recording device to create figures for publication, they also served as a form of note taking and played a central role in guiding embryologists’ observations of specimens placed under the microscope.”

Sticking with the MBL, I enjoyed Joaquín Navajas Acedo, Aleisha Symon and Tsai-Ming Lu’s account of the legendary Woods Hole Embryology course – their piece captures the intensity and slight sense of madness of those weeks by the shore. Of the posts about research, my pick is  Marcos Simoes-Costa and Marianne Bronner’s account of their beautiful work on the neural crest, which blended personal and scientific stories brilliantly:

“Marianne had been interested in this question for a long time, and for more personal reasons – while recovering from a bicycle accident (face plant resulting in a broken nose and deviated septum), she learned from the craniofacial surgeon that facial cartilage is very difficult to replace”

Outside of this Top 20 (which is obviously a little biased towards the front end of the year), I’ll highlight three pieces that intersect art and science. Mark Hintze, a developmental biologist, and  Diana Gradinaru, an illustrator, talked us through their animation ‘Developmental Biology: Life’s symphony.’ It really is worth a watch:

We also heard from two scientists-cum-artists: Mia Buehr, who uses machine embroidery to create wonderful versions of embryonic and fully formed model organisms, and Beata Edyta Mierzwa, whose drawings capture the magic of cell biology and the travails of research.

I always enjoy our Day in the Life posts, and as well as the two that made the top 20, I found Martin Minařík’s cross-continental account of life working on gar (fishes related to sturgeons) fascinating and funny. It was also a pleasure to get to know a bunch of scientists through our People Behind the Papers feature and will be continuing this throughout 2017. The piece that I am perhaps personally most proud of comes from our Forgotten Classics series, where I had the privilege of discovering Rosa Beddington’s work for the first time.

Thanks to all our authors and thanks to all our readers!

See you in 2017

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To celebrate the Yuletide, we put together the 12 Development GIFs of Christmas on Twitter, a celebration of the beauty and breadth of developmental biology in endless hypnotic loops that you could watch for ages.

Happy GIFmas!

🎄1/12 @Dev_Journal GIFs of Christmas🎄
SPIM #zebrafish, from Bassi, et al. https://t.co/36Kl6A72Ow pic.twitter.com/8NIO1M9t3j

— the Node (@the_Node) December 21, 2016

🎄2/12 @Dev_Journal GIFs of Christmas🎄
Tribolium embryogenesis, from Stappert, et al.https://t.co/u7Ehf1J2V7 pic.twitter.com/chbAr4TqnM

— the Node (@the_Node) December 21, 2016

🎄3/12 @Dev_Journal GIFs of Christmas🎄
Ascidian metamorphosis, by Matthew Clark @MBLScience cover competition entryhttps://t.co/GOZxIjM7fi pic.twitter.com/G6pGrbr0eT

— the Node (@the_Node) December 21, 2016

🎄4/12 @Dev_Journal GIFs of Christmas🎄
Drosophila gastrulation, from Fuse, et al.https://t.co/PnaGYVoNNi pic.twitter.com/CnOlFVvG6M

— the Node (@the_Node) December 21, 2016

🎄5/12 @Dev_Journal GIFs of Christmas🎄
Arabidopsis root, from Goh, et al.https://t.co/otxMU7btpI pic.twitter.com/dersyGHBxN

— the Node (@the_Node) December 21, 2016

🎄6/12 @Dev_Journal GIFs of Christmas🎄
Ascidian development, from Navarrete & Levinehttps://t.co/SDpX8667xL pic.twitter.com/Tl1itYhD3H

— the Node (@the_Node) December 22, 2016

🎄7/12 @Dev_Journal GIFs of Christmas🎄
Zebrafish ocular morphogenesis, from Miesfeld, et al. https://t.co/ytCqai50H4 pic.twitter.com/Uw5qKWzOq4

— the Node (@the_Node) December 22, 2016

🎄8/12 @Dev_Journal GIFs of Christmas🎄
Drosophila gastrulation by Galanternik & co @MBLScience cover competitionhttps://t.co/GOZxIjM7fi pic.twitter.com/SyUoWogmcY

— the Node (@the_Node) December 22, 2016

🎄9/12 @Dev_Journal GIFs of Christmas🎄
Quail development, from Huss, et al.https://t.co/oIOmWcPhVm pic.twitter.com/jieCskFDku

— the Node (@the_Node) December 22, 2016

🎄10/12 @Dev_Journal GIFs of Christmas🎄
Zebrafish lateral line by @ezattara
A(nother) @MBLScience cover comp entry!https://t.co/GOZxIjM7fi pic.twitter.com/XDXfd06YOC

— the Node (@the_Node) December 22, 2016

🎄11/12 @Dev_Journal GIFs of Christmas🎄
Cytoplasmic flows in red, white and blue, from Li-Villarreal, et al.https://t.co/YRb858vzB0 pic.twitter.com/nydEjuz7Hk

— the Node (@the_Node) December 22, 2016

🎄12/12 @Dev_Journal GIFs of Christmas🎄
And finally, mouse development in 4D, from Wong, et al.https://t.co/vLEa2rwDRc pic.twitter.com/bAJiy31SvM

— the Node (@the_Node) December 22, 2016

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An exciting opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic full-time Postdoctoral Fellow with a passion for developmental and molecular biology. Our research aims to understand adolescence idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) pathogenesis at the molecular and cellular level in order to transform the way AIS treatment is managed clinically. We have 2 key goals for this project: 1. To analyse molecular pathways associated with AIS 2. To determine via animal models how hormonal changes during puberty impacts on spinal cord development.

This is a two-year position with a commencement on or before 1 June 2017.

Further details below:

https://otago.taleo.net/careersection/2/jobdetail.ftl

Contact @DrMegsW , meganj.wilson@otago.ac.nz

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Department/Location: Wellcome Trust – Medical Research Council Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, University of Cambridge

Salary: £34,956-£46,924

Reference: PS11055

Closing date: 22 January 2017

Applications are invited for the position of Research Strategy and Communication Manager to provide high level scientific research and communication support for the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute (CSCI). The Institute will work closely with the Department of Haematology as both prepare to move together into a new purpose-built institute on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in 2018. The Stem Cell Institute and Department of Haematology are both led by Professor Tony Green. This is an exciting time and the post-holder will have an opportunity to help shape the transition to our new building.

The CSCI is a world-leading centre of excellence for stem cell research with 29 group leaders, 28 affiliated group leaders and active grants totalling >£100 million. Key responsibilities will include: coordination of CSCI research strategy and group leader recruitment; identification of funding opportunities and preparation of strategic grant applications; communication of CSCI research (including coordination of website and social media); scientific writing; and overseeing CSCI local, national and international events including workshops, retreats and symposia. The post holder will play a key role in coordinating our work as one of four University Interdisciplinary Research Centres and will work closely with the Institute Director and Lead Administrator.

Applicants should have a PhD together with substantial post-doctoral experience in relevant areas of molecular and cellular biology, together with good scientific writing skills. Experience in communications would be desirable. Applicants should possess excellent communication, interpersonal and problem-solving skills, together with the ability to prioritise a busy and varied workload. The post holder will work closely with the Lead Administrator at SCI to successfully execute the transition to the new building, liaising with the other Institutes to be housed in the building to create seamless administrative and technical support. Once in the new building it is therefore possible that some duties of this post may change so adaptability and flexibility are essential.

Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available until 30 June 2022 in the first instance.

To apply online for this vacancy and to view further information about the role, please visit: http://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/12482. This will take you to the role on the University’s Job Opportunities pages. There you will need to click on the ‘Apply online’ button and register an account with the University’s Web Recruitment System (if you have not already) and log in before completing the online application form.

The closing date for all applications is Sunday 22 January 2017.

Please upload your Curriculum Vitae (CV) and a covering letter in the Upload section of the online application to supplement your application. If you upload any additional documents which have not been requested, we will not be able to consider these as part of your application.

Interviews will be held on Wednesday 01 February 2017.

Louise Balshaw (CSCI Lead Administrator) is responsible for the recruitment for this post and can be contacted at lb358@cam.ac.uk.

Please quote reference PS11055 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

The University values diversity and is committed to equality of opportunity.

The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.

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Debby Silver and Louis-Jan Pilaz

Comment on Pilaz, at al. Current Biology. 26(24): 3383-3392

Neurons and glia of the developing brain are produced from an elegant cell cell type called radial glia. These stem cells are fascinating not only because of their inherent multipotent nature, but also because of their unique bipolar morphology. Radial glia are polarized, with a cell body near the ventricle and extending from this a long basal process which forms endfeet at the top of the brain. This basal process can range in length from 50 microns to over 1000 microns long in human brains!  Although these basal structures are known to be essential for controlling neuron generation, very little is known about their molecular regulation.

The beautiful morphology of radial glia, which are reminiscent of post-mitotic neurons with growing axons, inspired us to think about roles for mRNA localization in neural stem cells.  In post-mitotic neurons local translation is relevant for synaptic function, axon guidance and wound healing. But could RNA be transported with basal processes and locally translated in the distal structures of neural stem cells? This was a natural question for us to ask, given that a major focus of our lab is to understand how RNA regulation impacts neural stem cell function. A handful of studies, including recent studies from Osumi and colleagues¹, had identified several RNAs localized to endfeet. Yet it was unknown if neural stem cells contain a local, unique transcriptome. Moreover, it was mysterious whether these mRNAs reached endfeet by active or passive movements. We were excited to combine our interests in RNA biology with knowledge of live imaging and brain development to investigate these questions. In doing so we were faced with three major challenges.

The first challenge we faced was to image RNA movements in an intact tissue. As far as we know, this had never been accomplished in a mammalian model. One of the ways to visualize RNAs by live imaging is with the MS2 system, which requires expression of two types of molecules^2,3. The RNA of interest includes MS2 RNA loops (we used 24 loops for our reporters).  This RNA is expressed along with a GFP-fused MS2 coat protein, which has nuclear localization signals and high affinity for the MS2 loops. Using this system Singer and colleagues were able to image actin mRNAs transcribed in a mammalian brain⁴. To visualize RNA transport in brain slices, we used in utero electroporation to express the 3’UTR of the Ccnd2 RNA as a reporter, which was shown by Osumi and colleagues to accumulate in radial glia endfeet¹. Then, we had to really push the limits of live imaging embryonic brain slices. RNAs move fast. This involved a lot of late night live imaging sessions, not being sure of what kind of signal to look for. But then one night, there they were! We could actually see bright dots moving through the eyepiece; it was amazing. In the end we had to image the samples with the laser set on high power, which means that some photobleaching occurred and the samples could only be imaged for one or two minutes at a time. After systematic analyses of many basal processes, we realized the moving RNAs may have originally been hard to find because it was only evident in one third of the neural stem cells. After this realization and persistence, we extended our studies to image RNAs moving in radial glia at different stages of development, and observed that their speeds and processivity (run lengths) changed across developmental time. This established that RNAs actively move in neural stem cells!

The second challenge we faced was to image local translation in radial glia endfeet. We decided the best approach for imaging was to use photoconvertible proteins, which have been used extensively by Christine Holt and colleagues⁵. We expressed a reporter construct expressing a photoconvertible protein coupled to an mRNA localization element (Ccnd2 3’ UTR in our case). After photoconversion of the protein from green to red using UV light, the recovery of the natively green fluorescent protein could be examined over time. One of the best controls for these experiments is to use a reporter lacking the RNA localization signal. In our first attempts, we tried to image endfeet within intact brain slices. In control conditions, one expects to observe little to no recovery, since no RNA is localized to the endfeet. However, we could still observe significant recovery in this condition, which we attributed to diffusion of newly synthesized proteins from the radial glia cell body and basal process. This was a hurdle and we were not sure how to proceed…until one day, while making organotypic brain slices containing radial glial cells filled with fluorescent GFP, we noticed a piece of tissue floating away from the slice that contains fluorescent “particles”. After careful characterization, it turned out that this piece of tissue contained the basement membrane, the overlying meningeal cells and GFP-positive basal endfeet severed from radial glia basal processes! We then realized that by peeling the meninges/basement membrane off of the brain, we had found a way to isolate radial glia basal endfeet and measure translation. We were now able to culture those isolated endfeet and the surrounding tissue to perform local translation experiments without too much trouble. This showed that indeed, some mRNAs are capable of local translation within neural stem cells, and also suggested this could be a regulated process!

Finally, the third major challenge we were faced was to find a way to identify basal endfeet RNAs en masse. We first contemplated using laser capture microscopy to isolate basal endfeet from a tissue. This would have been a very daunting task given the size of the endfeet, and the amount of RNA necessary to perform downstream analyses. However, thanks to our discovery that basal endfeet could be easily isolated from radial glia, we had an path to solve this problem. Although these endfeet preparations contain other cells including neurons, vasculature, and fibroblast from the meninges, we found a way to specifically isolate RNAs from endfeet. We adopted an RNA immunoprecipitation approach pioneered by Jack Keene and colleagues⁶. For our purposes we used in utero electroporation to introduce a tagged version of an RNA binding protein into radial glia, and then isolated endfeet from transfected cells. We used EGFP-FMRP because we had already found this protein strongly accumulates in basal endfeet. This strategy enabled us to identify 115 RNAs that localize to basal endfeet. Validations using RNA FISH showed that the RNAs we pulled down were bona fide residents of radial glia endfeet. This discovery uncovered a local transcriptome in nerual stem cells, enriched for microtubule and signaling associated proteins!

We are very excited about the discovery that mRNA can actively move and be locally translated. By overcoming these technical challenges, this study taught us that radial glia serve as highways for molecular transport, not only of mRNAs but also proteins, including RNA binding proteins. There are many questions we are now working to address. What other types of molecules are rapidly transported in radial glia and when does this occur? What other RNAs are located in radial glia endfeet? What controls their transport and translation? And perhaps the most important and challenging question, what is the function of local translation? We are excited for the new lessons we will learn as we peer inside radial glia.

Find out more about work in the Silver Lab at https://sites.duke.edu/silverlab/

References

1 – Tsunekawa, Y., Britto, J.M., Takahashi, M., Polleux, F., Tan, S.-S., and Osumi, N. (2012). Cyclin D2 in the basal process of neural progenitors is linked to non-equivalent cell fates. EMBO J. 31, 1879–1892. 


2 – Buxbaum, A.R., Haimovich, G., and Singer, R.H. (2015). In the right place at the right time: visualizing and understanding mRNA localization. Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 16, 95–109. 


3 – Bertrand, E., Chartrand, P., Schaefer, M., Shenoy, S.M., Singer, R.H., and Long, R.M. (1998). Localization of ASH1 mRNA particles in living yeast. Mol. Cell 2, 437–445. 


4 – Park, H.Y., Lim, H., Yoon, Y.J., Follenzi, A., Nwokafor, C., Lopez-Jones, M., Meng, X., and Singer, R.H. (2014). Visualization of dynamics of single endogenous mRNA labeled in live mouse. Science 343, 422–424. 


5 – Leung, K.-M., van Horck, F.P.G., Lin, A.C., Allison, R., Standart, N., and Holt, C.E. (2006). Asymmetrical beta-actin mRNA translation in growth cones mediates attractive turning to netrin-1. Nat. Neurosci. 9, 1247– 1256. 


6 – Keene, J.D., Komisarow, J.M., and Friedersdorf, M.B. (2006). RIP-Chip: the isolation and identification of mRNAs, microRNAs and protein components of ribonucleoprotein complexes from cell extracts. Nat. Protoc. 1, 302–307.

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Postdoctoral Fellows (Two positions)

RNA Control of Neural Development and Behaviour

Alonso Lab, University of Sussex

Brighton, United Kingdom

Two postdoctoral positions are available in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Sussex supervised by Professor Claudio Alonso (http://www.sussex.ac.uk/lifesci/alonsolab/) within the broad field of Molecular and Developmental Neuroscience. The aim of the project is to investigate the genetic factors underlying the control of movement with a focus on the roles played by small RNAs in the process. The work will combine state-of-the-art molecular, biochemical, genetic, imaging and behavioural approaches to determine the roles of RNA regulation on neural development and behaviour in Drosophila. The work builds on a recent discovery made in the Alonso Lab that microRNAs can affect behaviour and complex movements in Drosophila (Picao-Osorio et al. 2015 Science 350:815-20).

The posts are funded by the Wellcome Trust and will contribute to an ambitious research programme funded by a Wellcome Trust Investigator Award made to Prof. Claudio Alonso. The project will be fostered by the scientific excellence of Sussex Neuroscience ranked within the Top-10 UK academic units within Neuroscience and Biological Sciences in the REF2014 (http://www.sussex.ac.uk/sussexneuroscience/).

One of the Postdocs will be an RNA Biologist (http://www.sussex.ac.uk/aboutus/jobs/1554) and the other a Neurobiologist (http://www.sussex.ac.uk/aboutus/jobs/1552). Successful candidates will be outstanding, committed and highly motivated postdocs seeking to develop an original an independent project within the broad area of Molecular and Developmental Neuroscience. Applicants should have PhD in Biology, Biochemistry, Neuroscience or other relevant disciplines.

The University of Sussex is located 10-min away from the lively and cosmopolitan seaside city of Brighton on the UK South Coast, 60-min away from central London, 30-min away from London Gatwick Airport and with full access to the beautiful country side of the Sussex South Downs.

Closing date for applications: 30 January 2017

For informal enquiries please contact Claudio Alonso at c.alonso@sussex.ac.uk

European and other Non-UK Candidates are welcome to apply

The University of Sussex is committed to equality of opportunity

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