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

(2 votes)

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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.

(6 votes)

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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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Applications are invited for a 4-year Medical Research Council Industry CASE PhD studentship, which will be jointly supervised by Dr. Laurenti at the University of Cambridge and Dr. Francis at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), to commence in October 2017.

The Laurenti laboratory combines state-of-the-art experimental and computational methods to study the unique biological and molecular properties of human haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). GSK is a world leading research-based pharmaceutical company. In May 2015, the first autologous ex vivo gene therapy product, developed by the Cell and Gene Therapy (CGT) platform, was recently approved by the European Medicines Agency. CGT supports numerous cell and gene therapy projects from early phase to commerical launch, and the development of innovative technologies to enable improvements to cell and gene therapy manufacture.

The principal research aim of this project is to determine to what extent the gene therapy protocol affects the biology of HSCs. The project will combine single cell transcriptomics, lentiviral transduction technology, flow cytometry and single cell functional assays in vitro and in vivo. Adult HSCs and progenitor cells will be subjected to the gene therapy protocol and changes in their fate choices and transcriptome will be determined by single cell functional assays and single cell RNA-seq. This information will provide insights into how changes in the molecular circuitry of HSC alter their function under stress conditions, and will be used to guide process improvements to increase HSC functionality after transduction.

The primary research will be carried out mostly in Dr Laurenti’s laboratory but the student will spend a minimum of 6 months at GSK during the time of the fellowship.

We encourage applications from students with mathematical and/or bioinformatics skills.

Eligibility

• Applicants should hold or be about to achieve a First or Upper-Second (2.1) class degree in a relevant subject. Students with a Bachelor-level degree are encouraged to apply.
• MRC studentships are available to UK nationals and EU students who meet the UK residency requirements. More information is available at: http://www.mrc.ac.uk/skills-careers/studentships/studentship-guidance/student-eligibility-requirements/

How to Apply

1. Complete our departmental Application Form*, which will include providing the details of two referees
2. Submit your application documents which should include your Application Form, CV, and your Degree transcripts, in pdf format to: sci-phd@stemcells.cam.ac.uk
3. Please ask your referees to submit references directly to the SCI Graduate Administrator by the application deadline: sci-phd@stemcells.cam.ac.uk, using “MRC iCASE 4-Year PhD studentship (Laurenti)” in the subject header.  It is your responsibility for ensuring that both references are received by the closing date.

Application Deadline: Tuesday 14^th February 2017 and shortlisted candidates will be interviewed between 27th-28th February 2017.

Informal Academic Enquiries to: Dr Elisa Laurenti el422@cam.ac.uk
Application Process Enquiries to: Graduate Administrator sci-phd@stemcells.cam.ac.uk.

For further details about our group and the institute, please visit:

• Laurenti lab: http://www.stemcells.cam.ac.uk/researchers/principal-investigators/elisa-laurenti
• Stem Cell Institute Research: http://www.stemcells.cam.ac.uk/researchers/

*Please note that for this project you DO NOT APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE MRC, but apply through the process above here at the Stem Cell Institute*.

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

Salary: £29,301-£38,183

Reference: PS11020

Closing date: 18 January 2017

Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available until 31 March 2018 in the first instance.

The Pluripotent Stem Cell Platform (PSCP) is a hub in the UK Regenerative Medicine Platform, a joint research council programme to tackle the critical challenges in developing new regenerative treatments (www.ukrmp.org.uk). PSCP is a multi-disciplinary collaboration focussed on the quality controlled manufacturing and differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells suitable for clinical applications (http://www.ukrmp.org.uk/hubs/cell-behaviour-differentiation-and-manufacturing/).

A post-doctoral position is available for a PSCP project based in Cambridge under the direction of Cedric Ghevaert (http://www.stemcells.cam.ac.uk/researchers/principal-investigators/cedric-ghevaert).

The research is centred on optimising the generation of genetically modified human embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells with reduced immunogenicity for development of cell based therapies, in particular megakaryocytes and platelets for transfusion.

Candidates should have a PhD with experience in the culture and analysis of pluripotent stem cells and/or haematological cell differentiation processes.

Applications are encouraged from candidates with experience of work in this area and an appreciation of cell production for clinical use and trials.

Technical support is available and access to a range of flow cytometry, imaging and qPCR instrumentation.

To apply online for this vacancy and to view further information about the role, please visit: http://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/12444. 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 the Wednesday 18 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.

Informal enquiries about the post are also welcome via email on jobs@stemcells.cam.ac.uk.

Please quote reference PS11020 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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*Winner announced!*

With over 200 votes counted, the cover of Development’s Special Issue on Plant Development has won the voter’s favourite cover for 2016! The fruit bat came second, and in joint third the fly nervous system and the fly legs. A fitting variety of model organisms for a great year in developmental biology!

In our in-house competition, the fly nervous system won the Development team’s vote (showing we’re not too far from public opinion!) , but sadly lost out to these beautiful blood cells from our sister journal in the Company of Biologists, The Journal of Cell Science.

The cover images for the 24 issues of Development in 2016 showcase the breadth and beauty of developmental biology today. Model systems from plants to bats were imaged in various modalities – confocal and electron microscopy, microCT, good old fashioned skeletal preps and darkfield – and we also featured some in silico modelling.

Which one is your favourite? You can vote below the gallery (click to expand), and tell us why in the comments section.

Three-dimensional rendering of a confocal image stack showing a single alveolar type 1 cell with expansive cellular extensions (green, GFP, genetically labelled with HopxCreER/+; RosamTmG/+) intertwined with the vasculature (blue, ICAM2) in the mouse lung. From Yang et al., p. 54.

Embryonic day 8 chicken hindgut was cultured for 72 hours on a fibronectin-coated surface in the presence of supplemental glial-derived neurotrophic factor (Gdnf). Immunostaining with a neural crest cell marker (Hnk1; red) and a neuronal marker (Tuj1; green) demonstrates robust migration of the enteric neural crest cells. From Nagy et al. p. 264.

Ovules of Arabidopsis bel1 cna phb phv mutants. The ovulate axis of extant angiosperms does not branch, whereas some fossil gymnosperms show branching ovules. The branched ovulate axis of this mutant might thus bridge the gap in ovule body plan. From Yamada et al., p. 422.

Differing Six2/SIX2 transcriptional networks in mouse and human kidney. E15.5 mouse kidney next to a 15.5 week human fetal kidney with Six2/SIX2 (cyan) marking the nephron progenitors and cytokeratin (red) highlighting the collecting duct system. Nuclei are in blue. From O’Brien et al., p. 595.

Stage 19 short-tailed fruit bat (Carollia perspicillata). On the left side is an image of the fixed embryo before staining; the right side shows the embryo after Alcian Blue staining for cartilage. This image, taken by Idoia Quintana-Urzainqui, Paola Bertucci, Peter Warth and Chi-Kuo Hu at the 2014 Woods Hole MBL Embryology course, was chosen by readers of the Node.

Actin filaments (red) are enriched at the borders of enveloping layer cells surrounding the blastoderm (nuclei, blue), in the yolk cell cortex, and in a band adjacent to the blastoderm, where they function in cell movements of epiboly and maintain integrity of the blastoderm and yolk cell, a process that is disturbed in zebrafish split top embryos. From Langdon et al., p. 1016.

A segmented brain MRI scan for a heterozygous Tubb5 knockout mouse. Depicted are the olfactory bulbs (yellow), cortex (cyan), putamen (dark blue), lateral ventricles (red), hippocampus (green), colliculi (maroon) and cerebellum (pink). These mice have microcephaly reminiscent of patients with TUBB5 mutations. From Breuss et al., p. 1126.

A skeletal preparation of an embryonic bamboo shark (ventral view) showing the gill arch branchial rays and pectoral fins. The branchial rays of cartilaginous fishes and the paired fins/limbs of jawed vertebrates are patterned by a common Shh-dependent signalling mechanism. From Gillis and Hall, p. 1313.

Stage 17 Drosophila melanogaster embryo (ventral view) showing Elav (green; neuronal nuclei), Spalt (yellow; subset of neuron and muscle nuclei), BP102 (red; CNS axons), Eve (magenta; subset of CNS nuclei, and ring of nuclei around anal pad), HRP (grey; neuronal cell bodies and axons) and DAPI (blue; nuclei) staining. The image was taken by Connie Rich (University of Cambridge, UK) at the 2014 Woods Hole MBL embryology course and was chosen by readers of the Node

Cardiac atrium of a 6-week-old zebrafish labelled by priZm multicolour fate-mapping, with colour recombination generated by an atrial cardiomyocyte-specific inducible Cre recombinase. Coloured patches are multicellular muscle clones derived from individual atrial cardiomyocytes present at 3 days post-fertilization, illuminating the morphological changes and proliferation dynamics that shape the maturing chamber. From Foglia et al., p. 1688.

Müller glia-derived progenitor cells in acutely damaged chick retina. The retinal section was labelled with antibodies to Sox9 (red), neurofilament (green), phospho-histone H3 (blue) and CD45 (magenta). From Zelinka et al., p. 1859

3D volume-rendered heart of a 75 hpf Tg(kdrl:EGFP) zebrafish larva. Between the atrium and ventricle (right and left side of image, respectively) is the atrioventricular canal, where the emerging valve leaflet is recognisable as a folded structure. Such 3D analyses provide fundamental insights into the cellular rearrangements underlying cardiac valve formation in zebrafish. From Pestel et al., p. 2217

The mosaic of Rhodopsin 5 (blue)- and Rhodopsin 6 (red)-expressing R8 photoreceptors in the retina of Drosophila melanogaster. The insulator protein BEAF-32 is required for Hippo pathway activity to correctly specify R8 subtypes. From Jukam et al., p. 2389

A frontal section of a mouse heart at embryonic day 17.5 showing normal anatomy, which can be disrupted by short-term exposure to hypoxia during gestation. The image was generated using optical projection tomography. From Shi et al., p. 2561.

Mouse E16.5 dorsal tongue filiform papillary epithelia are highly patterned as rosettes, ordered between regions of intercalating lamina propria. Epithelium is demarcated by membranously expressed E-cadherin (Rhodamine Red-X); nuclei are stained with DAPI (blue). The mitotic spindle orientation factor LGN has multiple distinct functions in regulating oral epithelial development by controlling cell division orientation. From Byrd et al., p. 2803.

The hyaloid blood vessel network (red) with associated macrophages (green) isolated from a mouse eye. This, along with the retinal vessel network, was used to provide new insights into the role of apoptosis during angiogenesis and vessel regression. From Watson et al. p. 2973

Posterior (left) and lateral (right) views of the squid Doryteuthis pealeii at hatching scanned using microCT. Segmented reconstructions of brain regions correspond to a fate map generated during early embryogenesis. Depicted are the pedal (purple), buccal (cyan), paliovisceral (green) and cerebral (pink) ganglia, the optic lobes (dark blue), the retina (red) and the lens/iris (yellow). From Koenig et al., p. 3168

Computational modelling predicts an asymmetric Aux1 pattern in the root during halotropism (right, stylised picture). The asymmetric Aux1-YFP pattern observed in an Arabidopsis thaliana root during halotropism (left) confirms the model predictions. See Research article by van den Berg et al., p. 3350.

Leg phenotypes obtained after a progressive reduction in the dose of Sp family genes in Drosophila. Clockwise from top left: wild type, btd mutant, Sp1 mutant, Sp1 mutant with one mutant copy of btd and Sp1, btd double deletion mutant. From Córdoba et al., p. 3623.

Multiple stages of Tg(fli1a:egfp)y1 zebrafish embryos immunostained for pERK (red) and EGFP (green). In endothelial cells, ERK is activated in distinct signalling contexts to promote angiogenesis and lymphatic morphogenesis during development. From Shin et al., p 3796.

Spectral karyotyping of a metaphase cerebellar granule neuron progenitor from a P3 mouse with conditional deletion of Atr demonstrates complex chromosomal rearrangements, including fusions and translocations, revealing that ATR plays a crucial role in maintaining genomic integrity during brain development. Each chromosome is labelled in a different colour. From Lang et al., p. 4038.

Sea star gastrula larva showing neural precursor soxc-expressing cells (green) scattered throughout the ectoderm, dividing to produce lhx2/9-expressing daughters (pink) in the anterior ectoderm. DAPI staining shows nuclei (blue). Conserved anteroposterior patterning domains control the progression of neurogenesis in this deuterostome. See From Cheatle Jarvela et al., p. 4214.

Scanning electron microscopy of E10.5 control (left) and Six3neo/− (right) mouse embryos. The telencephalic vesicles (pseudocolored in red), and the medial (pseudocolored in yellow) and lateral (pseudocolored in green) nasal prominences are well separated in control embryos; however, only one small telencephalic vesicle and no medial nasal prominences are present in Six3neo/− embryos. From Geng et al., p. 4462.

3D reconstructions of mid-gastrula (left) and mid-neurula (right) Ciona embryos electroporated with transgenes driving H2B:Cherry (red) in the epidermis and YFP-CAAX (green) in the neural plate. Nodal and FGF control the cellular behaviours underlying morphogenesis of the neural tube during Ciona development. From Navarette and Levine, p. 4665.

Poll closes Thursday, 22nd December, 13.00 GMT!

Links to the papers:

143-1 Mouse lung

143-2 Chick enteric neural crest

143-3 Arabidopsis ovules

143-4 Mouse and human kidneys

143-5 Fruit bat

143-6 Zebrafish epiboly

143-7 Mouse MRI

143-8 Bamboo shark embryo

143-9 Fly nervous system

143-10 Zebrafish atrium

143-11 Chick retina

143-12 Rendered zebrafish heart

143-13 Fly retina

143-14 Mouse heart

143-15 Mouse tongue

143-16 Retinal vasculature

143-17 Squid hatchlings

143-18 Arabidopsis root

143-19 Fly legs

143-20 Zebrafish assemblage

143-21 Neuron chromosomes

143-22 Sea star gastrula

143-23 Mouse heads

143-24 Ciona embryos

(1 votes)

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The Alberto Monroy Fellowship is awarded to an Italian citizen to support their attendance in the Embryology Course next summer at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

The amount of the fellowship is 5,500.00 euros (about $5,750.00). The full text of the announcement of the award competition for 2017 can be found at http://www.giomolab.it/AAM.

The deadline for applications is February 1, 2017; http://www.mbl.edu/education/courses/embryology.

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