Research:

– Are cellular movements essential for the formation of Turing patterns? Two theoretical chemists posted about their recent paper in Nature Communications!

– David wrote his recent paper in Disease Models & Mechanisms, where he developed two novel and complementary strains that facilitate genetic studies in the mouse.

Discussion:

– Are PhD internships a valuable exposure to careers outside academia or a harmful distraction from research? Share your thoughts in the latest question of the month!

– What are the books that every developmental biologist should read? Check out the growing list and add your suggestions!

Meeting reports:

– Alfonso considered the  10th edition of the Physics of Living Matter conference and the history of how physical sciences came to shed light onto biological problems

– Check out this joint report on the recent FASEB meeting on ‘Mechanisms in Plant Development‘.

– and Amrita wrote about the 8th Annual Zebrafish Disease Model conference.

Also on the Node:

– You may have presented posters and given talks about your research, but how about a rap? Check out this Rapstract on a paper using the direct differentiation of motor neurons from mouse ESCs as a tool to identify genes that direct phrenic neuron identity

– Two interviews featured on the Node this month: an interview with Didier Stainier and an interview with Philip Zegerman

– A tour of grant hell– a scientific parody of Dante’s Divine Comedy!

Happy reading!

(1 votes)

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Postdoctoral Research Associate in Developmental Biology

Closing date : 25/10/2015

Reference : LSX-07097

Employment type : Fixed term for 3 years (full time)

Salary : £30,434 to £37,394 per annum

Location : Takahashi lab, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Manchester, UK

Our laboratory is looking for a highly motivated and skilful developmental biologist to work on a full-time Leverhulme Trust funded project. The overall aim of this project is to study vertebrate head development with particular interest in its evolutionary origin. Using the zebrafish (Danio rerio) model system, you will investigate the genomic cis-regulatory mechanisms of the genes controlling craniofacial development. In particular, you will integrate this in vivo experimental approach with evolutionary research using amphioxus – a marine invertebrate closely related to vertebrate ancestors – in collaboration with Professor Peter Holland at Oxford.

You should hold (or shortly expect to gain) a PhD in a relevant subject, along with a research background in developmental biology or related fields. Excellent laboratory skills are essential. You will be required to establish zebrafish transgenic lines and conduct real-time image analysis in this project. Previous experience with any of these techniques will be an advantage.

The post is available for up to 36 months in the first instance, with an expected appointment date of 1 December 2015.

To apply online for this vacancy, please go to the website (https://www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/displayjob.aspx?jobid=10397) and click on the ‘Apply for job’ button below. This will lead you to the University’s Job Application System, where you can complete and submit the online application form. A full role specification can be obtained from the same website. The closing date for applications is midnight on Sunday 25 October 2015.

Informal enquiries can be made to Dr Tokiharu Takahashi.

Tel : 0161 275 5538

Email : Tokiharu.Takahashi@manchester.ac.uk

(1 votes)

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Postdoctoral Research Scientist in Neuroscience : Oxford, United Kingdom

Salary: Grade 7: £30,434 – £37,394 p.a.

Stephen Goodwin’s lab, based at the Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, are looking to appoint a postdoctoral research scientist to work on a project entitled “Genetic Dissection of Sexual Behaviour”.

Professor Goodwin and his group use Drosophila courtship behaviour to study how sex-specific neural circuitry and behaviours are established during development by the action of complex networks of genes. The aim of the study is to understand how activity in functioning dimorphic neural circuits gives rise to a different sex-specific behavioural repertoire in the male and female fly.

The successful applicant will have a PhD in neuroscience, and experience with the study of behaviour would be desirable. Candidates must have an emerging publication record and a proven ability to communicate their work. Good organisational skills and a willingness to work as part of a team are essential.

The post is fixed-term and Wellcome Trust funded for 3 years and is based at the Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, University of Oxford, Tinsley Building, Mansfield Road, Oxford, OX1 3SR.

The closing date for applications is 12.00 noon on 2 November 2015.

Please send a CV, letter of motivation, and at least two letters of recommendation to Prof Stephen Goodwin (stephen.goodwin@cncb.ox.ac.uk).

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Applications are invited for postdoctoral positions in the laboratory “Epigenetic Regulation of Cell Identity” headed by Dr. Michael WEBER at the CNRS in Strasbourg (France). The positions are funded for up to three years by an ERC Consolidator grant and the INCa (National Cancer Institute).

The research in our laboratory aims at better understanding the function and regulation of DNA methylation in mammalian development by combining molecular biology, high-throughput sequencing, bioinformatics and mouse genetics (Auclair G et al Genome Biol 2014; Guibert S et al Genome Res 2012; Borgel J et al Nature Genet 2010). The successful applicants will uncover and study novel regulatory pathways of DNA methylation in normal and malignant cells.

Our Institute is located on the Illkirch research campus in Strasbourg. The campus offers an international environment with access to state-of-the-art facilities (NGS sequencing, animal housing, proteomics, imaging). The successful candidates will join a young and dynamic team. For more information see our website: http://irebs.u-strasbg.fr/spip.php?rubrique186&lang=en.

We are looking for candidates with a Ph.D. in Molecular or Developmental Biology. Prior experience with epigenetics, NGS datasets or mouse embryology will be positively considered. We expect the candidates to be motivated, creative, excellent team players, and preferably with at least one publication as first author. Applicants with less than two years after obtaining their PhD will be favored.

Starting date: end 2015 or early 2016

Salary: Competitive salary following the CNRS guidelines (> 2,500 € brut / month)

Please send a CV, letter of motivation, and at least one letter of recommendation to Dr Michael Weber (michael.weber@unistra.fr).

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We are seeking outstanding and highly motivated postdoctoral candidates to join an interdisciplinary collaboration between the Gros lab (“Imaging and Regulation of
Morphogenesis in Higher Vertebrates” lab) at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France, and the Campas lab (“Morphogenesis and Self-Organization of Living Matter” lab) at the University of California, Santa Barbara. This specific position would be based at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, with occasional stays at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The overall aims of this collaborative project are to (1) quantify the spatial and temporal distributions of physical forces in developing mouse limb buds using novel force transducers developed recently by the Campas lab and, (2) elucidate their role in maintaining skeletal progenitor differentiation/maintenance balance. For more information about projects and the labs please visit:
www.jgroslab.com ,
https://research.pasteur.fr/en/team/morphogenesis-regulation-in-higher-vertebrates/
and http://www.engineering.ucsb.edu/~campas/.

The position is a 3-year postdoctoral position funded by the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP), available December 1st, although the starting date is flexible. Candidates should have expertise in developmental and/or cellular biology, be willing to extend their knowledge to quantitative biophysics approaches and collaborate with biophysicists and engineers. Experience in live imaging, mouse development, biophysics and/or quantitative biology will be positively considered.

The Pasteur Institute, located in the vibrant city of Paris, has a longstanding history of excellence in developmental biology and in science in general, with access to excellent core facilities.

Applicants should send a cover letter (describing briefly research interests), a C.V and contact information for up to 3 academic references to jgros@pasteur.fr and
campas@engineering.ucsb.edu.

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There is an increased awareness that only a small fraction of PhD students will ultimately secure a tenure-track position in academia. This has led to a discussion on whether graduate schools have a responsibility to help PhD students prepare for a career outside academia, either by providing training on a broader range of transferable skills, or simply by increasing awareness of the various career paths available.

One of the ways PhD programmes have started to support students in this way is by providing access to internship opportunities during their PhDs. A recent article in Nature Jobs discussed the efforts in this direction in the US, where internship options are available for PhD students and postdocs. In the UK, 3 month internships are now part of the compulsory training of PhD students in certain graduate programs (most notably the PIPS scheme, part of the BBSRC PhD studentships). So this month we are asking:

Are PhD internships a valuable exposure to careers outside academia or a harmful distraction from research?

Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below! You can comment anonymously if you prefer. We are also collating answers on social media via this Storify. And if you have any ideas for future questions please drop us an email!

(3 votes)

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Here is some developmental biology related content from other journals published by The Company of Biologists.

Auditory hair cell defects in Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome

Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome (WHS) is a rare genetic disorder associated with sensorineural deafness. In this study, Andrea Streit and colleagues show that, although cochlear hair cells are specified normally in a WHS mouse model, they are disorganised and display sterocilia defects. Read the paper here [OPEN ACCESS].

Studying Huntington disease using iPSCs

Figiel and colleagues examined putative signaling pathways and processes involved in Hutington disease pathogenesis in pluripotent cells. They show that dysregulation of signaling pathways is a very early event in the pathogenesis of Huntington disease and that these pathways are already dysregulated in cells at the stage of pluripotency. Read the paper here [OPEN ACCESS].

Sequential mutagenesis in the mouse

Zhang and Kirsch generated two mouse strains expressing Cre-ER^T2 under Flp-FRT regulation. These tools enable sequential mutagenesis in the same or different cells to study development, tissue homeostasis and diseases such as cancer. Read the paper here [OPEN ACCESS].

KCNK1 on osteoclastogenesis

KCNK1 (K⁺ channel, subfamily K, member 1) is a member of the inwardly rectifying K⁺ channel family, which drives the membrane potential towards the K⁺ balance potential. Kim, Choi and colleagues show that KCNK1 negatively regulates osteoclast differentiation. Read the paper here.

A role for periostin on Schwann cell migration

Riethmacher and colleagues performed comparative gene expression analysis of dorsal root ganglia explant cultures from ErbB3-deficient and wild-type mice, in order to identify genes that are involved in Schwann cell development and migration. Their results demonstrate that the expression of periostin is stimulated by the ErbB ligand NRG1 and promotes the migration of Schwann cell precursors. Read the paper here.

Daphnia sniff out doom with first antennae

Weiss and colleagues analysed the developmental characteristics of the inducible defences formed by Daphnia in response to the warning odours (kairmones) exuded by predators. Read the paper here [OPEN ACCESS].

Developmental remodeling in response to hypoxia/anoxia

Harrison and colleagues observe that Drosophila larvae, which live and feed in severely hypoxic conditions under normal laboratory conditions, show strikingly different behavioral and physiological responses to anoxia from those of adults. Read the paper here.

Toadfish hearing improves with age

Vocal differentiation is widely documented in birds and mammals but has been poorly investigated in other vertebrates, including fish. Vasconcelos and colleagues examined how closely hearing development in the toadfish matches the development of their vocal repertoire. Read the paper here.

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This week, Cambridge (UK) hosted the 10th Symposium on the Physics of Living Matter (PLM10) (http://www.plm-symposium.org/). For those of us who were at PLM1, it is surprising to see that what was (and remains) a grass roots organized event, persists. In some ways it is a tribute and an example that a community can be created by nurturing a common set of interests; in this case how the physical sciences can shed light onto biological problems (NB this is different from Biophysics which looks for biological examples of physical phenomena).

The symposia started with the view of making the local community aware of developments at the interface of Physics and Biology. In the early 00s there were a few pockets of activity cradling this interest. In particular, the legendary Physiology course of Woods Hole (this year’s Bragg lecture was given by Julie Theriot, who has been a pioneer in the field and an active participant in Woods Hole), Eric Karsenti’s division in EMBL, Dresden CBG/PKS was starting and Stan Leibler in Rockefeller was breeding a group of interesting scientists, while individuals like Dennis Bray, were making significant contributions from ‘the side”. Things have changed and ten years on, the interactions between Physics and Biology are on a solid ground. This year’s Symposium bore witness to this and left the message that the future of Biology lies in the quantitative analysis of biological problems and on the use of the reasoning and methods of the physical sciences. It has taken a long time to come but many of us got the feeling at the meeting that the Physics of Living Matter is coming of age.

In his book “What a mad pursuit”, F Crick comments on how Max Delbruck was driven into Biology to search for new Physics to explain living systems (see http://amapress.gen.cam.ac.uk/?p=1489 if you want to learn a bit more) and contrasts this with the belief of Linus Pauling in Chemistry to understand the same problem. Crick makes the point that, as he sees it, history shows that Pauling was right and Delbruck was wrong. However, he puts it in an interesting manner by stating that “time has shown that, SO FAR, Pauling was right and Delbruck was wrong……”. It is the ‘so far’ that reveals Crick’s caution and belief that the story had a second part. This second part is emerging now. With hindsight one can say that the reason why Chemistry rather than Physics provided the insights into Biology during the XX century was, simply, that the problem then was the structure of living matter, not its function. And the structure was, and remains, a problem of Chemistry. Surely one uses physical methods to understand it e.g crystallography and the different flavours of microscopy, but the answers lie in Chemistry. However, when we want to understand how the elements of living matter combine and interact to make WORKING cells, tissues and organs, we have to recur to physics. Herein we find the ways in which biological systems ‘cheat’ the laws of equilibrium thermodynamics and statistical mechanics and, in probing the HOW we learn about how Physics helps explain Biology and about how Biology extends Physics. The XXI century proves that both Pauling and Delbruck were right and PLM10 was a great tribute to this statement with talks on experimental approaches to the origin of life, top notch cell biology and statistical approaches to the behaviour, and output, of cell populations.

The change in the field has been remarkable. Daniel St Johnston commented to me during the meetinh how we can now see that cell biology is Physics. Well, actually, cell biology has always been close to Physics, what has happened in the last few years is that looking at real cells, cells in ensembles or organisms, poses much more interesting questions and problems than when we look at them in isolation. That when we ask questions about their Biology rather than their Physics, we do get interesting answers. An approach to cell (and developmental) biology, which sees tissues and organs as ‘living matter’ is important and harbours the future of the biological sciences. A future in which genetics is not only a tool for the discovery of parts but a tool to perturb systems, to test hypotheses posed in the form of detailed models which, as J Skotheim said, need to be taken seriously i.e. building them to make quantitative predictions and testing these predictions in the terms dictated by the models. And this is another of the issues raised by the Physics of Living Matters: models are the path to mechanisms. But models, not as cartoons of a process but in the sense that an engineer uses them, as ways to test the functioning of a system through a mechanism. There was much of this at PLM10.

PLM10 was the annual gathering of a community that is growing, a community that breaks the disciplinary barriers to solve interesting problems. Surely there are many meetings on this topic but with its 10th anniversary (duly celebrated with a great party which included cells and tissues dancing in the background to the tunes of a great band) but PLM continues to be a unique one because of its grass roots origin, the breadth of its content and its emphasis on the meat of the topic: biological systems, living matter a way of doing Biology which sees tissues and organs as a matter of Genes, Cells and Numbers.

PLM10 was a tribute to all this and it was good to see that the future is being built on a solid basis. Importantly I want to highlight here the interactions constructive interactions between UCL and Cambridge on PLM which continue to build a community and, in particular my colleagues Ewa Paluch, Buzz Baum,. Kristian Franze, Alexander Kabla and specially An Tyrrell for organizing a meeting that seems to go from strength to strength. PLM11, September 2016, is on the horizon; keep it as a date in your diaries!

(7 votes)

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In a world first, Phil Day presents a complete summary of a peer-reviewed scientific paper in the medium of rap: The Rapstract.

Original paper: Dr. Carolina Barcellos-Machado et al., Reconstruction of Phrenic Identity in Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Motor Neurons (2014)

http://dev.biologists.org/content/141/4/784.abstract

Interpretation in Rap by Phil Day presented here. Subtitles available.

Phil Day is the author of the Rap History of the World www.raphistoryoftheworld.com

(7 votes)

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We seek to fill two tenure-track faculty positions at the Assistant or Associate Professor level. Both positions will have 70% research and 30% either teaching or extension responsibilities, depending on the successful candidates’ interests. For appointment as an assistant professor, the selected candidates will be expected to establish an extramurally funded research program, and for appointment as an associate, the individual is expected to have demonstrated success at supporting their research through extramural funding. Candidates interested in a research/teaching appointment will be required to establish an independent, extramurally funded research program and contribute to the educational mission of the department through teaching of undergraduate and/or graduate courses. Candidates seeking a research/extension appointment will be expected to develop and maintain an independent, extramurally funded research and extension program. All candidates must have the interest and ability to conduct research in agriculturally-relevant animal models. The successful candidates will be expected to collaborate with existing faculty members, and to develop a strong graduate student research and educational program. Familiarity with the commercial production system of their model species is greatly desired.

Position Title: Animal Biologist #103156

This faculty member will be expected to investigate fundamental aspects of biology with the goal of identifying novel approaches to improve the quality and efficiency of producing meat, milk, eggs, or animal fiber. We seek a scientist who will create new knowledge relating to the biological and physiological mechanisms underlying nutrition, growth, reproduction, or health in livestock, poultry, equine, and/or aquaculture species.

Position Title: Gastrointestinal Health/Physiology #103160

This faculty member will be expected to investigate aspects of gastrointestinal and digestive physiology of agriculturally relevant species. Gastrointestinal health plays a critical role in the sustainability and competitiveness of U.S. agriculture. We seek a scientist who will create new knowledge that will ultimately reduce animal production and health costs. Candidates examining intestinal physiology and those examining host-microbe interactions will receive equal consideration.

The College Park campus is located in suburban Maryland about 8 miles northeast of Washington, D.C. and 3 miles south of the USDA-ARS campus in Beltsville, MD. The Department of Animal and Avian Sciences primary offices, classrooms and laboratories are all located centrally on campus. The Department includes 23 faculty members and more than 30 support personnel. The candidates will be expected to develop and maintain independent, extramurally funded research programs in their respective areas. Facilities to support a research program are operated by the department and by the Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station (http://www.ansc.umd.edu/research/research-facilities). In addition to 30,000 square feet of laboratory space and 54,000 square feet of support facilities for various on-campus animal research activities, the Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station operates animal research facilities at the Central Maryland Research and Education Center for dairy cattle, the Wye Research and Education Center for beef cattle, and the Upper Marlboro Poultry Research Facility. In addition, our location in the Washington DC metropolitan area offers a wealth of opportunities for collaborations with government agencies such as the USDA, EPA, FDA, and NIH. Additional information about the Department can be obtained at www.ansc.umd.edu/

Salary & Benefits:

The University offers a comprehensive benefits package. The position is a full time 9-month academic year appointment. The opportunity exists to supplement salary through summer salary support from extramural funding.

Applications:

All interested individuals are encouraged to apply. Applications must be submitted through eTerp2 at https://ejobs.umd.edu/. Completed applications must have a letter of application addressed to the Search Chair, Department of Animal and Avian Sciences, University of Maryland. The position must be indicated in the application letter as the Animal Biologist or the Gastrointestinal Health position. Applications must include a description of research and either teaching or extension accomplishments, a proposed research/teaching or research/extension program, a curriculum vitae, unofficial transcript, and contact information for three professional references. The request for professional letters of reference will be generated by the eTerp2 system. Letters of reference must be submitted through eTerp2 prior to review of applications.

Closing Date:

For best consideration, applications will be accepted until November 23, 2015 or until a suitable candidate is identified.

The University of Maryland, College Park, actively subscribes to a policy of equal employment opportunity, and will not discriminate against any employee or applicant because of race, age, sex, color, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, religion, ancestry or national origin, marital status, genetic information, or political affiliation. Minorities and women are encouraged to apply.

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