Salary: £24,049 – £27,047

Location:
Wellcome Trust – Medical Research Council Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge, CB2 1QR, UK.

Fixed Term:
The funds for this post are available until 31st May 2017 in the first instance.

The Wellcome Trust – Medical Research Council Cambridge Stem Cell Institute draws together outstanding researchers from 25 stem cell laboratories in Cambridge to form a world-leading centre for stem cell biology and medicine. Scientists in the Institute collaborate to generate new knowledge and understanding of the biology of stem cells and provide the foundation for new medical treatments.

A position of Research Technician is available in the laboratory of Dr. Brian Hendrich. The role is part of the “Transcriptional Control of Stem Cell Fate” research group within the Wellcome Trust – Medical Research Council Cambridge Stem Cell Institute. The role holder will play a crucial part in assisting senior researchers and organising lab reagents and equipment for an established research group, consisting of 8-10 researchers.

Applicants should have A levels or a university degree in life sciences or equivalent, and have experience in molecular biology and biochemical techniques, and a good working knowledge of aspects of chromatin biology, stem cell biology, and transcriptional control. Experience with mammalian cell culture would be a bonus. Applicants should be meticulous in their work and have a passion for biological research.

To apply, please visit our vacancies webpage:

http://www.stemcells.cam.ac.uk/careers-study/vacancies/

Informal enquiries are also welcome via email: cscrjobs@cscr.cam.ac.uk

Applications must be submitted by 17:00 on the closing date of 17^th November 2013.

Interviews will be held on the afternoon of Wednesday 4^th December 2013. If you have not been invited for interview by 27^th November 2013, you have not been successful on this occasion.

Please quote reference PS01905 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

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Research in the modern life sciences is moving forward at an enormous pace and is generating massive amounts of data and new insights into the molecular principles of life on Earth. More than ever it is important for science teachers to stay up-to-date and to refresh their knowledge continuously. They are an important professional group, which can directly foster young people’s interest in science, thereby taking the role of a “door opener” for a huge pool of talented future scientists.

Ten years ago – in 2003 – the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) launched the European Learning Laboratory for the Life Sciences (ELLS) to address the demand for continuing professional development of secondary school science teachers. The science education facility has been created to bring secondary school teachers and students into the research lab. Exciting hands-on encounters with state-of-the-art molecular biology techniques help bridge the gap between research and schools.

As an integral part of the EMBL, ELLS is embedded in the scientific environment of one of the world’s most renowned research institutions. The EMBL has an international staff of dynamic scientists, and is in the unique position to connect scientific expertise directly with educational outreach activities. We are therefore aiming to engage teachers with contemporary research and with the scientists pursuing research projects at the forefront of science.

ELLS’ core activities include the organization of multifaceted training opportunities to bring the modern concepts of molecular biology into the classroom. High school science teachers are supported to further develop their hands-on expertise and to refresh their content knowledge during the popular ELLS LearningLABs. These multi-day workshops for international groups of teachers bring the participants in contact with the institute‘s vibrant scientific environment. A blend of practical experiments, presentations by EMBL research scientists and visits to world-class research facilities foster an extensive dialogue between course participants, scientists and stakeholders from related disciplines. Another important aspect of these training courses for teachers is that they provide a platform for EMBL’s staff to communicate science to a wider audience. EMBL pre- and postdoctoral students, research scientists and technical assistants are primed to use these opportunities and to develop their communication and presentation skills. These are skill sets that are becoming increasingly important for scientists who very often have to communicate their findings to non-scientific audiences and to reassure taxpayers that their research money is well invested.

ELLS LearningLABs are tackling all aspects of basic research performed at EMBL’s five sites. The courses are specifically tailored to the needs of teachers as they link to scientific topics that are represented on modern school science curricula. Furthermore, we closely observe newly emerging research topics and are continuously exploring ways to include them in our training courses. An example is the increasing importance of bioinformatics – the computational analysis of large volumes of biological data derived from the life sciences. It has become a core feature of biological research and we have organised a series of ELLS LearningLABs on bioinformatics for secondary-school science teachers from across Europe to support them in the use of bioinformatics resources in inquiry-based learning. Bioinformatics is essential for making sense of data produced by new technologies – such as genome sequencing – and aspects of bioinformatics will also affect wider society, e.g. in terms of healthcare. However, this revolution has not yet filtered down to education. A comparison of the numbers of bioinformatics resource websites and the number of educational websites for bioinformatics further emphasises the lag in seeing practical knowledge of bioinformatics tools and resources reflected in the classroom and curriculum[i].

During our Bioinformatics LearningLABs we provide interactive introductions to the field of bioinformatics. We present opportunities to use basic bioinformatics resources in the classroom and equip the teachers with simple, easily transferable, classroom activities to support their teaching of biology. We have observed that, although teachers are aware of bioinformatics as a concept, they see a clear need for increasing their knowledge of this area and for receiving help with the initial implementation of the concepts. Orientation and practical demonstration of how the resources can be used opens up a world of new possibilities to ultimately connect students to learning about and doing science. We have recently published our experiences on creating and running bioinformatics training courses for European secondary school science teachers. Our article “Bioinformatics Goes to School—New Avenues for Teaching Contemporary Biology”[ii] is freely available on the PLOS Computational Biology website and contains useful information for trainers and institutions who are considering to replicate teacher training courses on bioinformatics.

In addition to the face-to-face training courses, the ELLS also offers training events via the internet. The recently started ELLS Webinars are online seminars presented in our virtual auditorium. Interested teachers can attend these 1 hour long online events from home, which minimizes the time and the financial investment associated with standard on-site courses. The idea behind these interactive online presentations by EMBL scientists is to share research results in clear and engaging presentations. The participants value the “direct line” to ask questions to the speakers. It presents an exciting opportunity to enter in an open dialogue about contemporary research topics with the presenters. In addition, the ELLS Webinars offer a platform to highlight teaching resources related to the topics discussed and to share personal teaching experiences among the participating teachers.

Information on a wide range of ELLS activities, our teaching resources and the latest news on ground-breaking discoveries by EMBL scientists are freely available online and we cordially invite you to explore them on the brand-new ELLS teachers’ portal EMBLog (www.emblog.embl.de/ells).

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Have you ever folded a protein with your hands?

You can do so by visiting our TeachingBASE. We invite you to create your own three-dimensional model of a protein using an A4 paper template.

By following the provided instructions we show you how to fold a triosephosphate isomerase (TIM) barrel. TIM barrels are some of the most common structural motifs found in proteins. In a TIM barrel eight α-helices and eight parallel β-strands form a solenoid that curves around to close on itself in a doughnut shape. Triosephosphate isomerase is a conserved metabolic enzyme that is involved in the production of chemical energy from sugar, a process called glycolysis.

This activity is suitable for use in the classroom as it gives the students an understanding of the structure / function relationships in proteins. Proteins are not only organized in linear chains of amino acids but need to take up a specific fold in order to be able to exert their functions.

A simple analogy: One could compare this to a pullover made of wool. Only when the thread is brought into its final “conformation” (knitted into a pullover) it will be able to warm the person wearing it.

The protein folding template and the instructions can be downloaded from the TeachingBASE on our ELLS teachers’ portal EMBLog: http://emblog.embl.de/ells/teachingbase

You can read more about the  European Learning Laboratory for the Life Sciences (ELLS) at EMBL in this post.
 

This post is part of a series on science outreach. You can read the introduction to the series here and read other posts in this series here.

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Here is our monthly round-up of some of the interesting content that we spotted around the internet:

News & Research:

– The 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was announced, awarded to James E. Rothman, Randy W. Schekman  and Thomas C. Südhof for their work on vesicle trafficking.

– The US government shutdown continues, with consequences for american scientists. Science magazine wrote this piece on the early days of the shutdown, as well as this later article on how it is affecting, for example, fruit fly shipments.

– The last month saw two dates worth of notice: October the 2nd was Stem Cell Day, while the 15th of October celebrated Ada Lovelace day, highlighting the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

– Developmental Biologist Margaret Buckingham was awarded the CNRS gold medal for her work on heart and muscle development.

– The Science Museum has just launched an exhibition on 3D printing, including its medical applications.

– The Twitter account @realscientists is being curated this week by New Zealand’s developmental biologist Megan Wilson, who also writes for the Node.

Weird & Wonderful

– While the Nobel Prize were on the spotlight, we also spotted this article about Nobel Prize winners that experimented on themselves.

– We saw a photo of these science-themed cupcakes describing how to do an RT-PCR in Arabidopsis.

– We discovered a website collating the best science GIFs around the internet.

Resources

– The Nobel Prize Inspiration Initiative is a great website where Nobel prize winers share their stories and insights.

– Science magazine had a special issue on communication in science, with a variety of interesting articles.

Videos worth watching

– Science Studio, a great website selecting the best science audio and video on the internet was launched. Some great videos to watch!

– We found this great animation explaining the physics of why the world of sperm is different from that of a sperm whale.

– ISSCR president Janet Rossant is the narrator in a movie explaining what embryonic stem cells are.

– and the NY times released an interesting video on Dolly the sheep and cloning then and now.

All the content on this post and more (including coming meetings and registration deadlines) was tweeted from the Node twitter account. If you don’t want to wait for the monthly posts, follow us on Twitter!

Image: Ada Lovelace, wikimedia commons

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You may remember that last August the charity and non-for-profit publisher of Development and the Node, the Company of Biologists, launched its YouTube channel. The latest movie in the company’s channel is an interview with two Nobel Prize winners- John Gurdon and Tim Hunt, respectively the previous and the current Chair of Directors of the Company of Biologists. John and Tim discuss their time as Chair of Directors, and the current and future projects of the Company of Biologists.
 
 

 
 
Do visit the company’s YouTube channel for more videos on its activities, as well as interesting and beautiful supplementary movies from papers published in the company’s journals such as Development.
 

(1 votes)

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Here are the highlights from the current issue of Development:

Deconstructing pancreas development in vitro

An effective cellular therapy for diabetes is dependent on the production of sufficient quantities of functional β-cells. Recent studies have enabled the production of pancreatic precursors but efforts to expand these cells and differentiate them into insulin-producing β-cells have proved a challenge. Now, Anne Grapin-Botton and colleagues establish a three-dimensional culture method that enables the efficient expansion of mouse embryonic pancreatic progenitors (p. 4452). They show that, when cultured at low density in Matrigel, dissociated epithelial cells from E10.5 mouse pancreata proliferate and form branched pancreatic organoids. These organoids, they report, consist of polarised epithelial cells lining a lumen, with some cells expressing endocrine markers. The authors further show that organoid formation is dependent on a community effect; a minimum of four pancreatic cells in the initial cluster is required for subsequent organoid development. Using the culture system, the authors also dissect several other aspects of pancreas development, highlighting that this culture method offers huge long-term potential in uncovering important aspects of β-cell development.

See the press release from DanStem here

aPKC sorts out blastocyst formation

The preimplantation mouse embryo consists of three lineages: trophectoderm, primitive endoderm (PrE) and epiblast (Epi), which will become the future foetus. PrE and Epi precursors are initially present in a ‘salt and pepper’ distribution within the blastocyst and subsequently sort into two distinct layers but what controls this segregation? Here, Berenika Plusa and colleagues show that atypical protein kinase C (aPKC) couples cell sorting with cell fate progression in the mouse blastocyst (p. 4311). They first show that aPKC is enriched in PrE precursors prior to cell sorting. This enrichment, they report, is dependent on FGF signalling and the acquisition of PrE fate. Importantly, RNAi knockdown or chemical inhibition of aPKC impairs PrE-Epi segregation. Finally, the authors demonstrate that inhibition of aPKC also compromises the maturation of PrE cells; embryos treated with aPKC inhibitor fail to form a PrE layer and concomitantly fail to develop a polarised apical surface. The authors thus propose that aPKC links cell sorting with the progression of cell differentiation in the blastocyst.

Hoxa2 is all ears

Abnormalities in the external ear, which is composed of the auricle and the external auditory canal (EAC), are frequent in newborns. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms that govern external ear morphogenesis. Here, Filippo Rijli and colleagues report that Hoxa2 is a key transcriptional regulator that controls auricle morphogenesis in mice (p. 4386). The researchers show that the mouse auricle derives from Hoxa2-expressing neural crest mesenchyme of the second pharyngeal arch, and not from the first and second arches as previously proposed. Furthermore, they report, the lining of the EAC derives from Hoxa2-negative first arch mesenchyme. Their analysis of gene expression patterns in wild-type and Hoxa2 mutant mice suggests that Hoxa2 organises patterns of cell proliferation during ear morphogenesis, acting in part through BMP signalling. Finally, they find that ectopic expression of Hoxa2 in the neural crest of the first arch results in auricle duplication, suggesting that Hoxa2 is able to induce and maintain the molecular programme that underlies auricle formation.

An eye for switching cell fate

Cell fate decisions are influenced by extrinsic and intrinsic factors, but understanding how these are integrated is key for determining how cell fate is specified during development. Here, Yannis Mavromatakis and Andrew Tomlinson use developing ommatidia of the Drosophila eye as a model for exploring the logic of cell fate decisions (p. 4353). The ommatidia are constructed in two distinct waves. It is known that the transcription factor Lozenge (Lz) is expressed in second wave cells and that Notch/receptor tyrosine kinase (N/RTK) signalling is involved in specifying each of the cell fates generated in the second wave. In this study, the researchers ectopically express Lz in first wave cells, supply them with appropriate N/RTK codes, and thereby reproduce each of the second wave cell fates. Based on the dissection of this series of experiments, they conclude that Lz provides key intrinsic information to second wave cells. They also infer that N/RTK activities, in concert with Lz, are only required for a short period of time to ‘lock in’ cell fate.

Vascular biomechanics in full flow

Pulsatile blood flow is driven by the heart and is a universal feature of vertebrate blood systems. However, the mechanisms controlling blood flow propagation in the embryo, while heart maturation is ongoing, are poorly understood. Here, Julien Vermot and co-workers examine vascular hydrodynamics and biomechanics in zebrafish embryos (p. 4426). Using high temporal resolution imaging together with an optical tweezer-based approach, the authors characterise the flow within the embryonic vascular network. They show that strong flow rectification occurs between branches of the network, suggesting that an additional force is generated within the network. Based on the observed movement of blood cells within the embryonic artery, the authors postulate that elasticity of the network is essential for mediating this effect. Following this, they develop a mathematical model of flow within the network and propose that the dorsal aorta acts as a capacitor that inflates and deflates in response to heartbeats. They propose that this capacitive mechanism has a major role in setting early flow propagation and reducing embryonic heart effort.

A role for GPCRs in neurogenesis

During development of the mammalian brain, cortical progenitors divide and give rise to neurons and glia. A number of signalling molecules and receptors are known to control neural progenitor fate but now (see p. 4335) Kamon Sanada and co-workers uncover a role for G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) signalling during neurogenesis in the developing mouse neocortex. The authors demonstrate that GPRC5B, an orphan GPCR, is expressed in cortical progenitors of the developing mouse brain. Using RNAi-mediated knockdown, they report that GPRC5B is required for neuronal differentiation; GPRC5B-depleted progenitors fail to become neurons and instead adopt an astrocyte fate. The researchers further show that GPRC5B couples with the G12/13 class of heterotrimeric G proteins in cultured cells, and that GPRC5B signalling may converge with β-catenin signalling both in vitro and in vivo. In summary, these studies uncover a novel and important role for GPCR signalling during cortical neurogenesis, a finding that has significant implications for the therapeutic targeting and manipulation of stem cells.

PLUS…

To branch or not to branch: the role of pre-patterning in lateral root formation

The establishment of a pre-pattern or competence to form new organs is a key feature of plant development. Philip Benfey, Tom Beeckman and colleagues review the mechanisms that underlie pre-pattern formation and the earliest stages of lateral root development. See the Review article on p. 4301

An interview with Janet Rossant

Janet Rossant is a developmental biologist who has worked for many years on the mouse blastocyst, the derivation of stem cell lines and on investigating the mouse genome. In June 2013 she became president of the ISSCR, and she was also awarded the Harrison Medal – a prestigious prize given only once every four years. Earlier this year, Cat Vicente interviewed Janet. See the Spotlight article on p. 4299

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‘‘Either write something worth reading, or do something worth writing.’’

Benjamin Franklin.

I am in Paris. I love Paris. It reeks of the arrogance and certainty still of the ‘City of Light’ title, and the popular French imagination that the events of 1789 were the crown that sat atop the Enlightenment and set the stage for the scientific revolutions of the 19^th century, and the dominance of the world by this cold and dark continent: a dominance at first political, but most meaningfully and enduringly in terms of scientific ideas about the workings of nature. Of course, one or two Americans would have something to say about that, but I rather enjoy this impression of Paris precisely because its arrogance is (slightly) misplaced.

Scientific dominance has always gone, and always will go, hand in hand with education. You cannot have one without the other. This I think is true at all levels, from 7 year-olds rolling balls down ramps in primary schools, to the latest research findings rolling out of the world’s leading universities. There is no shortcut. This though, is not something that is always agreed upon: we are living in a time of comprehensive educational change at all scales ranging from Michael Gove’s ‘free schools’ to the Beijing Genomics Institute’s stance that PhDs no longer hold value: better to have armies of graduates staring at computer screens (and to be fair, writing useful software) trying to decipher the genome of some obscure parasite of the Panda, than have people dreaming up and testing hypotheses and writing theses. That however, is another blog. I want to return to Mr Gove.

Though I hate to say it, I am a broad supporter of his fundamental premise: that educational standards in the UK have dropped, and that school-leaving qualifications are not now at the level that they have previously been, or fit for their primary purpose: distinguishing between students. Anyone who argues otherwise I think has the not inconsiderable task of explaining why entry standards for the best universities are ever on the rise, to the extent that we have introduced the grade ‘A*’ – I can think of no more damning indictment. While I have been teaching undergraduates for 5 years or so, and therefore am in no position to comment on a long-term trend, I suspect that it is not correlated with an increase in the academic quality of 1^st year undergraduates.

It is incredibly unpopular likewise to admit to being fundamentally of similar instinct to Mr Gove when it comes to the form that education should take. Nevertheless, I am, at least in inclination (I suspect we would both call ourselves traditionalists). I was once told by somebody who I consider to have been amongst the brightest people I have ever come across that no-one has improved upon the best way to teach anything in 2500 years: by young people sitting around discussing ideas in the presence of an intelligent teacher in very small groups. The idea that telling 35 students (or indeed 95 – ‘scientific’ educational approaches ironically seem to have invaded even university science education) what their learning outcomes are is going to make the remotest difference to their future performance as adults in writing things worth reading, or doing things worth reading about, is ridiculous. So are the vast majority of the ‘scientific, evidence-based’ educational reforms that accompanied the rise of the flawed genius who originally coined the title of this blog*. As such, it is here that I (thankfully) depart from the opinions of the Rt Hon Member for Surrey Heath.

The way to improve state secondary education is not to diversify the kinds of institution through which the state delivers education. It is precisely the opposite. Having free schools, academies, comprehensives, grammar schools, and private schools available to every parent is not the key to educating the future writers and doers of our country; the key is to teach them with intelligent people in small groups. That is it. The Secretary of State for Education does not need to argue that the education system requires reform to make it into more of a marketplace. He does not need to obtain votes of no confidence from teaching unions (with nakedly obvious relish in enhancing his own standing within his party in anticipation of a future battle for the leadership with a charismatic Mayor) by telling teachers that their pay needs to be ‘performance-related’. He simply needs to do two things: fight the chancellor for more money at budget time, and spend that money on decreasing class sizes. That is (predominantly) it.

As I said, I share many instincts with Mr Gove, not least his admiration for the way that education is structured within private schools. While the state system was busy systematically making state schools compete with one another in league tables and ironically removing the notion of such competition from a generation (my generation) of British youngsters by inflating their grades, removing competitive sport and finally literally selling them a plethora of poor higher education qualifications**, private schools were doing what they had done for generations: educating students in very traditional subjects, in very small groups, and developing their intellect to the point where they would contribute extensively to the future of the country (by serving as cabinet ministers, perhaps?).

Private schools do a lot of things incredibly well. They encourage a range of educational opportunities by hugely promoting theatre, music and sport, and any other extra-curricular activity it is possible to think of. (In fact, I am not sure the phrase ‘extra-curricular’ has much meaning in the private schools that I have come across). They encourage a culture of work by demanding of students an awful lot of sheer commitment, effort and quality. This is not confined simply to intellectual effort (indeed, in my limited experience – I am state educated – intellectual effort is not prominently required), but rather those qualities of personality that are independent of intellectual ability and present in good people, people who go on to write and do.

What they are not good at is fairness. We should not make our education system more like a market, because you shouldn’t be able to buy an education*** – it is too important for that; we should make it fairer. The single best way to do that is with intelligent teachers teaching small classes.

*One Anthony Blair, who incidentally was much better at speaking to teaching unions than Mr Gove.

** This point is very contentious. I shall not impart my own opinion on it any further in this piece, other than to mention in passing that in the year that I went through the UCAS system, one of my options was to apply to read David Beckham Studies at the University of Staffordshire.

***Actually, I am of the opinion that it is not possible to do that, but this may be a semantic argument and I shall leave it for another day.

This post was also published in the author’s own blog.

(1 votes)

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      – On 16-19 October, 700 scientists will meet for the 23 European Drosophila Conference in the Palau de Congressos in Barcelona.

      – Drosophila melanogaster, also known as the fruit fly, is a key model organism in genetics and essential for our understanding of disease.

      – Jules Hoffmann, French researcher and 2011 Nobel Laureate in Medicine, will deliver the opening plenary lecture on Wednesday afternoon.

      – Barcelona hosts a large concentration of biomedical research groups specialized in Drosophila, making the city a European and worldwide reference for this area of research.

From 16-19 October, more than 700 scientists from around the world will attend the biennial European Drosophila Research Conference in Barcelona, in the city’s Palau de Congressos. With 7 plenary lectures, 300 talks, 20 sessions and 400 posters, it is the biggest European event focussed on basic and biomedical research that uses the fly fruit, Drosophila melanogaster, as a model system.

“The European scientific community has been recommending Barcelona as the host site for this conference for some years. The number of participants has nearly doubled since the last edition, testifying to the attractiveness of the field and to Barcelona’s powerful cluster of leading scientists working in this area”, explains the organizing committee, composed of scientists at the University of Barcelona, the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB). The 2011 Nobel Laureate in Medicine, Jules Hoffmann, from the University of Strasbourg, will open the meeting with the plenary lecture “Innate immunity: from fly to humans”.

Hoffmann was awarded the Nobel Prize, together with Bruce A. Beutler y Ralph M. Steinman, for their discoveries on the activation of innate immunity, which has allowed scientists to develop new methods to fight disease, including the latest generation vaccines or cancer therapies based on immune system activation. Their discoveries are essential to our understanding of the occurrence of autoimmune diseases –when an organism’s own immune system attacks itself, such as in the case of type 1 diabetes- and has opened new paths for treatment.

“The article by Hoffmann in Cell 15 years ago was one of the catalysts for current biomedical research using Drosophila to study human diseases. This is a growing tendency, which is reflected in the scientific sessions of the conference”, explains Marco Milán, ICREA scientist at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB), and co-organizer of the conference, along with Cayetano González (IRB), Jordi Casanova (IRB/CSIC), Enrique Martín Blanco (CSIC) and Florenci Serras (UB).

The fly has been used to study basic biology for over a hundred years “and it is still an exceptionally good organism for this kind of research”, adds Milán. “Since Hoffmann’s discoveries, the fly has also proved to be effective for modeling diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, diabetes, or drug addiction.” The sequencing of the fly and human genomes has revealed that the species share 70% of genes associated to diseases. Research on Drosophila has yielded no fewer than 6 Nobel Prizes.
 
 
Stem cells and cancer

Topics to be addressed at the conference include stem cells and cancer, which are also the theme of two of the five special workshops scheduled. Organisms need stem cells in order to repair tissues. Their dysfunction is associated with cancer and early ageing of tissues. Stem cells from Drosophila’s nervous system and gut are used to identify new genes involved in tumorgenesis. The plenary lecture “Modeling Cancer in Drosophila”, by scientist and conference organizer, Cayetano González, ICREA scientist at IRB and a recipient of a prestigious ERC Advanced Grant, will address these studies. In 2005 González demonstrated that the abnormal division of stem cells in Drosophila’s nervous system generates malignant tumors.
 
 
Other prominent speakers

Among other scientists of international standing invited to deliver plenary lectures, is Elisabeth Knust, Director of the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (Dresden, Germany). Knust identified the CRB1 gene in Drosophila, which is also present in humans. Its mutation is linked to development of Retinitis Pigmentosa, an inherited, degenerative eye disease that causes blindness. Knust’s research has improved the knowledge of essential biologic processes as well as helped to develop new therapies for patients affected by retina dystrophies.

Ginés Morata (Rioja -Almería-, 1945), awarded the 2007 Prince of Asturias Prize for Technical and Scientific Research along with the English biologist Peter Lawrence, will also be speaking at the event.” An international expert in the field, his studies focus on the “biological architecture” of Drosophila. His research, conducted at the Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa (CSIC-UAM) in Madrid, is also related to tumor generation and ageing.

Link to the press release: http://www.irbbarcelona.org/index.php/en/news/irb-news/corporative/barcelona-hosts-major-european-conference-on-drosophila-research

(3 votes)

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Researchers lead by Salvador Aznar Benitah describe in detail the cyclic activity of the genes in skin stem cells during the course of a day.

The correct balance of the biological clock of stem cells affects their function, and its disruption causes aging and can lead to predisposition to skin cancer.

Our skin regenerates daily and has to face harmful environmental factors such as sunlight and pathogens. In an article published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, scientists led by ICREA Research Professor Salvador Aznar Benitah, who has recently moved his lab to IRB Barcelona, have described how the circadian rhythm (internal biological clock) modulates the function of human skin stem cells to achieve optimum regeneration and protection against harmful agents.

Thus, during long periods of exposure to pathogens or UV light, stem cells of the human skin protect themselves. In contrast, during the evening and night, they produce new keratinocyte. Found in the uppermost layers of the skin, keratinocytes, which are dead cells rich in keratin, provide an impermeable protective barrier. Over the course of the night the stem cells regenerate tissue and replace keratinocytes that are damaged or that have been lost during the day.

“Stem cells have some genes that control their biological clock and that determine peaks of activity and intervals of inactivity over 24-hour periods. In this study, we describe how the cells manage to perceive what time of the day it is. This precision allows the stem cells to adapt their activity to the time of day and to its environmental conditions,” explains Salvador Aznar Benitah, who conducted this study at the Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG) and who has recently settled his new lab “Stem Cells and Cancer” to IRB Barcelona.

In 2011, Aznar Benitah and collaborators (amongst them Eduard Batlle from IRB) previously reported on the relevance of circadian rhythms in the regulation of skin stem cells. At that time they found that the cells discriminate between day and night. On this occasion, the researchers have managed to monitor the activity of the stem cells minute by minute. “We now know how the cells know exactly what time it is and how, thanks to this information, they regulate their activity accordingly,” adds the head of the study.

The study also demonstrates that a disruption in the internal biological clock deeply affects the correct function of stem cells and leads to tissue aging and potential predisposition to skin cancer.

Reference article:

Human Epidermal Stem Cell Function is Regulated by Circadian Oscillations
Janich P, Toufighi K, Solanas G, Luis NM, Minkwitz S, Serrano L, Lehner B and Benitah SA.
Cell Stem Cell (2013) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.stem.2013.09.004

This article was first published on the 10th of October 2013 in the news section of the IRB Barcelona website 

(3 votes)

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I work at the National Institute for Medical Research in London. My project is currently investigating the cues governing development of the limb, with an emphasis on cartilage patterning in vitro. I have a PhD in developmental biology and have been working with mice for over eleven years.

The mighty mouse.The mouse is a fantastic model system for several compelling reasons. They have a relatively short generation time, their genome is closely related to ours, and the potential for genetic investigation is virtually limitless. However, working with a protected model organism brings with it ethical and moral considerations, and of course means adhering to strict regulations set by the Home Office. This includes the rigorous application of the 3Rs (replace, reduce and refine), which involves only breeding the mice we need and being vigilant with our experimental design. We are lucky to have the help of trained technicians who cover a lot of the day-to-day maintenance of our colonies, including one long-suffering soul whose job is to process the genotyping of our colony on a weekly basis. Since being a researcher, I’ve done all of these tasks myself at some point or other, and while this gives you a great depth of knowledge, sometimes it’s exceptionally nice to have a helping hand.

A bit about our furry friends. To get one mouse from another takes a relatively short 2 months, and gestation period is 19-21 days. Mice are born pink and hairless, deaf and with closed eyes, and require constant attention and feeding from their dam. However, they develop rapidly and are weaned at 3 weeks of age, by which time the pups are fully autonomous and extraordinarily energetic. A friend once coined the phrase ‘popcorn mice’ to describe the astonishing acrobatics a weaner mouse is capable of, which means that nothing sharpens the reflexes like handling weaners at the peak of their game. The litter will reach maturity less than a month after weaning (we breed our males at 8 weeks and females after 6-7 weeks). Our mice are supplied with cosy woodchip bedding with additional nesting material, a sterile cereal-based diet and a clean water supply, which can often put them ahead of our students in creature comforts. Since environmental enrichment is important for rodent wellbeing, each cage is also supplied with a little red house resembling a Lego toy to play and nest in, to which most mice will get exceedingly attached.

Genetics in the morning. As a developmental biologist, my research often focuses on the developmental processes occurring in the embryo prior to birth. For this it is necessary to obtain embryos by caesarean section. Depending on the stage I need, I usually dissect in the morning. For me, the optimal time point for this is between first and second cups of coffee, and after a banana (necessary and sufficient to minimise shaky hands). Dissections take place in specified rooms under low-power microscopes. Dissection can also be an oddly communal process, and some of the best chats are between researchers with their attention directed down their scopes. Genetically altered mice will need to be genotyped and while Mendel and his laws of inheritance allow us to predict genotypic ratios, it is not uncommon for these to be lower than expected. Sadly, this means Mendel comes in for a fair amount of abuse around genotyping time. Some of our lines also harbour fluorescent reporters, so we might also check the embryos under the appropriate filters to detect whether the designated tissue is fluorescing, which can be in a range of colours. As well as being very handy in an actual scientific way, this adds a pleasantly disco feel to the experiment.

Life in the mouse house. Our mice are housed in an exceptionally clean and secure animal facility, and for this reason there are strict barriers in place. My visit to the mouse house begins when I cross the barrier and play a version of not-allowed-to-touch-the-clean-floor to get to my rubber clogs. Clogs on, it’s time to perform a balancing act by changing into restfully green scrubs while keeping on said clogs. Each mouser completes their look with nitrile gloves, a hairnet and in some cases a facemask. Use of a facemask often requires diligent use of what supermodel Tyra Banks calls ‘smeyes’, those smiling eyes that are so essential if one wishes to avoid that dead-eyed look when communicating with other mousers.

Private lives. Once in the facility, my visit might include setting up breeding pairs to generate more mice. Getting to know the quirks of your model system can take a while. For example, females will conveniently cycle through heat, or oestrus, together if housed in the same cage and this can be triggered by adding a handful of the male’s bedding containing his pheromone-laden urine. This is called the Whitten effect, and is handy for when nothing less than a crowd of females in oestrus will do. It is also sometimes difficult to tell the difference between a pregnant mouse and a fat mouse, although some (very popular) users have developed the impressive skill of detecting early embryos by palpating the abdomen. Mice are highly sensitive to noise and smells, and the appearance of a new user, or even a new perfume can put some mice off their breeding.

Business time. Late afternoon is the time to take a final trip to the mouse house to set up an experimental cross to obtain embryos for future dissections. For these experiments, we need to know precisely when our mice have mated so we can count forward to obtain precisely staged embryos. Since mice are nocturnal, we bring our mating pair together in the same cage late in the afternoon. At 7pm the lights go out and Barry White is piped through the facility*. The lights come back on at 7am, completing the 24hr light-dark cycle and theoretically dampening any remaining ardour. During the morning the female is checked for evidence of mating (a waxy solid plug left in the relevant anatomical region by the male to discourage further mating) and the date will be recorded. This early morning pilgrimage to the mouse house to check matings remains one of the enduring memories of my Ph.D. These days though, the luxury of someone to do this for me means that someone else will check the mating for me in the morning, and this evening there is nothing more for me to do.

So as my day ends, life in the mouse house is beginning to wake up, ready for another night at the office. You could say that a day in the life of a mouse researcher is a night in life of a mouse, and alternative office hours aside, it’s a very productive collaboration indeed.

*Barry White may not actually be played in this facility

This post is part of a series on a day in the life of developmental biology labs working on different model organisms. You can read the introduction to the series here and read other posts in this series here.

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