Post-doc position in Developmental Biology

Development and evolution of median fin in chordates

     A post-doc position is available in the group of Sébastien DARRAS. The group has been recently established at the marine station of Banyuls-sur-mer (Mediterranean coast, close to the Spanish border). We are interested in the molecular control of the ascidian Ciona intestinalis embryogenesis. Our focus is on gene networks involved in patterning and differentiation of larval tail epidermis that gives rise to peripheral sensory neurons and median fin blades. We want to use the diversity of basal marine chordate species (tunicates and cephalochordates) available at the marine station to probe the evolution of median fin formation.

The post-doctoral research project aims at comparing at genomic and functional levels the  same developmental process in multiple species. Strong background in developmental and molecular biology, as well as curiosity are required. Experience with non-conventional model organisms will be appreciated.

Funding by the French Research Agency (ANR) is avalaible immediately, but applicants are expected to apply for their own financial support.

Contact: Sébastien DARRAS (sebastien.darras@obs-banyuls.fr)

Laboratoire de Biologie Intégrative des Organismes Marins (BIOM)
UMR7232 CNRS-INSB-UPMC
Observatoire Océanologique de Banyuls
Avenue du Fontaulé
66650 Banyuls-sur-mer
FRANCE

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Postdoc position in appendage skeletal development and evolution

An NSF funded postdoctoral position of up to 3 years, is available from 1 February 2013 to work with Dr Marcus C. Davis on the evolution of Hox gene regulation in fin and limb skeletal patterning, using North American paddlefish (Polyodon spathula) and axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) as model systems.

Applicants must have a PhD in an area of biology with strengths in developmental biology.  The qualified applicant will have significant experience in molecular biology techniques including: PCR techniques, primer design, antisense riboprobe construction, whole mount in situ hybridization. Experience working with aquatic vertebrate embryos and larvae (zebrafish, axolotl, Xenopus, and/or non-model taxa) is essential, as are basic histology skills. Experience with focal electroporation and microinjection tecnhniques in aquatic vertebrates is highly desired for this project.  Additionally, experience with transcriptome data and analysis will be an advantage.  Applicants must be prepared for extensive and rigorous experimental hours during the short embryonic growth season (April and May) for paddlefish.

Send applications including a CV, a statement of research interests and the names of three references to: Dr Marcus Davis, Dept. of Biology and Physics, 1000 Chastain Road, Bldg #12, Kennesaw, GA 30144.  Electronic submissions are preferred and can be sent to: mdavi144@kennesaw.edu.

Kennesaw State Official Job Posting: https://kennesaw.hiretouch.com/job-details?jobID=9624&job=postdoctoral-fellow

Davis Lab Page: http://science.kennesaw.edu/~mdavi144/Main_Page.html

Kennesaw State University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer and Educator. Georgia is an Open Records State.

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To mark Open Access Week (October 22-28), the Node is reposting a recent editorial in Biology Open (BiO), by BiO editor-in-Chief Jordan Raff. Please leave your feedback in the comments.

During my short time as Editor-in-Chief of Biology Open (BiO), I’ve come to realise that publishing in the biomedical sciences is entering a period of profound change, the likes of which none of us has experienced before. The present system is under sustained attack and, although many scientists are probably unaware of this, there seems little chance that it will survive in its current form. In this Editorial, I want to share what I’ve learned over the past year and explain why I think change is inevitable. As in all things scientific, I will probably be wrong in detail, but I hope these thoughts will stimulate you to think about these issues and how we might influence them. I am convinced they will have an enormous impact on us all.

My assertion that the present system will inevitably change might seem the wishful thinking of a new Editor of a new journal. But I believe several factors have combined to create a perfect storm that will drive change. At the heart of the problem is that, although the public funds much of our research, we have to pay to access most of the published results. This is because we scientists usually give the copyright to our data to the publishers. Although it is true that most members of the public don’t want to access these data, I’m a member of the public, and I need access because it is essential for my research. It is unacceptable that I (in my case through my institution) have to pay large amounts of money to private publishers for this privilege when the publishers do not pay anything for the research.

Many publishers argue that they impart significant ‘added value’ to the published work by organising the peer review process, editing manuscripts, and distributing the journals. This argument may have had merit in the past, but it does not today; modern web-based publishing methods mean that the costs of producing and distributing journals cannot possibly justify the exorbitant price of most journals or the high profit margins of some of the biggest publishers (http://bit.ly/jordanref1; http://bit.ly/jordanref2). Moreover, the most valuable part of the services provided by publishers is peer review, which is provided free by scientists.

Why then has the present system, so obviously flawed, survived for so long? I think the most important reason is that the impact-factor-led hierarchy of journals has provided a simple mechanism for ranking a scientist’s worth, and this system is now so embedded in our culture that we believe we cannot function without it. Few scientists have the time to read and understand someone else’s papers anymore, and the convenience of the journal hierarchy means we don’t have to: we all understand that a paper published in a high-impact journal must be ‘better’ than one published in a lesser journal. Scientists, funding agencies, and the various bodies that hire and promote us have all adopted this simple system, even though most scientists realize that it is flawed and, ironically, often feel unfairly treated by it. Still, most of us seem to have accepted that the system generally gets things about right and ensures that modern biological science works as a meritocracy. I will argue below that the system does nothing of the sort and that, worryingly, it is now actually distorting and impeding the scientific enterprise.

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Here are the research highlights from the current issue of Development:

Nodal regulates germ cell potency

During mammalian gonadal development, somatic cues regulate the sex-specific development of foetal germ cells and control the transition between proliferation and cell-fate commitment. This transition is particularly important for male germ cells: too little proliferation reduces sperm numbers and fertility, whereas escape from commitment and prolonged pluripotency can cause testicular germ cell tumours. Now, Josephine Bowles, Peter Koopman and colleagues (p. 4123) report that the TGFβ morphogen Nodal regulates this transition in mice. The researchers show that Nodal signalling is active in XY germ cells at the developmental stage when this transition occurs and that Nodal signalling is triggered when somatic signals, including FGF9, induce testicular germ cells to upregulate the Nodal co-receptor Cripto. Genetic suppression of Nodal signalling leads to depressed pluripotency marker expression and early XY germ cell differentiation, they report, whereas NODAL and CRIPTO are upregulated in human testicular tumours. These results indicate that Nodal signalling regulates male germ cell potency during normal development and provides new clues about the aetiology of testicular cancer.

Cardiomyocyte migration mends broken hearts

Unlike adult mammals, adult zebrafish can regenerate injured heart tissue. Heart regeneration in zebrafish is known to involve partial de-differentiation and proliferation of cardiomyocytes, but are cardiomyocytes involved in any other processes during heart repair? Here (p. 4133), Yasuhiko Kawakami and co-workers report that cardiomyocyte migration to the injury site is required for zebrafish heart regeneration. Ventricular amputation, they report, induces expression of the chemokine ligand cxcl12a and the chemokine receptor cxcr4b in epicardial tissue and cardiomyocytes, respectively. Both pharmacological inhibition of Cxcr4 function and genetic loss of cxcr4b function prevent heart regeneration, they show, and lead to mislocalisation of proliferating cardiomyocytes outside the injury site without affecting cardiomyocyte proliferation. Finally, the researchers use a photoconvertible fluorescent marker to show that, although cardiomyocytes migrate into the injury site in control hearts, their migration is inhibited in Cxcr4-antagonist-treated hearts. Thus, cardiomyocyte migration into injured zebrafish heart tissue is regulated independently of cardiomyocyte proliferation, and coordination of both processes is essential for heart regeneration.

Hox genes specify nephric ducts

In amniote embryos, three kidneys – the pronephros (a transient embryonic structure), the mesonephros (the embryonic kidney) and the metanephros (the adult kidney) – form sequentially along the anterior-posterior (AP) axis of the intermediate mesoderm (IM). Here (p. 4143), Thomas Schultheiss and colleagues investigate AP patterning in the mesoderm by analysing the specification of the avian embryonic nephric duct – an unbranched epithelial tube that originates in the anterior IM. Using quail-chick chimaeric embryos, the researchers show that nephric duct specification occurs early in development when IM precursor cells are still in the primitive streak. HoxB4, they report, is expressed in nephric duct precursors from the primitive streak stage onwards, whereas the more posterior Hox gene HoxA6 is expressed in non-duct IM. Notably, misexpression of HoxA6 in the duct-forming regions of the IM represses duct formation. Together, these results indicate that Hox genes regulate AP patterning in the IM and provide new insights into general mesodermal patterning along the AP axis and into kidney evolution.

Cohesin quells Polycomb group silencing

Polycomb group (PcG) genes encode transcriptional repressors that regulate gene expression during development. Most PcG genes encode subunits of chromatin-modifying complexes, but exactly how PcG proteins repress transcription is unclear. Now, Judith Kassis and colleagues report that Wapl, a cohesin-associated protein involved in cohesin removal from chromosomes, promotes PcG silencing in Drosophila (p. 4172). To identify genes involved in PcG silencing, the researchers conduct a screen for suppressors of silencing mediated by an engrailed PcG response element. They identify one of the suppressors obtained from this screen as wapl^AG, a dominant wapl mutation that produces a truncated Wapl protein. The researchers show that wapl^AG hemizygotes die as pharate adults (insects prior to emergence from pupae) but have an extra-sex-comb phenotype similar to that produced by mutations in PcG genes. Finally, the researchers show that Wapl-AG increases the stability of cohesin binding to polytene chromosomes. Together, these results suggest that increasing cohesin stability can interfere with PcG silencing, and that cohesin thus directly inhibits PcG function.

Human skin innate immunity develops early

The skin protects the body from microbial pathogens by employing Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and other molecules that recognise pathogen-associated molecular patterns to initiate innate immune responses and to direct subsequent adaptive immunity. But when does the innate immune system in human skin become immunologically competent? On p. 4210, Adelheid Elbe-Bürger and co-workers answer this question by analysing TLR expression and function in human skin. The researchers report that, although prenatal and adult skin express a similar spectrum of TLRs, prenatal, infant and child skin express higher levels of several TLRs (particularly TLR3) than adult skin. Moreover, a synthetic TLR3 ligand that mimics viral double-stranded RNA significantly enhances the secretion of several chemokines and cytokines by keratinocytes isolated from foetal and neonatal donors but not by those isolated from adult donors. Thus, the researchers conclude, human skin exhibits age-related changes in TLR expression and function, and foetal keratinocytes are already endowed with specific immune functions that may protect the developing human body from viral infections.

Calcium crosstalk during plant fertilisation

During sexual reproduction in flowering plants, cellular interactions guide the growth of the pollen tube from the stigma to the embryo sac where fertilisation occurs. The cytoplasmic Ca²⁺ concentration ([Ca²⁺]_cyt) regulates pollen tube growth, but does it also regulate pollen tube guidance and reception? On p. 4202, Seiji Takayama and colleagues investigate Ca²⁺ dynamics during fertilisation by expressing a Ca²⁺ sensor in Arabidopsis pollen tubes and synergid cells (cells in the ovule that guide the pollen tube). During semi-in vivo fertilisation, they report, pollen tubes turn towards wild-type ovules but not towards ovules in which pollen tube guidance has been genetically disrupted. Notably, [Ca²⁺]_cyt is higher in turning pollen tube tips than in non-turning tips. Moreover, [Ca²⁺]_cyt oscillation in the synergid cells, which reaches a maximum at pollen tube rupture, begins only upon pollen tube arrival. These results suggest that signals from the synergid cells induce Ca²⁺ oscillations in the pollen tube and vice versa, and that these oscillations are involved in pollen tube guidance and reception.

Plus…

The year 2012 marks 25 years since the journal Development was relaunched from its predecessor, the Journal of Embryology and Experimental Morphology (JEEM).  To mark a quarter century of Development, we have been looking through our archives at some of the most influential papers published in Development’s pages. In a series of ‘Development Classic’ articles, we have asked the authors of those articles to tell us the back-story behind their work and how the paper has influenced the development of their field. The first two of these articles (see below) are published in this issue – look out for more of these Spotlight papers in the next few issues.

The ABC model of flower development: then and now

In 1991, John Bowman, David Smyth and Elliot Meyerowitz published a paper in Development that proposed the ABC model of flower development. Now, the authors look back on their paper and discuss several aspects of this story.

See the Spotlight article on p. 4095

The zebrafish issue of Development

In December 1996, in a special issue of Development, 37 papers reported the results of two large screens for zebrafish mutants performed in Tübingen and Boston. Now, Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard gives a personal account of the history of this unique endeavor.

See the Spotlight article on p. 4099

Eph/ephrin signalling during development

Eph receptors and their membrane-tethered ephrin ligands have important functions in development. Rudiger Klein provides an overview of the general structures and signalling mechanisms underlying Eph/ephrin signalling in development.

See the Development at a Glance poster article on p. 4105

In vitro organogenesis in three dimensions: self-organising stem cells

Organ formation during embryogenesis is a complex process that involves various local cell-cell interactions at the molecular and mechanical levels. Yoshiki Sasai and colleagues discuss how, despite this complexity, organogenesis can be modelled in vitro using stem cells.

See the Review on p. 4111

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Postdoctoral Researcher
Morphogenesis during animal development

The Sars International Centre for Marine Molecular Biology is now offering a two-year postdoc position in a research group working on morphogenesis using the notochord development in Ciona intestinalis as the model. The announced position focuses on the construction and regulation of the actomyosin network that is involved in cell elongation during the early phase of notochord tubulogenesis. Interested individuals can read two publications, Dong et al., 2011, and Denker and Jiang, 2012, for detailed description of experimental model and the biological questions.

Extensive resources are established for Ciona intestinalis (gene knock down, transgenesis, advanced imaging tools, quantitative analysis of morphogenesis, and published genome).

The position will utilize a broad spectrum of cell biology methods. Applicants with special interests in cytokinesis, actomyosin, advance quantitative imaging are welcome to apply. Prior experience in microinjection and/or dynamic live imaging of embryos are preferred. We seek creative scientist who wishes to explore new experimental system and discover novel mechanism.

The position is available immediately; the start date is negotiable. The salary for Postdoctoral Researcher (code 8151) starts at NOK 480 000.

The Sars International Centre is a partner of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and a department of Uni Research AS, affiliated with the University of Bergen. The Centre is focused on basic research in marine molecular biology, developmental biology and evolution, through genetic and comparative studies of invertebrates and vertebrates.

Uni Research has employee insurance and pension agreements and is an equal opportunity employer.

For further information regarding the position and scientific content of the project please contact Dr. Di Jiang, Group Leader: di.jiang@sars.uib.no.

Written applications in English, including CV, summary of educational and work experience, a brief statement of research interest and contact information for two references can be sent to: Uni Sars Centre, HR Officer, Bergen High Technology Centre, Thormøhlensgt. 55, N-5008 Bergen, Norway. Please mark applications 12 Sars 08. Application deadline is November 9 2012.

Please note that applications sent by e-mail will not be considered.

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At the EMBO meeting last month, Jiří Friml was awarded the EMBO Gold Medal. This medal is awarded annually to a researcher under the age of forty, who has contributed to the field of molecular biology. Friml got the award for his work on auxin transport and morphogen gradient formation in plants. In his Gold Medal Lecture, he gave an overview of auxin signaling and PIN proteins, and discussed recent discoveries that describe how plants grow in response to light and gravity. The next day he braved a sudden burst of heavy rain to meet me for an interview for the Node:
 
Why did you decide to study plant developmental biology?
 
It was not a decision; it was a coincidence. I got a DAAD fellowship to study in Germany for ten months, and went to the lab, which my department in the Czech Republic had contact with. This lab was rather focused on molecular biology and plant physiology. When I started to do my project I realized that there are a lot of developmental biology consequences, and I liked it a lot and then pursued this area further on my own.
 
You’ve worked in several different countries over your career. Have you seen any particular differences, for example between Germany, Belgium, the Czech Republic? Or is it all quite similar within Europe?
 
I have to say I was surprised how big the difference is between Germany and Belgium. I mean the difference in mentality and culture of the people, which, to some extent, reflect on science. Germans are famous for being a bit more strict, but on the other hand, they are also extremely reliable, which is very convenient for professional things. Once you’re working in the lab, I don’t see that big a difference between cultures, though. My teams have always been very international: In Belgium I had two Belgians in a lab of twenty so the geographical location didn’t influence the work in the group so much. Many differences between labs are also dependent on what type of institute you are at, and even within one country there is wide variety between institutes or between universities.
 
I also noticed, that the education system varies between countries. PhD students from the UK are younger and less experienced simply because the education system is different from that in Germany for example.
 
And in the Czech Republic, after twenty years of being open to the world, there is still a legacy of the fact that genetics was suppressed as a “capitalistic doctrine” during the communist regime. Therefore the country has basically missed a whole generation of geneticists. This is still not fully replaced, so even though other fields like hormonal physiology are very good, anything that requires genetics, and that means most of developmental biology, is underrepresented.
 
Do you think that’s going to change any time soon?
 
Well, that’s what we have believed for twenty years now. And it is changing. It’s definitely changing. But, universities are stubborn structures, not only in the Czech Republic, so it’s very difficult to create new departments because that would be usually on the expenses of the old ones.
 
When you accepted your medal, you said “I’d like to take this as an appreciation for the plant field” and in your talk you showed a slide emphasizing all the things of which people may have forgotten that they were originally discovered in plants: cells, genes, siRNA. Why is plant science under-appreciated?
 
I wouldn’t say it is under-appreciated. Drosophila science is probably also under-appreciated in comparison to biomedical research. I think there are logical reasons that biomedical research gets more attention. In Europe we are seldom hungry, but we still get cancer and Alzheimer and AIDS. The issues of our health are more important to everybody – including plant scientists –than the issues around improving the quality of food. As a result, plant science is less represented than biomedical research, but I didn’t want to make it seem like we feel under-appreciated, I just wanted to show my own appreciation for my colleagues in the plant field.
 
In your talk you showed, to roughly summarize it, why plants grow upward. What are the next questions to be answered?
 
Even though we may understand the basic concepts from the developmental biology point of view, we are still far from really knowing every single step of the molecular signaling pathways underlying the developmental decisions. For example, we’re just starting to understand how the crosstalk between the signaling pathways works: That’s something that is now being worked on in the field of plant signaling.
 
My personal big question concerns the evolutionary aspect of plant development. With next generation sequencing technology, many of the more primitive plant species are now being sequenced and becoming accessible to study. I’m interested in finding out how plants colonized land, because before plants grew on land roots didn’t need to grow down, and shoots didn’t need to grow up. Many of these auxin-mediated responses are typical for land plants. What we are now interested in is how acquiring these cellular mechanisms helped the plant to adapt to life on land. From the evolutionary point of view, what we also often encounter is an evolutionary conserved cellular mechanism, like clathrin-mediated endocytosis for example, with a plant-specific regulator that somehow feeds into the pathway. We’re trying to understand how that happened, how these new plant-specific regulations were recruited by the conserved mechanisms during evolution.
 
If you had unlimited time and money, what would you love to investigate?
 
I would invest in the establishment of new model species at the lower plant level and at algae level to really try to understand how the plant developmental machinery evolved. I would sequence all these species and get people to establish transformation methodology and develop genetic model systems. But this type of thing will be happening anyway: different labs will each do a piece and at the end of the day we will get there.
 
Do you have any advice for students and postdocs who are just starting their research career?
 
They should take responsibility. What I see with many students is that they rely too much on what they are told. They are clever, they are working hard, but they are not taking the project as their own and taking their career and life in their own hands. I cannot generalize, because people are different, but I see that this is a major obstacle for many talented young scientists in achieving what they want. They either don’t have enough self-confidence, or they don’t fight enough for it.

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The Genetics Society’s 2012 Autumn Meeting celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Genes & Development

There have been exciting advances in molecular analyses of genetic and epigenetic regulation of key cellular processes.  This meeting will  focus on issues such as chromatin, epigenetics and gene regulation, replication, checkpoints and DNA repair, RNA function and control as they apply to processes of development, stem cells and diseases such as cancer.

This meeting is sponsored by the Genetics Society and celebrates the 25th anniversary of the journal Genes and Development of which the Genetics Society has been a founding participant. The speakers are all distinguished leaders in their respective fields and will present and discuss recent and exciting research developments.

Features

Steve West the 2012 Genetics Society Medal recipient

Speakers

Bruce Stillman
Sharon Dent
Steve Smale
Jerry Workman
Ken Zaret
Titia de Lange
Steve Elledge
Steve Jackson
Susan Gottesman
Elisa Izaurralde
Narry Kim
Jim Manley
Joan Steitz
Hans Clevers
Elaine Fuchs
Nick Hastie
Rich Losick
Eileen White

Chairs

Terri Grodzicker
Rudi Grosschedl
Winship Herr
Davor Solter

Scientific Organisers

Anne Ferguson-Smith
Terri Grodzicker
Nick Hastie

Registration deadline: 26 October 2012

Registration is now available for the whole Autumn Meeting and to attend just one day of the meeting.

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Just a reminder that registration for Development‘s 25th anniversary symposium “Past, Present and Future” is closing at the end of this week. By Monday, the venue will need to know who is attending, so make sure to sign up this weekend at the latest.

The symposium will be held at Cripps Court (Magdalene College) in Cambridge, on October 25th. We’ve got some great speakers lined up: Kenneth Chien, Magdalena Götz, Peter Lawrence, Thomas Lecuit, Mike Levine, Olivier Pourquié, and Jim Smith.

Don’t forget to register!

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Despite the fact that I write this meeting post after three weeks of the summer school, I feel as though I’m writing directly from the Hydra Island, the experience and memories are that fresh!

I was fortunate enough to be selected to participate in the 8th European Summer School on Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine held in Hydra, Greece from 15 – 21 September, 2012. Hydra is a unique Saronic Island located in the Aegean Sea. Known for its place in Greek war and it’s special donkey-mode-of-transportation, Hydra is a picturesque Mediterranean sunshine spot. No other places would be as perfect as this location for a summer school. Thanks to the organizers! On a discrete note, there are small group of fresh-water Cnidarian animals known also as Hydra. I am tempted to draw the connection between this and stem cells, as these creatures possess great regenerative ability!

The summer school began with a plenary lecture by Shin-Ichi Nishikawa. He took us through his research and experiments during his early career on the development of haematopoietic stem cells. He also touched the classic embryological aspects of haematopoietic stem cells.

The next six days lectures were divided into three broad themes within stem cell biology: 1. Paradigm stem cell systems 2. Regulation and dysregulation 3. Into the clinic. Leaders in the respective fields presented lectures in these themes. It was rather exciting to sit and listen to those speakers whom I know through their breakthrough publications in the field of stem cell biology. While Cédric Blanpain and others explained how tissue homeostasis is maintained by distinct tissue-resident stem cells, Austin Smith introduced us the world of embryonic stem cells. I personally enjoyed the talk by Elena Cattaneo on neural stem cell biology. Her research on evolutionary aspects of Huntingtin gene and relating that to neural stem cell based therapy for the Huntington disease was particularly exciting.

Mathematical and computational approaches to stem cell biology are the imperative tools to tackle any questions especially with the availability of overwhelming data. Alexander Van Oudernaarden, Timm Shroeder and Markus Loeffler discussed quantitative and computational modelling approaches in their research. Participants also learned about the ethical aspects of stem cell research from two specialists in the field, Göran Hermerén and Aliki Nichogiannopoulou. I realised how important it is to consider ethics in biology especially when we are dealing with a sensitive area. Hermerén’s another interest is philosophy of science; it was nice chance for me to engage in thought-provoking philosophical discussions with him. Michele De Luca, Tim Allsopp and Guilio Cossu presented their exciting and ambitious clinical research aimed at cell therapy for different disorders.

Unlike other schools or workshops, the Hydra summer school, along with regular lectures, featured other unique activities like “Inspire”, “Communicake” and small workshop on how to get your research published. Inspire sessions need special mention here; one session each day focused special topics on how to communicate our research to non-science audiences. Communicating research work to the public is of paramount importance in any science. Being involved myself in this activity in my institution on a voluntary basis, I see many young researchers do not realise how important is this. Inspire sessions in this summer school unquestionably a great exposure to the participants and I am sure this has given motivation to all of us to continue doing this back home. Cathy Southworth and Jan Barfoot of MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, University of Edinburgh jointly conducted these Inspire-ing activities. “Communicake” sessions provided participants in small groups with an opportunity to recollect previous sessions and presenting back the key points on the topics to the speakers. Katherine Brown, Development’s Executive Editor, discussed key aspects of how to get our research published and publication ethics.

Another attraction of the school was the movie evening. The film “Stem Cell Revolutions” was screened during one of the evenings. This was fitting entertainment when we have learned about stem cells the whole day, and the movie shows us how the field has revolutionised stem cell science for patient benefit. We thoroughly enjoyed the film. A review of the film by my colleague Claire Cox can be found here.

Along with poster sessions (congrats to the prize winners!), dedicated small group discussions provided participants with a fantastic opportunity to discuss more informally about their chosen topics with leaders in the field. The summer school was organized in such a way to cover broad areas within stem cell biology with other supplemental sessions. Wide-ranging topics matched with participants’ heterogeneous background from computational biology to mouse genetics. A computational biologist’s experience on this summer school can be found here. My expectations were certainly very well met in this school, and I hope that’s true for all the participants.

There is a huge prospect for the field of stem cell biology in the future, from understanding to alleviating diseases. Lectures and discussions at the summer school gave me confidence that this is a realistic goal. As an extra boost and recognition to the field, it’s been great this year to see the Nobel Prize awarded to the doyens for their work in stem cell biology. As I write this report, I can hear the celebrations from our neighbours at Sir John Gurdon’s centre! Certainly, it is a great excitement for young researchers like me to be in this promising field and to embrace the opportunity to meet and get to know leaders in the field and my peers alike through events like Hydra. I am thankful to OptiStem for their support for making it possible for me to attend the summer school and make most out of it. Anyone fancy attending Hydra next summer? Who wouldn’t want to enjoy Sun and Science together?

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To me, the stem cells within a germline are a perfect storm of fascination.  Stem cells are, of course, intriguing in their ability to self-renew and differentiate, and a germline is intriguing in its ability to generate gametes.  Add stem cells and germlines together, and you have amazing biology in front of you…and more biology to discover and understand.  Today’s images are from a paper describing mRNA regulation in germline stem cells in C. elegans.

The C. elegans germline is set up as a U-shaped tube of differentiation and gamete production.  At the distal end of the germline, a niche of stem cells constantly divides throughout the life of the worm.  These mitotically dividing cells get pushed along the germline as more cells are produced, and accumulate low levels of meiotic proteins until entering the transition zone in preparation for meiosis.  P-granules are RNA granules, or nuage, found within the C. elegans germline.  P-granules localize to the nuclear envelope and have been suggested to directly regulate mRNAs exported from the nucleus, as a form of post-transcriptional control over gene expression.  A recent paper describes results showing the importance of P-granules in mRNA regulation within germline stem cells.  Voronina and colleagues show that two 89% identical PUF family RNA-binding proteins, FBF-1 and FBF-2, have important and distinct functions in regulating meiotic mRNAs.  FBF-1 regulates the degradation or transport of meiotic mRNAs out of the stem cell region, while FBF-2 prevents translation of meiotic mRNAs.  In addition, Voronina and colleagues found that FBF-2 is dependent on PGL-1, a P-granule component, for proper nuclear localization and binding to target mRNAs.  The use of different mechanisms to prevent meiotic protein expression within the stem cell region ensures that the germline can function properly.

The cartoon above shows the different zones of the germline, with germline stem cells dividing in a niche at the distal end (left side).  The images show the nuclei (blue) of cells in the mitotic zone in the germline.  FBF-1 (green, top) and FBF-2 (green, bottom) are found at distinct foci around the nuclei.  FBF-2 is found primarily on P-granules (PGL-1, red, bottom row).

For a more general description of this image, see my imaging blog within EuroStemCell, the European stem cell portal.

Ekaterina Voronina, Alexandre Paix, & Geraldine Seydoux (2012). The P granule component PGL-1 promotes the localization and silencing activity of the PUF protein FBF-2 in germline stem cells. Development, 139 (20), 3732-3740 DOI: 10.1242/dev.083980

(1 votes)

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