[updated 24/2] – New deadline: March 15

To celebrate the successful first half year of the Node, we’re running a competition.

A Node
Latin, Nodus – a knot
In general – a point of intersection
In developmental biology – an embryonic tissue that
patterns a developing embryo

All you have to do is send us an image (it can be, for example, a photo, drawing or microscopic image) related to:
(a) developmental biology; and
(b) some sort of intersection.
Make sure to include a brief description of the image, and only send in your own work.

Think about it carefully, and think out of the box.

Here are a few ideas to get you started….
• Two developmental biologists in a knot (well – it’s an intersection of sorts…)
• The intersection of two points in development
• The intersection of ideas of developmental significance

Email your image to thenode@biologists.com before February 28 March 15 (new deadline!), noon GMT

In March, we will post the top 3 images on the Node, and then everyone will be able to vote for their favourite. Don’t worry if you want to stay anonymous – we don’t have to put your name up on display – just the picture that you send us!

The winner will get to commission their own TipArt work, worth $50 (US dollars), to prominently display in their lab or at home. TipArt is a website celebrating creativity at the lab bench with artwork made of pipette tips.

Terms and Conditions are available here
Competition Rules are available here
Closing date is February 28th March 15 2011 (12:00GMT)

(8 votes)

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In 2010 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories building upon the success of its educational programs established an equivalent program in Asia and Pacific Rim centered in Suzhou, China – Cold Spring Harbor Conferences Asia (CSHCA). This development echoes the spectacular advances in biological research throughout the region (especially in China) over the past 30 years. The program includes large conferences, training workshops and small-scale, by-invitation meetings covering a broad spectrum of biomedical research topics as well as other fields of modern biology. It is planned that in near future the Conference Center will be supplemented by research facilities thereby creating an Asian research hub styled on the famous CSHL.

The Conference which took place on 21-25 September 2010 gathered more than 100 participants all over the world. It was set up in the new campus combining throughout ultramodern convenience and world-class architectural and landscape design beside Dushu Lake of Suzhou. Situated quite afar from the Suzhou downtown, the venue imposed tranquility suitable for consequential exchange of scientific ideas and fruitful discussions.

The central theme of the meeting was the iPS cell technology. So the Plenary Lecture delivered by Andras Nagy (Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto) was dedicated to a closer look at the somatic cell reprogramming and consequences of the process for the stability of genome. It seems that the price we have to pay for our ability to turn almost every cell into the pluripotent one is the danger of inadvertent genomic aberrations which happen even after the retrovirus-free reprogramming. This might have quite strong implications for any therapeutic use of iPS cells in future. Nevertheless, the attempts to use iPSC for medical purposes were reported by researchers from Duanqing Pei’s lab (Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, GIBH). One  application was the modeling of human syndromes in human iPSC for test the gene therapy approaches and screening chemical compounds with the potential to correct an abnormality (in collaboration with Miguel Esteban, GIBH, and Axel Schambach, Hannover Medical School). Pentao Liu (Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge, UK) reported his lab’s work on identification of two additional genetic factors which dramatically improve and shorten the reprogramming process when used with four Yamanaka factors. Interesting evolutionary aspect of Sox2 function in pluripotent cell was demonstrated by Hitoshi Niwa (CDB, RIKEN Kobe); he suggested that a new function of the critical transcription factor may arise in evolution without structural changes in the molecule.

Many oral presentations were dedicated also to various adult stem cell systems, and the talk of Nick Barker (Hubrecht Institute, Utrecht) on intestinal crypt stem cells was in the focus of the meeting’s interest. In addition to revealing the key role of Lrg5 (Tcf/β-catenin target) in maintaining self-renewal of intestinal stem cells, he demonstrated an intriguing aspect of stem cell function – competition of stem cells within their niche. Quite a surprise, probably for many participants, was the presentation of Richard P. Harvey (Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Australia) about the presence of multipotent stem cells (CFU-Fs) in adult mammalian heart. George C. Yeoh (University of Western Australia) addressed the recurrent and controversial issue of liver stem cells, describing inflammation-induced LPC, liver progenitor cells, which rapidly proliferate in vitro, survive repeated cycles of freezing/thawing and capable to differentiate into at least two types of liver cells: hepatocytes and cholangiocytes. Toshio Suda (Keio University, Tokyo) elaborated further on his theme of the hypoxic niche for hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). It turns out that HSCs require a precise regulation of HIF-1α levels in order to maintain their quiescence in adult bone marrow. Interesting findings on the role of hemogenic endothelium in the ontogenesis of HSCs were presented by members of Shin-Ichi Nishikawa laboratory (CDB, RIKEN Kobe).

Practically all other oral presentations communicated the results of very impressive research. Among them most memorable were the addressing the role of stem cells in prostate cancer by Michael Shen (Columbia University Medical Center, New York), and latest insights on germ cell specification in vivo and in vitro (Mitinori Saitou, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University).

Coffee breaks and lobby talks (sometimes with local beer tasting) proved to be exceptionally productive for friendly discussions, deeper insight into the presented works and, perhaps, for carrier opportunities for young Chinese researchers. Well, since the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology has been reported to have established the National Key Program on stem cells (with large funding of corresponding research) in 2010, some foreign scientists may ponder the idea to move to China and set up their research there.

The Conference culminated in visiting the famous Lingering Garden of Suzhou, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Artist performances, classical Chinese singing and dancing added a historical dimension to the vigor and intellectual strength of modern China.

(3 votes)

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Barcelona is the setting for the EMBO Workshop, Frontiers in Sensory Development from 3rd-6th May, 2011. The meeting will focus on different aspects of sensory development, function and evolution in both vertebrate and invertebrate systems. We hope this workshop will allow a better understanding of common themes in sensory function and will encourage colleagues working in different systems to exchange and discuss ideas and techniques. The schedule will feature invited talks, selected oral talks, poster sessions, and many opportunities to socialize in Barcelona.

The meeting will take place in at the PRBB Institute, located on the seafront of the Mediterranean Sea.

To register visit here (abstract submission is soon)

The flyer can be downloaded here

(2 votes)

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As the world of research into developmental biology becomes larger, and the arrival of online communities such as The Node allows us to bring that world a little closer to hand, the importance of using scientific communities to share expertise and experience only grows.   Therefore, here in the Netherlands we are pleased to announce that a little over a week ago the Hubrecht Institute in Utrecht hosted the inaugural meeting of the recently reformed Dutch Society for Developmental Biology (DSDB).

Upon coming to the Netherlands as a postdoc over a year ago, I was a little surprised there was no active developmental biology society or community in place, particularly considering that research which was being conducted in the Netherlands in the early 1900’s was one of the early initiatives for the founding of the first Society for Developmental biology (more about the new society later, first it’s time for a brief trip through history…).

Born in 1853, Ambrosius Hubrecht (for whom the modern Hubrecht Institute is named) was Professor of Zoology at Utrecht University.  He amassed a vast collection of embryological material, and his fascination for Darwin’s evolutionary theory led him into correspondence with Darwin himself.  In 1911, Hubrecht founded the ‘Institut Internationale d’Embryologie’ (IIE), a selective society of embryologists who would meet and discuss aspects of comparative embryology.  The home of the IIE, where meetings would take place, was Hubrecht’s private home in the centre of Utrecht.

A year after Hubrecht’s death in 1915, it was decided to establish the first Hubrecht Laboratory at Hubrecht’s house in Utrecht, and Daniel de Lange became the first director, leading the IIE, and  continuing to organise small international meetings between 1930 and 1938.  At this time, the IIE existed to serve the scientific needs of others, in the field of descriptive comparative embryology.
Concurrently, the field of experimental embryology was making great strides, and in 1968 the IIE renamed itself as the International Society of Developmental Biologists (ISDB), retaining its function as a discussion forum, and keeping its headquarters at the Hubrecht Laboratory

In Europe, and for some time, the functions of the ISDB were assumed in parallel by the European Developmental Biology Organisation (EDBO), grouping together the European national societies of Developmental Biology. At the time this included the Dutch NVOB (Netherlands Society for Developmental Biology). In 1997 the ISDB took over all EDBO functions, and became the world umbrella of national societies of developmental biology.  At this point, the NVOB lost its momentum (but was never officially dissolved), while the ISDB has continued to increase its affiliated members, as the international development community continues to grow.

Therefore, the large community of developmental biologists we belong to came about in part through the activities of a similar society formed here in the Netherlands 100 years ago.  It seemed a shame that a country with a rich history in developmental biology research and with much exciting research still taking place here, had lost its roots somewhat.  After an initial meeting of interested scientists in the summer last year, the DSDB/NVOB has been reborn.

The first meeting was a 1 day event, with 15 speakers (mostly PI’s from within the Netherlands) covering topics including axis patterning, developmental clocks, cell migration, organogenesis, hematopoiesis, plant growth and flowering and small RNAs .  The full program can be found on the DSDB website.  Discussion afterwards yielded the conclusion that the day had been a great success, and that there is definitely the need and enthusiasm for the resurrection of such a community in the Netherlands.

This initial meeting served to familiarise all developmental groups in the Netherlands with the research topics that are the main point of focus in different labs. In future years I would like to see the expansion of the meeting, hopefully so that it can also provide a forum for younger scientists to showcase their own work.  The mission statement of the society is to serve as a forum for developmental biologists in the Netherlands and, through the ISDB, throughout the world.  It should facilitate the sharing of conceptual and technical expertise within our field, and allow us to share research output and stimulate discussions through yearly meetings.  And of course, it will function as a national training network for young scientists. Certainly, as a young postdoc coming from a very interactive developmental biology community in England, my hope is that this society will grow and will once more flourish as a resource for developmental biologists in the Netherlands.  There is a website (it’s running but still rather under construction) for the new society, which can be found at www.nedvob.nl

The committee members for the new DSDB are:

Secretary: Dies Meijer (ErasmusMC, Rotterdam)

Treasurer: Rik Korswagen, (Hubrecht Institute, Utrecht)

President: Jacqueline Deschamps (Hubrecht Institute and UMC, Utrecht)

(Meeting co-organisers – Ben Scheres, Jeroen Bakkers, Susana Lopes and Derk ten Berge)

Membership to the society is now open, and membership enquiries can be directed to Rik Korswagen.

Many thanks to the organisers for getting the society up and running again, and to the NWO for financial support in organising the first meeting.  Also many thanks also to Jacqueline for a digested history of Dutch Dev Bio.



(9 votes)

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I remember when I was a post doc abroad. Science was great, life in a foreign country was very nice, but there was one huge drawback for a French in exile: how to stay in contact with research in France (or any country…), especially when you are a newcomer in the developmental biology field?

One answer is to be a (active) member of the society for developmental biology of your country. In France, the SFBD exists for many years now (see Margaret Buckingham’s interview on the Node…).  We diffuse to our members, informations concerning the community of the French developmental biologists (see our website and our monthly newsletter in french and in english). We also organize an annual meeting (september this year, in Nice with the BSDB). This meeting is a great opportunity for post docs or post doc candidates wishing to reach the community of developmental biologists in France. Another good reason to be a SFBD member is that there is a discount registration fee for members…

It is time to register to the SFBD or to renew your SFBD membership (sorry, we are still working on the online payment…).

(2 votes)

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The 4th international chick meeting will be held in Sendai, Northern Japan, from August 29th to September 2nd, 2011. The meeting aims to build on previous meetings consolidating the links between the different disciplines within the bird community, exploring new frontiers in avian research and developing key community resources. The program is still being finalized, but session topics are listed on the website, and we are really happy that the plenary lecturers have all accepted. Despite the packed schedule, there will be plenty of chances for informal interactions, and break-out meeting. You can download the poster here.

(3 votes)

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Just a quick roundup of some interesting bits of news.

Embryo research in France
This one’s rather interesting to read together with the interview with Margaret Buckingham we posted last week. France has very strict regulations in place for research on embryos or ESCs. Now, Nature reports that researchers in France are urging their government to authorize ESC/embryo research.
(This will be an interesting story to follow. If you’re in France, are you affected by this regulation? If so, would you like to write about it on the Node? Get in touch if you’d like to keep your colleagues around the world in the loop.)

EMBO installation grants
In December, EMBO announced that they’ve awarded Installation Grants to six researchers, allowing them to set up research groups in the Czech Republic, Poland, Portugal and Turkey. Many of the recipients are working, or have worked, in areas related to developmental biology: Szymon Świeżewski and Tomasz Wilanowski set up labs in Poland to study ncRNA-based gene regulation and Grainyhead-like transcription factors respectively. Alena Krejčí is starting a group in the Czech Republic to study Notch signalling in cellular metabolism, after a postdoc with Sarah Bray in Cambridge, and Cory Dunn moved to Turkey to work on mitochondrial DNA damage after a postdoc with Iva Greenwald at Columbia.

Research Blogging
We found a nice blog post about a Development paper on the Sanford-Burnham blog, with interviews with the authors. It’s also listed on Research Blogging – a site that indexes blog posts about peer reviewed research.
If you search for “developmental biology” on Research Blogging, you’ll find a few familiar posts, as we use this on the Node as well. We love to hear your stories behind papers (in any journal), and if you don’t have your own (or institutional) blog, you’re more than welcome to use the Node to show off your work.

Heard any other news that the Node should cover? Please sign up and post it yourself, to prevent delays

(No Ratings Yet)

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On January 12th, about three quarters of the Australian State of Queensland was flooded as local rivers and creeks overflowed from rainfall. Needless to say, it’s been an extremely wet summer. One victim was the University of Queensland, which still stands next to the Brisbane River, the cause of the city of Brisbane’s troubles. Flood waters receded on January 14th.

To clarify, I’m not in Brisbane’s University of Queensland, but many other students are.  A few thousand in fact.To keep everyone in the loop, UQ students have a blog on the University’s website. the latest post from January 13th comes just after the flood reached record highs on their St. Lucia campus (they have several other campuses in other areas). It’s aim was to be informative to students on and off campus. Details include which buildings were affected, university closure dates, who to call if you need counselling etc. Rest assured, no biological buildings were harmed in the flooding.

In a quote from the chancellor, water levels reached those of recording breaking 1974. In the university news website, Brisbane has only experienced massive flooding 2x in its history, once in 1893, the other in 1974. It can now add 2011 to the short list.

(Tad jealous, if only the ANU had a student run blog too. On the other hand, happy to be missing out on the excitement up at UQ.)

UQ also keeps a Flickr photostream, with images of the recent flooding and clean-up. Click here

(No Ratings Yet)

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(This interview originally appeared in Development)

Margaret Buckingham is Professor in the Department of Developmental Biology at the Pasteur Institute in Paris and she is also the current President of the French Society of Developmental Biology (Société Française de Biologie du Développement, SFBD). We spoke with her about the role of the SFBD and about ongoing changes in the French research system.

What is your laboratory currently working on?

We work on skeletal myogenesis and cardiogenesis. The skeletal myogenesis research involves studying gene regulatory networks that govern cell fate choices and the entry into the myogenic programme in the embryo, as well as satellite cell behaviour during muscle regeneration in the adult. For cardiogenesis, work involves examining the second heart field and lineages that contribute to different parts of the heart. We’re also interested in cardiac morphogenesis, and how the chambers of the heart are shaped as development proceeds.

How long have you been President of the SFBD?

I’ve been President since 2006; the term is for 3 years, renewable once, so that after 6 years somebody else should take over.

How old is the society?

There was originally a much older society in France called the Société de Biologie, that was founded in the 19th century and still continues today. The actual French developmental biology society was set up in the 1980s.

What does the SFBD do for its members?

One of our main activities is the annual meeting, which is very important and which brings together all of the developmental biology community in France. We very often hold that annual meeting as a joint meeting with another developmental biology society. For example, next year our annual meeting will be in Nice with the British Society for Developmental Biology, this year it was in Paris with the Japanese society, last year it was in Toulouse with the Spanish society. So this is tradition.

We also have smaller meetings like one with the French Genetics Society on microRNAs in plant and animal development in December 2010.

(more…)

(1 votes)

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Last week (January 19), stem cell pioneer Ernest McCulloch died at the age of 84. Together with James Till, McCulloch discovered stem cells in the 1960s. For their work, the pair won the Gairdner Award in 1969 and the Lasker Award in 2005. McCulloch was professor emeritus of the University of Toronto and former Director at the Ontario Cancer Institute at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto. See the news article on UofT’s website for more information.

(No Ratings Yet)

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