As readers of the Node’s monthly preprint round-up will know, it can be hard to keep up with the ever-growing number of preprints. That’s one of the reasons why Development started publishing ‘In preprints‘ articles – short perspectives that highlight one or a handful of notable preprints that have recently been posted. These pieces serve to point our readers towards relevant preprints that might otherwise escape their attention, as well as to discuss some of the latest advances in the field. In recent months, we’ve highlighted papers on interface surveillance in developing epithelia, the generation of six-legged mice and the flurry of preprints reporting human stem cell-derived embryo models – some of which made the news headlines, but others you may have missed.
As preprint enthusiasts, we’re keen to expand this section of the journal, so if you’ve recently read a preprint you think is important for your field and you’d like to spread the word about it, please do get in touch with us. We see writing these pieces as an opportunity to strengthen networks, and so are particularly keen to receive proposals from a partnership of authors who don’t directly work together (for example, a senior investigator teaming up with a junior PI). Your proposal should include: the title and DOI of the preprint(s) you want to cover, a brief explanation for why you think it is/they are noteworthy, and a proposed author list. We may not be able to consider all proposals, but we hope that – through this initiative – we can help to highlight and curate the preprint literature.
For early career researchers interested in writing (less formally) about the preprint literature, we’d encourage you to consider joining the preLights team – more information on how to apply can be found on this page.
This summer, I had the opportunity to work at the Francis Crick Institute. Because my early university experience was disrupted by COVID, receiving an opportunity to get some real research and lab experience was something I could not pass up. The Crick has a very collaborative and diverse work environment, along with a range of weekly interest groups and seminars; therefore, coming to the Crick was an easy decision to make. I worked in the group of Robin Lovell-Badge and I was supervised and mentored by Richard Clayton who is a postdoc in the lab.
Oligodendrocyte precursor cells and the median eminence of the hypothalamus
Robin’s lab focuses on the genetics of development and stem cells; Richard’s work in the lab is to investigate the role of oligodendrocyte lineage cells in health and disease. Oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) are glial cells of the central nervous system that have some stem cell-like properties. OPCs eventually differentiate into myelinating oligodendrocytes, but also into other cell types to a lesser extent (Akay, Effenberger and Tsai, 2021). While I was at the Crick, I got involved in studying the OPCs of the median eminence (ME), which is a small section of the hypothalamus. The ME contains nerve endings of neurons that control the secretion of pituitary hormones and thus, the function of the hypothalamic-pituitary axes and neuroendocrine system is dependent on the ME (Clayton, Lovell-Badge and Galichet, 2022). Proper functioning of the neuroendocrine system is vital for healthy bodily functions.
Figure 1: Confocal projection of a dissected median eminence (left) and the same data as a 3D render(right). The green cells are microglia, in red are OPCs, and the white channel is nuclei.
Figure 1 shows one of the MEs I got to dissect from a mouse brain. The images show that the ME is like a little boat or cup shape which sits right at the base of the hypothalamus. Where the pituitary gland attaches to the pituitary stalk can be seen in the image on the left. This dissection was extremely difficult as the ME is tiny, and could only be seen due to a few key blood vessels that can be seen under a stereo microscope. In one of the genetically modified mice used in the lab, the OPCs are marked with red fluorescence (Galichet, Clayton and Lovell-Badge, 2021); the image shows a high density of them at the bottom of the ‘boat’ that is the ME (Figure 1).
OPCs may be involved in regulation of the neuroendocrine system from within the ME, for example, one study found that OPCs in this region are important for body weight control and leptin sensing (Djogo et al., 2016). Another study from within my lab has found deficits in proliferation and differentiation of OPCs in the ME in mouse models that have hypopituitarism – specifically, mice that are mutant for certain Sox genes (Galichet, Rizzoti and Lovell-Badge, 2023). Cells which were previously thought to simply function as precursors to oligodendrocytes may actually play a much bigger role. An open question is whether OPCs in this part of the brain could control growth by regulating growth hormone (GH) secretion.
The hypothalamus, growth hormone, and side-effects of radiotherapy
Post-natal growth is driven by the hypothalamic-pituitary-somatotropic axis. Figure 2 shows how GH is released from the pituitary. The somatotropic axis involves the release of growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH) from the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus. This then travels down through the ME into the anterior pituitary. Here, somatotrophs release GH into the blood stream for a variety of functions, including the release of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), which is vital for post-natal growth.
Figure 2: The hypothalamic-pituitary-somatotropic axis. Created with BioRender.com
Changes in GH levels can result in hypopituitarism, or growth hormone deficiency (GHD), leading to a range of diseases and symptoms, including a lack of normal growth. Approximately 50% of children that undergo cranial radiotherapy will develop a neuroendocrine disorder like GHD (Merchant et al., 2011). Since radiotherapy works by targeting rapidly dividing cells, and because OPCs are the most proliferative cell type in the brain, hypopituitarism has been linked with a decrease in OPC differentiation and survival. Therefore, one of the aims of my project was to characterize the changes of OPC numbers and hormone levels in mouse models of GHD.
Mouse model of GHD caused by radiation
One of these models involves the use of X-ray radiation to the brain to achieve the OPC ablation. However, radio-ablation of OPCs is inherently hard to study, as they are very re-generative and proliferative. Once ablated, new OPCs return rapidly. GHD is also difficult to measure due to the pulsatile nature of GH secretion (levels in the blood are known to fluctuate over time).
Nonetheless, we hypothesized that radiation would ablate the OPCs and result in hypopituitarism. Importantly, the chances of developing GHD increase if patients are younger at the time of the radiotherapy treatment (Pollock and Cohen, 2021). Hence, part of the project also aims to establish whether irradiation affects GH levels and OPCs differently at different ages. I counted the numbers of OPCs and measured the amount of GH and myelin levels in mice that were irradiated at a young age, and compared this to mice that were irradiated as adults.
Figure 3: This graph shows the levels of growth hormone (GH) between sham control and irradiated male mice. The asterisk represents statistical significance with a p-value <0.05.
Figure 3 illustrates results from the ELISA I carried out on the younger mouse cohort; it shows that there is a significant decrease in GH levels of irradiated male mice. This indicates to us that these mice are a potential model for GHD.
Correlating with OPC numbers: Immunostaining and imaging
Next, I carried out a range of immuno-stains for certain cellular proteins on coronal mouse brain sections to correlate the changes in GH with changes in OPCs in the brain. These proteins include myelin basic protein (Mbp), which stains for myelin; Olig2, which stains oligodendrocytes and their precursor cells; Pdgfrα, which stains OPCs, and DAPI, which stains DNA and therefore helps visualize cell nuclei.
Prior to staining, the mice would be culled and I would dissect the brain. I then processed the brains by sectioning them into smaller sections. I’d either cut it with the vibratome or the cryostat. The vibratome slices by pushing its blade across the sample at high vibrational frequencies; this was for sections around 50um thick. The cryostat was for sections around 10um thick, and used a fine blade kept at around -20C. Both were difficult to get used to at first, but I got better over the 9 weeks. The process was very exciting and I really enjoyed being able to personally visualise the anatomy.
Once sliced, I’d carry out the immuno-stains for different marker proteins and then mount the slides for imaging. I visualized the slides under the confocal microscope.
Figure 4: This shows two coronal sections of mouse brains, focused on the median eminence and the ventral hypothalamus. The left shows the control sham, and the right the irradiated. The sections are stained for Pdgfra+ in white, which is a marker of OPCs and also the meninges.
Figure 4 indicates that there is a clear reduction in OPCs in the ME of adult irradiated mouse brains. It also appears that there may be less within the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus, as well as the cortex. A surprising find was that within irradiated mice, there are parts of the brain that are less affected by the radiation – mainly the thalamus. This confirmed a previous observation of a difference in sensitivity of different regions of the brain to radiation (Irvine and Blakemore, 2007).
Perhaps the OPCs in the cortex and the ME are simply much more proliferative than those in the thalamus and hypothalamus. Another idea is that the OPCs in differing brain regions have different origins, functions, and properties that may make them more resistant to irradiation. This was quite an exciting idea, because if some OPCs are intrinsically resistant to radiation, we could use their properties to design a therapy that could subsequently make the OPCs of the ME resistant to radiation. Perhaps this could aid us with respect to the radiotherapy-linked GHD problem.
A genetic mouse model of growth deficiency
Next, I wanted to understand more about how loss of OPCs could lead to GHD. One idea is that OPCs are needed to support development and maintenance of GHRH-secreting neurons. To investigate, I used another mouse model where mice have mutant copies of a Sox gene. These mice have a growth deficit phenotype that indicates they could have GHD. The mice I used also had a fluorescent marker present in GHRH-secreting neurons, which meant I could count the overall number of neurons in the brains of these animals.
Figure 5: This shows the arcuate hypothalamus under the confocal microscope (left) stained for DAPI (blue) and GHRH neurons (green). The graph on the right compares the average GHRH neuron counts of the arcuate hypothalamus between the Sox mutant and wildtype mice.
The preliminary results suggest there is no difference in the number of GHRH neurons of Sox mutant vs wildtype mice (Figure 5). This suggests that the lack of GH is not due to a relative reduction in neurons in this model. Therefore, it may imply that while the number of neurons is unchanged, the Sox mutation affects the OPCs in a way that leads to a decrease in the amount of GHRH released. We could investigate this further by staining for recently active GHRH-secreting neurons to investigate their activity, both in Sox mutants but also in irradiated mice. Furthermore, we could carry out an ELISA or radioimmunoassay for GHRH to directly investigate the hormone levels.
Overall, my summer at the Crick was an unforgettable experience; I wish I could do it all over again. I learned an incredible amount over the 9 weeks, not just from my lab, but from the many seminars and talks that were available to us, and from all of my fellow summer students. Being in an environment where I was encouraged to always ask questions, and being somewhere where the scientific conversations continued over lunch and coffee, were some of my favourite aspects of my time at the Crick. The lab I was in had incredibly passionate and smart people in it, who made sure weekly lab meetings and coffee breaks were never boring. I thoroughly enjoyed being around people who share the same interests as me and who always want to learn.
I also gained valuable experience in conducting research and gained new skills of wet- and dry-lab techniques. I am a lot more confident and excited for my final year of undergraduate study, and I feel much more prepared – mentally and physically – for my dissertation project. Lastly, this experience has also opened the new avenue of pursuing a PhD which, until now, I had not properly considered.
Finally, I would like to thank the Francis Crick Institute for hosting me and the Medical Research Foundation Rosa Beddington Fund for supporting my project. I would also like to say thank you to everyone I met at the Crick. I had such a great experience, and I fully recommend that everyone should do a summer studentship!
Akay, L.A., Effenberger, A.H. and Tsai, L.-H. (2021) ‘Cell of all trades: oligodendrocyte precursor cells in synaptic, vascular, and immune function’, Genes & Development, 35(3–4), pp. 180–198. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1101/gad.344218.120.
Clayton, R.W., Lovell-Badge, R. and Galichet, C. (2022) ‘The Properties and Functions of Glial Cell Types of the Hypothalamic Median Eminence’, Frontiers in Endocrinology, 13, p. 953995. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2022.953995.
Djogo, T. et al. (2016) ‘Adult NG2-Glia Are Required for Median Eminence-Mediated Leptin Sensing and Body Weight Control’, Cell Metabolism, 23(5), pp. 797–810. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2016.04.013.
Galichet, C., Clayton, R.W. and Lovell-Badge, R. (2021) ‘Novel Tools and Investigative Approaches for the Study of Oligodendrocyte Precursor Cells (NG2-Glia) in CNS Development and Disease’, Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, 15, p. 673132. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3389/fncel.2021.673132.
Galichet, C., Rizzoti, K. and Lovell-Badge, R. (2023) ‘Sox3-null hypopituitarism depends on median eminence NG2-glia and is influenced by aspirin and gut microbiota’. bioRxiv, p. 2023.07.26.550616. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.07.26.550616.
Irvine, K.-A. and Blakemore, W.F. (2007) ‘A different regional response by mouse oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) to high-dose X-irradiation has consequences for repopulating OPC-depleted normal tissue’, European Journal of Neuroscience, 25(2), pp. 417–424. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-9568.2007.05313.x.
Merchant, T.E. et al. (2011) ‘Growth hormone secretion after conformal radiation therapy in pediatric patients with localized brain tumors’, Journal of Clinical Oncology: Official Journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, 29(36), pp. 4776–4780. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.2011.37.9453.
Pollock, N.I. and Cohen, L.E. (2021) ‘Growth Hormone Deficiency and Treatment in Childhood Cancer Survivors’, Frontiers in Endocrinology, 12, p. 745932. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2021.745932.
Our first webinar in October was chaired by Development Editor Debby Silver (Duke University) and featured three early-career researchers studying neurodevelopment and regeneration. Below are the recordings of the talks.
Baptiste Libé-Philippot (VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain & Disease Research)
In June of this year, five secondary school teachers who teach BTEC and A levels students from Wales and Oxfordshire spent a week with us at the Department of Physiology Anatomy and Genetics (DPAG) and the Institute for Developmental and Regenerative Medicine (IDRM) at the University of Oxford. Our aim was to support and promote STEM subjects among students by providing their teacher the opportunity of a residency in a modern research setting, where they could experience how research is conducted on a day-to-day basis, network with researchers and generate their own experimental results to enrich their teaching.
PhD Student, Esra, is showing zebrafish embryo to participating teachers (IDRM)
The program was fully funded by Jesus College and Trinity College, Oxford, who sponsored transportation, accommodation and meals. We also received funds from DPAG for substitute teaching cover for the schools while their teachers were with us in the lab, which the participating teachers said was absolutely essential in enabling the schools to let them join the week long residency. We had a great deal of interest in the scheme and more teachers than we could accommodate applied to take part.
We asked the teachers why they chose to spend a week away from home and work and here is what Clare, a secondary school teacher from Oxfordshire said:
“I realised that although I had taught science for 20 years, I knew nothing about a career in Scientific research or as a science lab technician in research. I had many A level students interested in this area who would ask my advice, both gifted students who wanted to do a PhD and work as a research scientist, and students who were excellent practically and wanted to work in some capacity within science.
I felt that I needed to know more in order to support and advise them. I also wanted to develop my own practical techniques, having studied a degree that was almost entirely theoretical, with almost no lab experience. In addition, my school had asked me to help giving students mock interviews for Biology, and I felt I needed to know more about the Oxbridge interview process.”
At hosting institutes, the teachers spent their times with researchers in their labs. A daily work plan (with associated risk assessments) was prepared beforehand and shared with the teachers, researchers who worked with the teachers and local safety officer.
At DPAG, two teachers shadowed researchers one-on-one, following their research. The teachers and their host researchers in this group had several productive discussions on details of the research: “The experience of having been with a [resident teacher] was a win-win exercise. On my part, knowing how a teacher organises their classes, understanding the way that they see things, and how they are always thinking about how to make things comprehensible for others, I would say that I was sharing the bench with an expert in public engagement.”
“From [the teacher’s] side, she was fascinated by how the theory is put into practice in a research project, from the experimental design, and going through the methods, to how the results are analysed and discussed how they are in line with the research project hypothesis, I remember she said: ‘I could go back now to my student and talk about this experience for weeks and weeks” said Mayra, one of the researchers.
At the IDRM, three teachers participated in hands on experiments and attended research talks. Eight host researchers at the IDRM formed a group to work with the three teachers, and set up typical experiments to introduce them to research topics. Teachers formed a group to work on an experiment together as well as one-on-one with a host researcher. Some of the activities included:
Whole mount Hybridization Chain Reaction on E9.5 mouse embryos
Harvest and culture of pre-implantation mouse embryos and cave fish embryos
Imaging injured adult fish hearts
Basic tissue culture technique and organoid differentiation
Genotype PCR, confocal imaging, etc
The teachers also enjoyed learning about available public engagement/outreach resources, listened to talks taking place at the IDRM, and met with staff with different training backgrounds. The teachers felt it was particularly useful for them to meet research staff with a non-traditional entry into a career in research, as there are students who love science and experiments who might not think academia is for them, and they can encourage these students to aspire to a career in research.
The experience was tremendously fulfilling for teachers and researchers alike. Work with the teachers provided the researchers a valuable opportunity to think about the societal context and impact of their research, how to talk about the relevance of their research, and of course, gave them the opportunity to talk about the science that excites us all.
If anyone is interested in doing something similar and would like tips, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us!
Participating labs and their locations:
DPAG – Kavli Institute for Nanoscience Discovery: Carlyle and Lakhal-Littleton groups
DPAG – Institute of Developmental and Regenerative Medicine: Mommersteeg, Riley, Srinivas, and Stone groups
Many thanks to the participating teachers, Jesus and Trinity College Access Officers, DPAG EDI officer, and researchers who donated their expertise and time.
Every time there’s a frost, I go out and look at all these plants and think, I wonder what’s been induced. I think by looking at the plant, it tells you the questions to go and pursue… There is so much to understand about how plants change in response to the environment.
Professor Dame Caroline Dean, John Innes Centre, Norwich
In the latest episode of the Genetics Unzipped podcast, we’re exploring how plants adapt to a changing environment, and how we might be able to give them a helping hand so that we can keep feeding the world sustainably in the future.
If you enjoy the show, please do rate and review on Apple podcasts and help to spread the word on social media. And you can always send feedback and suggestions for future episodes and guests to podcast@geneticsunzipped.com Follow us on Twitter – @geneticsunzip
Our second webinar in October will be chaired by Development’s Associate Editor Irene Miguel-Aliaga (Imperial College London) and features three early-career researchers studying metabolism and development, which coincides with the completion of Development’s Special Issue: Metabolic and Nutritional Control of Development and Regeneration. The webinar will be held using Zoom with a Q&A session after each talk.
Wednesday 25 October 2023 – 15:00 BST
Maria Fernanda (Nanda) Forni (Yale University) ‘Metabolic crosstalk during regeneration and aging impacts tissue homeostasis in the skin’
Hidenobu Miyazawa (EMBL Heidelberg) ‘Metabolic signaling as a regulator of developmental timing’
Siamak Redhai (DKFZ) ‘Identification of Chronophage as a novel transcription factor involved in Notch signaling during intestinal stem cell differentiation’
Song Song, Bomsoo Cho, Alexis T Weiner, Silas Boye Nissen, Irene Ojeda Naharros, Pablo Sanchez Bosch, Kaye Suyama, Yanhui Hu, Li He, Tanya Svinkina, Namrata Udeshi, Steven A Carr, Norbert Perrimon, Jeffrey D. Axelrod
Yongfeng Luo, Ke Cao, Joanne Chiu, Hui Chen, Hong-Jun Wang, Matthew E. Thornton, Brendan H. Grubbs, Martin Kolb, Michael S. Parmacek, Yuji Mishina, Wei Shi
Riitta Lindström, Jyoti P. Satta, Satu-Marja Myllymäki, Qiang Lan, Ewelina Trela, Renata Prunskaite-Hyyryläinen, Beata Kaczyńska, Maria Voutilainen, Satu Kuure, Seppo J. Vainio, Marja L. Mikkola
Marcella Birtele, Ashley Del Dosso, Tiantian Xu, Tuan Nguyen, Brent Wilkinson, Negar Hosseini, Sarah Nguyen, Jean-Paul Urenda, Gavin Knight, Camilo Rojas, Ilse Flores, Alexander Atamian, Roger Moore, Ritin Sharma, Patrick Pirrotte, Randolph S. Ashton, Eric J. Huang, Gavin Rumbaugh, Marcelo P. Coba, Giorgia Quadrato
David Paz, Nayeli G. Reyes-Nava, Briana E. Pinales, Isaiah Perez, Claudia B. Gil, Annalise V. Gonzales, Brian Grajeda, Igor L. Estevao, Cameron C. Ellis, Victoria L. Castro, Anita M. Quintana
Martin Minařík, Melinda S. Modrell, J. Andrew Gillis, Alexander S. Campbell, Isobel Fuller, Rachel Lyne, Gos Micklem, David Gela, Martin Pšenička, Clare V. H. Baker
Patrick M Helbling, Anjali Vijaykumar, Alvaro Gomariz, Karolina A Zielinska, Thomas Zerkatje, Kathrin Loosli, Stephan Isringhausen, Takashi Nagasawa, Ingo Roeder, Markus G Manz, Tomomasa Yokomizo, Cesar Nombela-Arrieta
James L. Engel, Xianglong Zhang, Daniel R. Lu, Olaia F. Vila, Vanessa Arias, Jasper Lee, Christopher Hale, Yi-Hsiang Hsu, Chi-Ming Li, Roland S. Wu, Vasanth Vedantham, Yen-Sin Ang
Qinghao Yu, Hannah E. Walters, Giovanni Pasquini, Sumeet Pal Singh, Martina Lachnit, Catarina Oliveira, Daniel León-Periñán, Andreas Petzold, Preethi Kesavan, Cristina Subiran, Ines Garteizgogeascoa, Dunja Knapp, Anne Wagner, Andrea Bernardos, María Alfonso, Gayathri Nadar, Alwin M. Graf, Konstantin E. Troyanovskiy, Andreas Dahl, Volker Busskamp, Ramón Martínez-Máñez, Maximina H. Yun
Colleen Drapek, Nadiatul A. Radzman-Mohd, Annalisa Rizza, Katharina Schiessl, Fabio Dos Santos Barbosa, Jiangqi Wen, Giles E.D. Oldroyd, Alexander M. Jones
Travis Parker, Tayah Bolt, Troy Williams, Ramachandra Varma Penmetsa, Mwiinga Mulube, Antonia Palkovic, Celestina Nhagupana Jochua, Maria del Mar Rubio Wilhelmi, Sassoum Lo, Gail Bornhorst, Li Tian, Kelvin Kamfwa, Sam Hokin, Andrew Farmer, Christine H. Diepenbrock, Paul Gepts
Adolfo Aguilar-Cruz, Eduardo Flores-Sandoval, Ximena Gutiérrez-Ramos, Omar Oltehua- Lopez, Ana E. Dorantes-Acosta, Joshua T. Trujillo, Hirotaka Kato, Kimitsune Ishizaki, Rebecca A. Mosher, Liam Dolan, Daniel Grimanelli, Jim Haseloff, John L. Bowman, Mario A. Arteaga-Vazquez
Emily E. K. Kopania, Gregg W. C. Thomas, Carl R. Hutter, Sebastian M. E. Mortimer, Colin M. Callahan, Emily Roycroft, Anang S. Achmadi, William G. Breed, Nathan L. Clark, Jacob A. Esselstyn, Kevin C. Rowe, Jeffrey M. Good
Xavier Grau-Bové, Lucie Subirana, Lydvina Meister, Anaël Soubigou, Ana Neto, Anamaria Elek, Oscar Fornas, Jose Luis Gomez-Skarmeta, Juan J Tena, Manuel Irimia, Stéphanie Bertrand, Arnau Sebé-Pedrós, Hector Escriva
Madison B Wilken, Gennadiy Fonar, Catriana Nations, Giulia Pavani, Victor Tsao, James Garifallou, Joanna Tober, Laura Bennett, Jean Ann Maguire, Alyssa Gagne, Nkemdilim Okoli, Paul Gadue, Stella T Chou, Nancy A Speck, Deborah L French, Christopher S Thom
Yongchun Zhang, Dimitris Karagiannis, Helu Liu, Mi Lin, Yinshan Fang, Ming Jiang, Xiao Chen, Supriya Suresh, Haidi Huang, Junjun She, Feiyu Shi, Patrick Yang, Wael El-Rifai, Alexander Zaika, Anthony E. Oro, Anil K. Rustgi, Timothy C. Wang, Chao Lu, Jianwen Que
Fides Zenk, Jonas Simon Fleck, Sophie Martina Johanna Jansen, Bijan Kashanian, Beneditk Eisinger, Malgorzata Santel, Jean Samuel Dupre, Gray Camp, Barbara Treutlein
Luke Simpson, Andrew Strange, Doris Klisch, Sophie Kraunsoe, Takuya Azami, Daniel Goszczynski, Triet Le, Benjamin Planells, Nadine Holmes, Fei Sang, Sonal Henson, Matthew Loose, Jennifer Nichols, Ramiro Alberio
Trevor A. Branch, Isabelle M. Cȏté, Solomon R. David, Joshua A. Drew, Michelle LaRue, Melissa C. Márquez, E. Chris M. Parsons, D. Rabaiotti, David Shiffman, David A. Steen, Alexander L. Wild
We currently have several vacancies across our journals – if you’re interested in a career in publishing (or are already working as an editor but looking for a move), and want to join a great team of people that really cares about supporting the scientific community, read on!
Our sister journals Journal of Cell Science and Disease Models & Mechanisms are both looking for new Reviews Editors. These roles involve commissioning and editing review-type articles for the journals, as well as getting involved in other aspects of the journals’ activities. These are great positions that allow you to stay in touch with the science, work constructively with authors and learn all about publishing from the inside. For more information, please see the full JCS and DMM job adverts.
We’ve also got an opening for a Features Editor who will work across our journals as we build up to the Company’s centenary in 2025. This is a fixed-term (two-year) position giving the successful applicant the opportunity to get involved in a wide range of editorial activities – researching and writing content, interviewing scientists, and contributing to our social media streams.
The deadline for applications for these three positions is 1 November 2023. If you’d like to find out more, please do get in touch – either with our HR department, or you’re welcome to contact me informally.
Finally, you may already have spotted that we are interested in hosting interns on our community sites (the Node, FocalPlane and preLights). These are offered as placements for students on a BBSRC Doctoral Training Program – or equivalent scheme – that requires students to undertake an internship as part of their training. More information can be found in this advert.
Hello, I am Margot Smit, a new PI and a new contributor to the ‘New PI Diaries’ from the Node. On October 2nd (today) I am starting my lab at the Center for Plant Molecular Biology in Tübingen, Germany. In my lab we will study how the timing of cell fate progression is controlled in plan development. We will start out studying stomatal and vascular development during Arabidopsis embryogenesis, where I previously identified blocked fate progression. For more check out my website (lab website at ZMBP under construction).
The first few months of this new job will surely be exciting and overwhelming. Apart from having a new job description, I’ll be in a new institute with different habits and rules, and many unknowns. My first challenge will be getting to know the place and its quirks, something that I’ve learned never to underestimate. I’ve done Arabidopsis research at 3 different universities so far (Wageningen University, UC Davis and most recently Stanford) and I’ve found it’s best not to make too many assumptions. Because while they had enthusiastic, welcoming colleagues and excellent facilities in common, every place had its unique ways of organizing things. From reagent ordering to microscope booking, to meeting structure, to my favorite topic: fertilizer. I love talking about moving labs and finding plant fertilizer.
Fertilizer is the topic I go to when I explain what it’s like to move to a different institute. Since I have some experience doing Arabidopsis research, I used to assume that meant I didn’t have to ask a lot of questions when starting somewhere new. Some things are always the same. Arabidopsis needs nutrients and so we add plant fertilizer to the soil. At Wageningen we ordered trays of prepared soil from central facilities, they would arrive the next week, ready to go in whatever pots we requested. Then I moved to Stanford and the lab manager showed me around, showing me where the soil (and fertilizer pellets) for making trays were. I didn’t realize I needed someone to show me this, but it has turned into a fun experience. That lab manager is unfortunately no longer in the lab and several new lab members joined who had previous experience growing Arabidopsis so they didn’t think to ask about our soil. Then 2-3 months later they would wonder why their plants were not doing so great. And then they learn that there is no fertilizer in the soil or in the water (as was the case at UC Davis) but that they need to add it separately. While this was probably frustrating, there are worse things — like growing your non-Arabidopsis plants for many months and wondering why they do so poorly… This is what happened to a friend who moved from UC Davis to another UC where there was no fertilizer in the water. A lot more lost time and frustration than 2-3 months.
There is so much that is the same between institutes and so much that is different. One challenge is not knowing all the differences from the start. So as I get ready to start in a new place I am preparing to learn all the obvious differences but also to find the unexpected ones. I’m sure there’s many things I’ll miss and do wrong initially, but I am looking forward to learning and I hope people will be (somewhat) forgiving. Luckily, an experienced technician will join my lab which I’m sure will make finding the fertilizer (and starting a lab) a lot easier. In the first month I’ll be getting to know the institute, setting up materials, interviewing for a big grant, and hiring my first PhD student. Wish me luck!
[Update Oct 2nd: Fertilizer is already mixed into the soil here it seems. Interesting]
The Kerosuo lab, The Neural Crest Development and Disease Unit, is part of the National Institutes of Health Intramural Research Program at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, and it’s located in Bethesda, Maryland, USA
The overall aim of the Kerosuo Lab is to provide a comprehensive picture of early neural crest development as part of the ectoderm patterning process and neurulation, and to use this knowledge to unravel the pathology behind neural crest derived diseases known as neurocristopathies. We focus on understanding the molecular mechanisms behind neural crest pluripotency-like stem cell maintenance, how fate choices are made, the extent of heterogeneity and plasticity in neural crest potential, and whether our findings on normal developmental processes apply to neural crest-derived birth defects and cancer. To answer our research questions, we use a combination of biochemical, cell, and molecular biology techniques and single cell and live imaging on chick and mouse embryos as well as on human ES-cell-derived neural crest cells. By combining the iPSC-technology to our research, the goal is to create a bridge between normal development and disease and create neural crest cells from patients with neurocristopathies to characterize the underlying cause by using a broad array of modern cell and molecular biology assays, which in part, are further validated by using the in vivo animal models.
Lab group photo
Lab roll call
Karla Barbosa Sabanero is a senior postdoc in the lab who works to understand the mechanisms that maintain the pluripotent state and the cell identity of the neural crest cells.
Jenaid Rees is a new postdoc in the lab uses chick embryology to explore the specific function of genes essential for neural crest specification and survival.
Ed Taroc is a new postdoc in the lab who studies how DiGeorge Syndrome affects the neural crest.
Ceren Pajanoja is a senior PhD student (in partnership with The University of Helsinki, Finland) who studies how the neural crest obtains its exceptionally high, pluripotency-like stem cell potential in the chick embryo, and how different cellular functions and fate determining gene regulatory networks mature and interact with each other during ectoderm patterning.
Jenny Hsin is a MD/PhD student (in partnership with The University of Cambridge, UK) attempting to understand the mechanisms by which neuroblastoma, a pediatric cancer, initiates during neural crest development.
Jamiya Kirkland is a second-year postbac fellow in the lab who works on understanding molecular mechanisms that drive neuroblastoma formation.
Sravya Pailla is a second year postbac fellow who studies pluripotency-related cellular functions in the human neural crest.
Shaun Abrams is an Independent Research Scholar in the lab, whose team studies how the ubiquitin pathway regulates neural crest development and how centrioles/cilia coordinate craniofacial development.
Favourite technique, and why?
Laura: I like multiple techniques and will never get tired of admiring beautiful high-resolution images. The self-developed single cell Multiplex Spatial Transcriptomics technique (scMST) we use in the lab is impressive; every 3D image showing the pseudo-colored cells forming transcriptionally distinct subpopulations in the original spatial location in the tissue makes you humble and grateful for the fact that we can see into the embryo in such detail. I also enjoy how we can now model human neural crest development in organoid cultures and finally learn about the human details as we never get access to the young enough human embryos to study this. However, at the end of the day, my favorite technique probably is and will always be the gastrula stage gene perturbation technique in the chicken embryo to address developmental mechanisms at neurula stage; it is so satisfying to see an effect of your manipulation on one side of a real embryo, and directly compare the result to the contralateral control side. No matter what your hypothesis is, the embryo will tell us the correct answer.
Apart from your own research, what are you most excited about in developmental and stem cell biology?
Laura: I am fascinated by the recent progress in the assisted and self-assembling organoid field not to mention the incredible success of making entire embryos on a dish from cultured pluripotent cells!
How do you approach managing your group and all the different tasks required in your job?
Laura: I don’t think anybody can ever be perfect at this as it always feels like there is too much to do. I try my best by being quite well organized, I keep adding tasks to a long “to do” list, and I also categorize them by deadlines in my notes. Unfortunately, only twice during my PI-career have I had the rewarding feeling of finishing the list! In addition to labmeeting and spontaneous need-based meetings, I have standing weekly meetings with everyone in my lab, which provides a good structural basis so that I don’t lose track. As a mother of three children, I have been forced to a disciplined lifestyle for a long time already, which in this respect has served as an advantage.
What is the best thing about where you work?
Laura: The multidisciplined, enthusiastic, and collegial research environment and the elaborate funding resources of the NIH. As a PI, it’s a privilege to be able to solely focus on the research without any teaching or grant writing responsibility.
Jenaid: The NIH has both amazing resources and incredible opportunities for collaboration.
Ed: The best thing about working for the NIH is that it is the NIH, one of the top research institutes in the country (maybe the world?), the amount of resources available to me feels amazing.
Jenny: The NIH is an amazing place for collaboration and resources – there are so many people and cores willing to answer your questions and offer their expertise.
Shaun: NIDCR is a very collegial and collaborative institute, the resources and core support are amazing, and the people who work here are very supportive in helping to troubleshoot experiments and brainstorm innovative new scientific questions/ideas.
Karla: I enjoy that the NIH has a vibrant diverse community with a collaborative environment.
What’s there to do outside of the lab?
Jenaid: There are beautiful hikes and vineyards a short drive away- it’s a lovely way to spend the weekend.
Ed: I’m new to the DC/Maryland area but outside of lab in general I like to go running, hiking (I’m from upstate NY so literally a pass time for a lot of us), reading books, and also playing video games. I’m also really into exploring the area to find good places to eat and get good drinks, and you can usually find me roaming around the city with friends having a good time.
Jenny: The DMV area has so many things to do – DC has tons of free museums and an amazing food scene with plenty of restaurants and bars to check out. I also love being outdoors – the Rock Creek and Capital Crescent Trails are my favorites to go running on.
Shaun: There is so much to do in the DMV area. From great restaurants, hiking trails, museums, and concerts, I am never at a loss for things to do here when I’m not in lab.
Karla: This region has beautiful parks and green areas where you can enjoy hiking, rowing, and biking. Also, being so close to DC there are lots of events and fun for all.
Browse through other ‘Lab meeting’ posts featuring developmental and stem cell biology labs around the world.
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