Node Blog: Behind the Paper Story

Clocks, gradients and segmentation

Muhammed Simsek, Ertuğrul Özbudak and colleagues have discovered that oscillations in the ppErk gradient, driven by the Her1-Her7 oscillator, is sufficient for sequential segmentation during zebrafish somitogenesis. Muhammed, Angad, Didar and Ertuğrul share the story behind their research, which was recently published in Nature.

How did you get started on this project? 

E.M.Ö.: We are broadly interested in the mechanisms governing spatiotemporal control of somite segmentation. Sequential formation of those embryonic tissues is a landmark example of developmental pattern formation. How this process is controlled in space and time has long been debated. In this project we aimed to tackle this long-standing question. To put it in a framework, maybe I should give a brief description of the field’s status quo first.

Yes, please…

E.M.Ö.: Among its alternatives, the clock and wavefront (CW) model dominated the field and became the textbook model as some evidence suited this model the best. The CW model was initially proposed approximately 50 years ago¹. Seminal works by the Olivier Pourquie’s lab, who was my second postdoctoral mentor, identified critical molecular players controlling somite segmentation. Although the dynamics of discovered segmentation clock genes² and signalling gradients³ were different than how they were envisioned in the original CW model, Olivier noticed that his discoveries could be better explained by an updated version of the CW model than other competitive conceptual models in the field. Therefore, he updated the CW model to its current form in the textbooks⁴. According to this later version of the CW model (let’s call it CW^L, L for later), a molecular clock controls the period of segmentation while posteroanterior FGF/ppERK and/or Wnt/β-Catenin gradients determine the positions of segment boundaries. According to the CW^L model: (1) the clock and the gradient act independently, (2) how cells integrate their information is unknown, (3) the gradient passively moves over cells posteriorly by tail elongation, is static in the tailbud frame, and provides positional information at a concentration-threshold.

Where did the CW model fall short of explaining things?

E.M.Ö.: While I was completing my first postdoctoral study in the late Julian Lewis’s lab, Kageyama lab published a seminal paper showing that ppERK gradient is not static but rather its amplitude (peak levels) and spatial range oscillates in the mouse PSM by carefully sorting static ppERK immunostaining data⁵. This clearly violated the static gradient and smoothly regressing wavefront of the CW^L model. It was also counterintuitive that an oscillatory gradient could reliably encode positional information at concentration-thresholds. We (Julian and Ertuğrul) were disturbed with the implications of new findings; other colleagues in the field might have shared the same feelings. Additional data, specifically from Aulehla Lab, came out later that also did not seem to fit to the CW model. Although these results shook our trusts in the CW^L model, a better model did not emerge.

One option to save the CW^L model was to attribute the main wavefront function to the Wnt/ β-catenin gradient instead of the FGF/ppERK one. There is positive feedback between the FGF/ppERK and Wnt/β-Catenin gradients in the posterior PSM and perturbing the activities of each one changes the somite lengths. Wnt/ β-catenin gradient has not been shown to oscillate yet. Thus, it is theoretically possible that Wnt/β-Catenin gradient (if it is not oscillating) directly encodes the positional information while the FGF/ppERK gradient affects somite lengths indirectly through the Wnt/β-Catenin gradient. Therefore, it was critical for us to first find out which gradient directly instructs positional information. This was the first project Muhammed undertook after joining my lab for postdoctoral training.

M.F.S.: I had joined the lab with exposure to cell culture and microscopy. So, I was working on developing a 3-D explant culture for near-objective imaging of zebrafish tails without yolk⁶. One day I accidentally noticed some explants had stopped their axis elongation but kept making smaller and smaller somites. Decoupling axis elongation from gradient dynamics, we had a perfect tool to test what “the positional information” was for somites. We published those results from both explants and whole embryos in our 2018 study⁷, which set the foundation of our recently published paper⁸. In the 2018 paper, we showed that FGF/ppERK gradient directly instructs positional information for somites while Wnt/β-Catenin indirectly influences somite boundaries by its coupling with the FGF/ppERK gradient. To our surprise, we also discovered this instruction however was not at a fixed concentration threshold of the gradient and was not cell-autonomous. Instead, cells compare their ppERK levels with their neighbours and boundaries are instructed when the neighbour comparison passes a critical ratio (the spatial fold-change, SFC). This is mathematically equivalent to local gradient slope divided by local ERK activity.

E.M.Ö.: After this work, several new questions emerged: (1) How could ERK activity universally encode positional information if its dynamics are not conserved among the vertebrates? (2) If it was conserved, that is if ERK activity had also oscillated in zebrafish like mice, how can this oscillatory gradient reliably encode positional information? (3) Why is this ratiometric (SFC) signal encoding utilized instead of a simple concentration-threshold (i.e., what’s the advantage of the SFC over concentration threshold)? (4)How the clock and ERK activity gradient are integrated? We reported our answers to these critical questions in the recently published paper.

Can you summarise your findings?

E.M.Ö.: In this work, we first showed that ppERK gradient is not static but rather oscillating in zebrafish as well. This points to a conserved ppERK dynamics among vertebrates. We then showed that ppERK oscillations are clock-dependent and that the clock, by periodically repressing ppERK levels, projects its oscillations on the gradient. Building upon this knowledge, we were able to create boundaries in clock mutant fish (these fish lack clock genes and hence no proper somite boundaries form) by artificially repressing ppERK levels in a periodic manner using pharmacological drugs. These results also broke a long-standing dogma in the field regarding the role of traveling waves of the segmentation clock, showing that they are dispensable for the somite formation. Crucially, it resolved the hierarchy of the somitogenesis network. Unlike the CW model proposed, the clock actually works upstream of FGF signalling. Our results further showed that as long as ERK activity is periodically repressed somite boundaries can be formed.

When doing the research, did you have any particular result or eureka moment that has stuck with you?

A.S.C.: For an aspiring young scientist like me, it was the use of systems approach to resolve this decades old problem of pattern formation. Taking part in this project, I closely witnessed the power of systems approach in teasing out the working principles of nature. Especially, when Ertuğrul and Muhammed came up with an experiment to test if the clock’s only role in boundary formation is to periodically repress ERK activity. At first, I was not able to believe the results but once repeated, it was an eureka moment for me. While reading the stories of discoveries, I was always amazed by the feeling that there were secrets of nature known only to the researchers. Working on this project gave a me a taste of how that felt.

M.F.S.: We first simulated this pulsatile drug inhibition idea to see if imitating the clock’s action with drugs was really feasible. Affirmative outcome was a big motivation for experimentally searching for the optimal treatment regimen. Those days were joyful that I was seeing chevron shape somite boundaries even in clouds and kept spamming lab’s chat group with pictures of drug-induced somites.

D.S.: As a graduate student in biology with a background in physics, I am trained to use math to derive answers in physics and my curiosity brought me into biology where most complex molecular mechanisms take place. While working on this project, it was amazing to see how the predicted dynamics was emerging bit by bit from every experimental data. I was blown-away seeing how mathematical modelling can predict the function of biological signalling pathways in developing embryo.

And what about the flipside: any moments of frustration or despair?

M.F.S.: The dynamics we were quantifying were quite fast that not having a live ERK activity reporter to capture it was kind of frustrating. I think Angad did a perfect job at implementing kinase translocation reporters developed for ERK signalling to generate a zebrafish line. It was satisfying to see the cytoplasmic localization of the live reporter was perfectly capturing underlying ppERK gradient.

A.S.C.: Live imaging of double reporter (the segmentation clock and ERK activity) was quite challenging. Segmentation and tracking of single cells of presomitic mesoderm (PSM) was turning out to be an impossible task, given that cells are quite dynamic, motile and have relatively large nuclei. Muhammed and I had to manually verify each software-tracked cell.

Where will this story take the lab?

E.M.Ö.: One big question remained in this work was how the clock molecularly and mechanistically regulate the ERK activity. It is quite surprising that the clock, known as a bHLH family transcriptional repressor, can lower ppERK levels quite speedily. We are currently working on this aspect of the problem. Another direction is discovering the decoding mechanism that cells use to understand SFC dynamics and execute the boundary-making decision.

What is next for you after this paper?

E.M.Ö.: Muhammed is looking for a place to establish his own lab where he will work on similar problems. Others in the lab will continue working on non-overlapping problems.

M.F.S.: I want to understand the design principles behind how position is sensed in embryos and why sequential segmentation is so widespread in animal body plans. Somitogenesis has been and will continue to be my main sandbox to play with those ideas.

A.S.C.: This work has furthered my interest in science and especially about those moments when you are one of the lucky few whom nature reveals how it works. I feel more very passionate to finish my own projects which also deals with similar fundamental questions.

D.S.: This project has been a fascinating experience for me to see the conference of biology and mathematical modelling which motivates me to further understand how embryos form spatiotemporal patterns by encoding and interpreting biological signals in real-time.

REFERENCES

1.        Cooke, J. & Zeeman, E. C. A clock and wavefront model for control of the number of repeated structures during animal morphogenesis. J Theor Biol 58, 455–476 (1976).

2.        Palmeirim, I., Henrique, D., Ish-Horowicz, D. & Pourquié, O. Avian hairy gene expression identifies a molecular clock linked to vertebrate segmentation and somitogenesis. Cell 91, 639–648 (1997).

3.        Dubrulle, J., McGrew, M. J. & Pourquié, O. FGF signaling controls somite boundary position and regulates segmentation clock control of spatiotemporal Hox gene activation. Cell 106, 219–232 (2001).

4.        Hubaud, A. & Pourquié, O. Signalling dynamics in vertebrate segmentation. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 15, 709–721 (2014).

5.        Niwa, Y. et al. The Initiation and Propagation of Hes7 Oscillation Are Cooperatively Regulated by Fgf and Notch Signaling in the Somite Segmentation Clock. Dev Cell 13, 298–304 (2007).

6.        Simsek, M. F. & Özbudak, E. M. A 3-D Tail Explant Culture to Study Vertebrate Segmentation in Zebrafish. Journal of Visualized Experiments 2021, e61981 (2021).

7.        Simsek, M. F. & Özbudak, E. M. Spatial Fold Change of FGF Signaling Encodes Positional Information for Segmental Determination in Zebrafish. Cell Rep 24, 66-78.e8 (2018).

8.        Simsek, M. F. et al. Periodic inhibition of Erk activity drives sequential somite segmentation. Nature 613, 153–159 (2023).

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 It’s very difficult to know about all rare conditions, but it’s not difficult to know about rare conditions as a kind of collective, and we need to have some better awareness about how healthcare professionals can support their patients when they do present with one.

 Natalie Frankish, Genetics Alliance UK

In the latest episode of the Genetics Unzipped podcast, we’re off on a journey to the world of rare genetic disorders, exploring the diagnostic odyssey that patients go on in search of answers, research into variants of unknown significance and new approaches for treating the rare disease Aicardi-Goutières Syndrome (AGS).

Genetics Unzipped is the podcast from The Genetics Society. Full transcript, links and references available online at GeneticsUnzipped.com.

Subscribe from Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Head over to GeneticsUnzipped.com to catch up on our extensive back catalogue.

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

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Ruth Styfhals and Dr. Eve Seuntjens at the KU Leuven, Belgium, recently published a cell type atlas of a developing octopus brain in Nature Communications. The team behind the paper was diverse, bringing together the different expertise needed to pull off this challenging project. The authors used both single cell and single nuclei RNA sequencing to identify the different cell types within dissected brains of recently hatched Octopus vulgaris (common octopus). They identified the location of several of these cell types within the brain and compared their molecular profile with brain cell types in other species.

How did you get started on this project?

In general, our lab is interested in understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms of complex brain development. By making genetically modified mice to model human neurodevelopmental disorders we tried to identify the mechanism behind these disorders. Our focus was on mutations in Protocadherin genes. The latter were known to be important in vertebrates for cell sorting and neuronal wiring. When the first octopus genome was published in 2015, it revealed massive expansions in genes encoding Protocadherins (Albertin et al., 2015). Our lab got intrigued – could these molecules represent an evolutionary convergent mechanism to build and wire up the complex octopus brain as well? We chose to work on Octopus vulgaris, which is easy to obtain in large quantities as eggs. Before being able to study this question, we first needed to set up a system to keep and hatch the Octopus eggs in the lab (Deryckere, Styfhals, Vidal, Almansa, & Seuntjens, 2020), and we described brain development using modern technologies such as light sheet imaging (Deryckere, Styfhals, Elagoz, Maes, & Seuntjens, 2021). After identifying the neurogenic niche during embryonic development, one very important missing piece of information was molecular knowledge about cell type diversity in the brain. What was the end point of embryonic brain development, and how many cell types were present in this alien brain? Our angle was a developmental one, and we therefore focused on the brain of freshly hatched ‘paralarvae’, which is the swimming intermediate stage that grows over the course of about 5 weeks into a juvenile that settles and adopts the benthic lifestyle of adult Octopus vulgaris.

What was already known about the cell types in the octopus brain?

In 1971, a detailed overview of the anatomy of the adult nervous system of Octopus vulgaris was published (Young, 1971). Therefore, we had a good idea of the different brain lobes, their connections and their function in the adult. In addition, nuclear sizes and the morphology of different cell types were described. Nothing was really known about the number of cell types, what molecular markers these cell types had and how to link molecular types to “morphotypes” present in the brain. Right after hatching, the brain only has about 200,000 cells – therefore it still needs to multiply 1000-fold to reach the cell numbers present in the adult nervous system, which is around two hundred million. Therefore, we were not sure whether we could really compare this hatchling brain with the adult one. Molecular knowledge at the embryonic or larval stage was very limited to studies on selected transcription factor gene expression, often not really at cellular resolution. We also knew that certain neurotransmitters should be present, based on the adult work. We could not even guess how many clusters to expect, and did not have any marker genes to annotate clusters.

Can you summarize your findings?

Our results revealed that the octopus hatchling brain already contains a stunning diversity of cell types. These cell types are often organized according to molecular profile to appear in specific locations showing that this brain is already highly organized. We found that most of the cells are neurons, but there are also distinct glial cell types, and some seem to be spatially confined. We tried to distinguish ancestral cell types from novel cell types by using comparisons to mouse and Drosophila brains, and found that cells of octopus vertical lobe (the brain structure necessary for memory and learning) are transcriptionally similar to cell of the fly mushroom body, indicating functional convergence. We also found that novel Octopus-specific genes, like Protocadherins, are used to delineate specific cell types that might represent evolutionary novel cell types. Working with an unusual species brought additional challenges. A first key step was getting sufficient high-quality samples, by performing micro-dissection, optimizing isolation of cells and having expert help with nuclei isolation. A second key step was to ameliorate, in a significant manner, the gene model annotation of the genome, even when this genome already had a chromosome-level assembly. Using long-read Iso-seq and FLAM-seq data, we could extend 3’ ends in a data-driven manner, increase mapping statistics and more than double the amount of data. A third important step was the spatial mapping using hybridization chain reaction, a very powerful method for revealing gene expression in situ in non-model species. This enabled us to create an initial map of the cellular diversity.

When doing the research, did you have any particular result or eureka moment that has stuck with you?

When comparing octopus brain cell types to mouse and fly brain cell types, we initially didn’t really expect to find anything useful, because of the immense evolutionary distance (the ancestor of octopus and mouse lived about 600 million years ago). It was striking to see that glial cells in all three species were alike, as were neuronal cells important for memory and learning in fly and octopus. This was most amazing, to see evolutionary conservation -or convergence- on a cellular level!

And what about the flipside: any moments of frustration or despair?

Starting up an entirely new non-model, marine aquatic animal culture in a lab with background mainly in mouse development was challenging and took its time. Many grant reviewers were not convinced we were able to pull this off, leading to most grants being rejected. This meant we needed to be very creative with our minimal resources, and we were dependent on help from more fortunate collaborators who did see the innovation and the potential of the idea. Firstly, Stein Aerts, who co-founded FlyCellAtlas, chipped in some of his resources to perform a bold dual single-cell and single-nuclei experiment. Stein is a long-time collaborator and his no-nonsense attitude kept us focused on the goal: to get an initial octopus brain cell atlas. Secondly, Nikolaus Rajewsky developed an interest into octopus brain RNA profiles, and attracted the hyper-dedicated and talented master student Grygoriy Zolotarov to work on this project. We teamed up and were able to massively ameliorate annotation and gene models which more than doubled the amount of usable data. Thirdly, we did not start from the void. Previous collaborations with Gregory Maes, at that time IOF manager at the genomics core facility of KU Leuven, had yielded isoseq long read transcriptome data. Last but not least, our long-standing collaborator Eduardo Almansa made sure we had access to egg clutches and provided them to us at no charge. We wanted to give a shout out to these key people and their generosity; without them this story would not have existed.

What is next for you/the lab after this paper?

Ruth (first author) is finishing her PhD and is currently looking forward to working on neural development in even more unknown, weirder organisms, which have a less complex brain than that of the octopus.

Where will this story take the lab?

This project for sure has opened up a number of future research lines. Having a molecular view on cell types, the next challenge is to link these types to the morphotypes found by JZ Young and others. Another challenge is to understand how this diversity is generated during development: is there a spatial and temporal logic to these cell types? Do neurons and glia have a common stem cell or not? What transcription factors and signaling molecules determine cell fate and migration? How does this brain grow beyond hatching? Are larval cell types retained or replaced? How are these cell types wired up? And how do they lead to (innate) behaviors one can observe in the paralarval phase? There are still many unknowns, but with this molecular profiling of cell types, we can now better formulate hypotheses that might bring new insights into the function of this enigmatic big brain.

by Ruth Styfhals and Dr. Eve Seuntjens (eve.seuntjens@kuleuven.be)

References

Albertin, C. B., Simakov, O., Mitros, T., Yan Wang, Z., Pungor, J. R., Edsinger-gonzales, E., … Rokhsar, D. S. (2015). The octopus genome and the evolution of cephalopod neural and morphological novelties. Nature, 524, 220–225. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14668

Deryckere, A., Styfhals, R., Elagoz, A. M., Maes, G. E., & Seuntjens, E. (2021). Identification of neural progenitor cells and their progeny reveals long distance migration in the developing octopus brain. ELife, 1–32. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.03.29.437526

Deryckere, A., Styfhals, R., Vidal, E. A. G., Almansa, E., & Seuntjens, E. (2020). A practical staging atlas to study embryonic development of Octopus vulgaris under controlled laboratory conditions. BMC Developmental Biology, 20(6), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.01.13.903922

Styfhals, R., Zolotarov, G., Hulselmans, G., Spanier, K. I., Poovathingal, S., Elagoz, A. M., … Seuntjens, E. (2022). Cell type diversity in a developing octopus brain. Nature Communications, 13(7392), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-35198-1

Young, J. Z. (1971). The anatomy of the nervous system of Octopus vulgaris. London, UK: Oxford University Press.

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The IBDM invites applications for group leader positions. We seek researchers who define and address fundamental questions in biology, including the development, the function, and the dynamics of complex biological systems.

Research activities at the IBDM synergistically connect developmental biology with molecular, cell, and computational biology, as well as evolution, biophysics, neurobiology, physiology, and physiopathology. The IBDM, affiliated with CNRS and AMU, uniquely fosters interdisciplinarity (Centuri) by its intimate connections with physicists, computational scientists, and mathematicians. IBDM is also engaged in other federative programs of AMU to address major challenges in Neuroscience, Cancer and Immunology, Rare Diseases, and Imaging.

The IBDM strongly benefits from its collaborative and international scientific culture, English working language, and a fantastic campus, located in the heart of the Calanques National Park.

The IBDM is committed to promoting equality, diversity and inclusivity. The selected candidates will receive a start-up package, and will benefit from outstanding core facilities, including light and electron microscopy, as well as state-of-the-art animal facilities (mouse, Drosophila, Xenopus) for functional studies. The IBDM will also provide engaged mentoring to the selected candidates to obtain a tenured position (CNRS or AMU) and to secure extramural funding (ATIP/Avenir, ERC, etc…).

Candidates should provide :

• A single PDF file containing a cover letter explaining their motivation to join the IBDM,
• CV,
• Summary of their main research achievements (2 pages maximum),
• Future research project (5 pages maximum), 
• Contacts of three references

Applications and queries should be sent to the search committee (ibdm-call@univ-amu.fr) before March 1st 2023. In-person interviews will be scheduled from June 2023. 

POSTER CALL IN PDF

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A Press Release from Development

Robinow Syndrome is the best known of a set of genetic disorders that affect the growth and development of the skeletal system. Patients with these conditions have facial abnormalities, such as cleft palate, and develop short-limb dwarfism by around 18 months. Now, in a study published in Development, scientists from Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio, USA, and the Van Andel Research Institute in Michigan, USA have shown the first successful correction of limb length in a mouse model of a very similar disorder known as FZD2-associated autosomal dominant Robinow Syndrome, providing hope for future therapies.

Although autosomal dominant Robinow Syndrome disorders are extremely rare (affecting around 50 families worldwide), they’re associated with genetic variations (mutations) in a group of genes that can be inherited from one parent or arise spontaneously, meaning diagnosis is not always trivial. Professor Rolf Stottmann who led the study said, “we began the project by studying the genomes of families with structural birth differences of the brain and face who had not yet received a genetic diagnosis. We identified that one of the initial families in this cohort had a mutation in the FZD2 gene.”

FZD2 is now known to be one of the known genes linked to autosomal dominant Robinow Syndrome. Like the other genes in this group, FZD2 makes a protein involved in sending signals that cells use to organise themselves into tissues. In their study, Professor Stottmann and colleagues used CRISPR/Cas9 genome-editing technology to induce mutations in a precise region of Fzd2, reproducing the specific types of mutations found in human patients. The researchers found that mice with these mutations had facial and skeletal malformations resembling those seen in the patients, including cleft palates and limbs less than half the normal size.

The researchers predicted that these types of Fzd2 mutations would disrupt signalling and hinder skeletal growth. To rescue the missing signals, the scientists intervened by treating pregnant mice with a drug that stimulates the signalling pathway. “This drug is an attractive option because we think we know how it works and previous work had shown that it could rescue cleft palates in a mouse model,” Professor Stottmann explained. Strikingly, they found that the pups exposed to the drug had significantly longer limbs than the untreated model mice.

The success of these experiments in mice suggests the drug could also be used as a therapeutic treatment in human patients. “The idea of treating the limb bones medically rather than surgically is a really important proof of principle, which we demonstrate in this study,” said Professor Stottmann, “we are very excited to test if this could work in the context of other genes associated with autosomal dominant Robinow Syndrome.”

Liegel, R.P., Michalski, M.N., Vaidya, S., Bitterman, E., Finnerty, E., Menke, C.A., Diegel, C.R., Zhong, Z.A., Williams, B.O., Stottmann, R.W. (2023). Successful therapeutic intervention in novel mouse models of Frizzled 2-associated congenital malformations. Development, 150, dev201038. doi:10.1242/dev.201038

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In our February SciArt profile we feature Julie Gamart. In her illustrations, Julie seeks to combine the scientific topic with the personal preferences of the scientist(s) to create beautiful and playful artworks that communicate with her audience.

Where are you originally from and what do you work on now?

I was born in Saint-Martin-Boulogne, on the sea coast in the North of France. I stayed at the University of Lille (USTL, France) as a graduate student. As I wanted to work on genetics, I moved to Paris for the Master’s degree ‘Magistère Européen de Génétique’ where I had the opportunity to do a research internship at the University of New York (NYU Langone Health, USA) and then my master’s thesis in the laboratory of Professor Frédéric Relaix in the Institut of Myology in Paris. I was supervised by Dr Vanessa Ribes, and she gave me her passion for developmental genetics, working on the spinal cord development. I did my PhD in Basel in Switzerland in the Laboratory of Professor Rolf Zeller. I was using developmental genetics to decipher the roles of the BMP signalling pathway during the outgrowth of the limb bud. During my career, I have come to realise how a good illustration can improve scientific communication. Today, I draw for scientists and I like to translate a scientific message with an artistic angle.

Were you always going to be a scientist?

Not really. When I was a child my wishes were split between my desire to work on the art field, since I have this gift of drawing transmitted by my family, or my curiosity to understand how genetics works because my family has a hereditary disease. I finally chose the scientific path thinking that one day I would be able to reconnect with art.

And what about art – have you always enjoyed it?

Yes, I managed to reconnect with art. After my PhD, I started to draw again, making artistic and scientific illustrations to communicate my research. I got a lot of good feedback, so I started to make illustrations and figures for my friends. Now I enjoy working with scientists from different fields to build unique illustrations that translate the scientific topic and reflect the tastes and preferences of researchers.

What or who are your most important artistic influences?

I have no specific artistic influences. I learned to draw with several techniques when I was young, thanks to Jean-Francis Mulier’s classes (in Seclin in the North of France) that I followed from 10 to 16 years old. My main influence comes from my mother, Christine Gamart, and my aunt, Catherine Gamart, who support me in my decisions and give me very constructive advice and criticism. They draw wonderfully, their expert eye is essential for me.

How do you make your art?

The most important thing for me is the communication with the researchers. The illustration is a construction that we make together: it must translate a scientific message in a playful way and correspond to the personality of the scientist(s) to reflect his or her tastes and preferences. After that, I begin by choosing a drawing technique (acrylic, watercolour, charcoal, pastels, pencil). The technique will help to define the style of the drawing. Depending on the request, I use the computer to create a digital montage of the different drawings. For other realizations, I make the figures directly on the computer.
I share my work on the networks (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter) and my website.

Does your art influence your science at all, or are they separate worlds?

Both worlds are linked: I adapt and use art as a tool to communicate, to popularise and share a scientific message.

You recently created the visual identity for the Franco-Japanese, New Frontiers in Developmental Biology meeting. Can you tell us a little about your brief and how you can up with the concept?

It was a great adventure to participate in this congress. The SFBD committee came to me and asked me to create a poster mixing developmental biology, Japan and the organising city, Strasbourg. The idea of creating the skyline of Strasbourg made of embryos from different species came quite quickly, in agreement with the team. To bring more poetry and softness, I proposed making the drawings using watercolour. The sun and the dominance of light pink colour also represents Japan and the flower of the Japanese cherry tree. From the style of the poster, we have created derivatives for different media (indication panels, presentation slides, name tag booklets) and some illustrations were used to create the website of the meeting. I also did the illustrations for the developmental biology games as part of the outreach programme that was running alongside the meeting. I really enjoyed adapting the drawing to a childlike style to explain developmental biology to little ones.

What are you thinking of working on next?

I hope it is the beginning of a big adventure. I would like to help many scientists communicate their research and make a difference with illustrations that reflect their personality and transmit a scientific knowledge in a creative and playful way. I will soon be organizing a scientific illustration workshop for a laboratory’s anniversary in Paris. I hope this event will be a success, and will add another string to my bow to share my work and initiate new collaborations.
In the future, I would like to adapt scientific illustration to different events and different media to allow a better popularisation of science and share its beauty with a large and diverse audience..

Twitter: @gamartjulie

Instagram: @gamartjulie

http://www.jgamart.com

Thanks to Julie and all the other SciArtists we have featured so far. We’re looking for new people to feature in this series – whatever kind of art you do, from sculpture to embroidery to music to drawing, if you want to share it with the community just email thenode@biologists.com (nominations are also welcome!)

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Extreme self-confidence is found, but not warranted for the most part, for those who are objecting to science. But it’s also found amongst those who are highly in favour of science. And the neutrals are: they know they don’t know.

Prof Laurence Hurst

In the latest episode of the Genetics Unzipped podcast, we’re sharing the results of a large survey asking the UK public what their opinions are, what they know, or more importantly, what they think they know about genetics and what that means for society.

Genetics Unzipped is the podcast from The Genetics Society. Full transcript, links and references available online at GeneticsUnzipped.com.

Subscribe from Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Head over to GeneticsUnzipped.com to catch up on our extensive back catalogue.

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

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On Wednesday 25 January, Development hosted three talks on the topic of theoretical and computational modelling of development and stem cells.

Below you’ll find each of the talks and Q&As hosted by our Associate Editor, Paul François (who recently moved to the University of Montreal from McGill University).

Simon Freedman (Senior Bioinformatics Scientist at Illumina presenting Postdoctoral work from Madhav Mani‘s group at Northwestern University)
‘A dynamical systems approach to cell fate decisions’

You can read the preprint here.

Mindy Liu Perkins (Postdoctoral Fellow in Justin Crocker‘s lab at EMBL presenting work from Hernan Garcia‘s lab)
‘A bistable autoregulatory module in the developing embryo commits cells to binary fates’

You can read the preprint here.

Kirsten ten Tusscher (Professor of Computational Developmental Biology at Utrecht University)
‘Reverse engineering lateral root formation’

You can read the Research Article here.

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Motion to ask ERC council to remove ‘academic age limits’ on ERC Starting and Consolidator grants.

https://www.change.org/p/remove-academic-age-limits-on-erc-grants

We would like to ask the ERC council to consider removing the ‘academic age limits’ as an eligibility criterion for applying for ERC Starting and Consolidator grants. The current “post 7 years” and “post 12 years” after PhD limits are extremely limiting and not in line with current timelines of research, especially in the Life Sciences. There are multiple reasons to ask for this (see examples below), but the main consensus is that such age limits select against social, economic, gender, ethnic and scientific diversity as it promotes people from privileged backgrounds, with straight forward and fast career paths, who are not necessarily the best scientists and mentors of future scientists. Scientific career paths are diverse, so putting one set of absolute time frames on different fields and different personal circumstances does not make sense. Experiments in animal models take much longer than theory. There may be delays due to different caring duties (of which child-birth is only one), illness, moving countries, changing fields, etc. With the current ‘age limits’, especially in countries where the ERC grants are the main source of large funding, once you ‘miss the boat’, you will never catch up, and your scientific career is severely impacted or prematurely ended. Should we be selecting scientific excellence based on speed, or quality?

We understand that to try to limit proposals submitted, and to have categories /cut offs to reflect career stage, there should be some ‘time-based’ criteria. Many countries, such as the UK, have removed these ‘absolute post PhD academic age limits’ on grants, and has thrived on new systems based on ‘new’, ‘mid’, or ‘senior’ investigators. If the ERC insists on having some time limits, we propose that a system such as this will be more inclusive:

– Starting Grant: up to 5 years since independence (defined as starting own group, faculty position, able to supervise PhD students independently, etc).

– Consolidator Grant: up to 12 years since independence.

– Advanced Grant: more than 12 years since independence.
(the current extensions to the above due to child birth, illness, etc, should still be applied).

(8 votes)

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At the end of 2022 we launched our Node correspondent programme. We were looking for three researchers to help us develop and write content for the Node in 2023. The quality of the applications was extremely high, which made choosing our final three very difficult! We are delighted to announce that we have appointed Alex Bisia, Brent Foster and Dina Myasnikova as our correspondents for 2023. Our correspondents will benefit from a programme of writing groups, webinars and workshops coordinated by the in-house team at The Company of Biologists and will produce approximately six blog posts over the course of the year. We introduce our correspondents briefly below – stay tuned for longer interviews! 

Alex is completing her DPhil (PhD) at the University of Oxford with Elizabeth Robertson, studying the role of Eomesodermin, a T-box transcription factor, in the trophoblast and definitive endoderm in the early mouse embryo. Alex has a strong interest in science communication; she won the BSCB writing competition in 2020 and has contributed articles to her departmental website. Look out for Alex’s posts on non-model organisms, science history and contributions of developmental and stem cell biology in medicine. 

Brent is a technician at the University of Florida, working at the Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience. Brent uses comb jellies and other marine invertebrates to study the evolutionary origin of nervous systems. He has previously written feature articles for his local newspaper, Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB) blog posts, and has attended several science writing workshops. Brent has a keen interest in non-model organisms and tool and technique development and will post on these topics. 

Dina is a Project Researcher at the Biohydrid System Laboratory at the University of Tokyo, where she is working on developing an organ-on-a-chip model of peripheral diabetic neuropathy. Having worked in an interdisciplinary team, she is keen to improve communication between scientists from different research backgrounds.  As well as exploring interdisciplinary research, Dina is passionate about helping women in science and will post on this topic. 

(3 votes)

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