Welcome to our monthly trawl for developmental biology (and related) preprints.

The preprints this month are hosted on bioRxiv, arXiv and preprints.org – use these links to get to the section you want.

Developmental biology

• Patterning & signalling
• Morphogenesis & mechanics
• Genes & genomes
• Stem cells, regeneration & disease modelling
• Plant development
• Evo-devo

Cell Biology

Modelling

Reviews

Tools & Resources

Research practice & education

Developmental biology

| Patterning & signalling

Cis-inhibition suppresses basal Notch signalling during sensory organ precursor selection
Tobias Troost, Udi Binshtok, David Sprinzak, Thomas Klein

Innexin function dictates the spatial relationship between distal somatic cells in the Caenorhabditis elegans gonad without impacting the germline stem cell pool
Theadora Tolkin, Ariz Mohammad, Todd Starich, Ken C. Q. Nguyen, David H. Hall, Tim Schedl, E. Jane Albert Hubbard, David Greenstein

Fibronectin deficiency in newborn mice leads to cyst formation in the kidney
Kristina Hermann, Silke Seibold, Kathrin Skoczynski, Bjoern Buchholz, Ernst R. Tamm, Leonie Herrnberger-Eimer

Canonical Wnt Signaling Maintains Human Mesenchymal Progenitor Cell Multipotency During Adipose Tissue Development
Zinger Yang Loureiro, Shannon Joyce, Javier Solivan-Rivera, Anand Desai, Pantos Skritakis, Qin Yang, Tiffany DeSouza, Tammy Nguyen, Ormond A MacDougald, Silvia Corvera

Evidence for intercellular bridges and radial patterning of meiotic initiation in the human fetal ovary
Bikem Soygur, Amber Derpinghaus, Gerald R. Cunha, Laurence S. Baskin, Diana J Laird

The C. elegans gonadal sheath Sh1 cells extend asymmetrically over a differentiating germ cell population in the proliferative zone
Xin Li, Noor Singh, Camille Miller, India Washington, Bintou Sosseh, Kacy Lynn Gordon

Foxi3 Suppresses Signaling Center Fate and is Necessary for the Early Development of Mouse Teeth
Isabel Mogollón, Niko Kangasniemi, Jacqueline Emmanuel Moustakas-Verho, Laura Ahtiainen

A Notch-dependent transcriptional mechanism controls expression of temporal patterning factors in Drosophila medulla
Alokananda Ray, Xin Li

Stretch Regulates Alveologenesis and Homeostasis Via Mesenchymal Gαq/11-Mediated TGFβ2 Activation
Amanda T Goodwin, Alison E John, Chitra Joseph, Anthony Habgood, Amanda L Tatler, Katalin Susztak, Matthew Palmer, Stefan Offermanns, Neil C Henderson, R Gisli Jenkins

A PAK kinase family member and the Hippo/Yorkie pathway modulate WNT signaling to functionally integrate body axes during regeneration
Viraj Doddihal, Frederick G. Mann Jr., Eric Ross, Sean A. McKinney, Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado

Germline protein, Cup, non-cell autonomously limits migratory cell fate in Drosophila oogenesis
Banhisikha Saha, Sayan Acharjee, Gaurab Ghosh, Purbasa Dasgupta, Mohit Prasad

CXCR7 promotes foetal myoblast fusion at muscle fiber tips independently of Myomaker via a ß1integrin-EGFR-dependent mechanism
Sonya Nassari, Cédrine Blavet, Delphine Duprez, Claire Fournier-Thibault

Origin and segregation of the human germline
Aracely Castillo-Venzor, Christopher A. Penfold, Michael D. Morgan, Walfred W. C. Tang, Toshihiro Kobayashi, Frederick C. K. Wong, Sophie Bergmann, Erin Slatery, Thorsten E. Boroviak, John C. Marioni, M. Azim Surani

Ordered deployment of distinct ciliary beating machines in growing axonemes of vertebrate multiciliated cells
Chanjae Lee, Yun Ma, Fan Tu, John B. Wallingford

AKT1-FOXO4 AXIS RECIPROACLLY REGULATES HEMOCHORIAL PLACENTATION
Keisuke Kozai, Ayelen Moreno-Irusta, Khursheed Iqbal, Mae-Lan Winchester, Regan L. Scott, Mikaela E. Simon, Masanaga Muto, Marc R. Parrish, Michael J. Soares

A mutant bacterial O-GlcNAcase visualizes a progressive decline of protein O-GlcNAcylation in early Drosophila embryos critical for neurodevelopment
Yaowen Zhang, Dandan Wang, Haibin Yu, Xiaoyun Lei, Yang Meng, Na Zhang, Fang Chen, Lu Lv, Qian Pan, Hongtao Qin, Zhuohua Zhang, Daan M.F. van Aalten, Kai Yua

The extracellular matrix protein fibronectin modulates metanephric kidney development
Kathrin Skoczynski, Andre Kraus, Maike Büttner-Herold, Kerstin Amann, Mario Schiffer, Kristina Hermann, Leonie Herrnberger, Ernst R. Tamm, Bjoern Buchholz

A conserved role of Hippo signaling in initiation of the first lineage specification event across mammals
Claudia Gerri, Afshan McCarthy, Gwen Mei Scott, Marius Regin, Sophie Brumm, Claire S. Simon, Janet Lee, Cristina Montesinos, Caroline Hassitt, Sarah Hockenhull, Daniel Hampshire, Kay Elder, Phil Snell, Leila Christie, Ali A. Fouladi-Nashta, Hilde Van de Velde, Kathy K. Niakan

Loss of growth differentiation factor 9 causes an arrest of early folliculogenesis in zebrafish – a novel insight into its action mechanism
Weiting Chen, Yue Zhai, Bo Zhu, Kun Wu, Yuqin Fan, Xianqing Zhou, Lin Liu, Wei Ge

Nonlinear effect of light intensity on normal axial development of rhesus monkeys
Ying-Zhou Hu, Hua Yang, Jing Wu, Hao Li, Long-Bao Lv, Zhu Zhu, Lu-Yao Zhou, Yu-Hua Zhang, Fang-Fang Yan, Shu-Han Fan, Cheng-Yu Li, Shu-Xiao Wang, Jian-Ping Zhao, Qiang Qi, Chang-Bing Huang, Xin-Tian Hu

Specification of the endocrine primordia controlling insect moulting and metamorphosis by the JAK/STAT signalling pathway
Mar García-Ferrés, Carlos Sánchez-Higueras, Jose Manuel Espinosa-Vázquez, James C-G Hombría

DMRT1 regulation of TOX3 modulates expansion of the gonadal steroidogenic cell lineage
Martin A. Estermann, Andrew T. Major, Craig A. Smith

Optimal control of gene regulatory networks for morphogen-driven tissue patterning
A. Pezzotta, J. Briscoe

Early pre-neural serotonin modulates balance of late monoamines and behavioral patterns in fish model system
Evgeny Ivashkin, Stefan Spulber, Andrei Zinovyev, Takashi Yoshitake, Shimako Yoshitake, Olga Kharchenko, Marina Yu. Khabarova, Spyridon Theofilopoulos, Jan Kehr, Ernest Arenas, Sandra Ceccatelli, Elena E. Voronezhskaya, Igor Adameyko

mTORC1 is required for differentiation of germline stem cells in the Drosophila melanogaster testis
Marie Clémot, Cecilia D’Alterio, Alexa Kwang, D. Leanne Jones

Dissecting the roles of Expansion/Rebuf and the chitin synthase Krotzkopf Verkehrt in chitin deposition in Drosophila
Ettore De Giorgio, Panagiotis Giannios, M. Lluisa Espinàs, Marta Llimargas

| Morphogenesis & mechanics

Reciprocal regulation between cell mechanics and ZO-1 guides tight junction assembly and epithelial morphogenesis
Alexis J. Haas, Ceniz Zihni, Susanne M. Krug, Riccardo Maraspini, Tetsuhisa Otani, Mikio Furuse, Alf Honigmann, Maria Balda, Karl Matter

Afadin and zyxin contribute to coupling between cell junctions and contractile actomyosin networks during apical constriction
Mark M. Slabodnick, Sophia C. Tintori, Mangal Prakash, Christopher D. Higgins, Alicia H. Chen, Timothy D. Cupp, Terrence Wong, Emily Bowie, Florian Jug, Bob Goldstein

Growth anisotropy of the extracellular matrix drives mechanics in a developing organ
Stefan Harmansa, Alexander Erlich, Christophe Eloy, Giuseppe Zurlo, Thomas Lecuit

Exocyst Inactivation in Urothelial Cells Disrupts Autophagy and Activates non-canonical NF-κB
Michael A. Ortega, Ross K. Villiger, Malia Harrison-Chau, Suzanna Lieu, Kadee-Kalia Tamashiro, Amanda J. Lee, Brent A. Fujimoto, Geetika Y. Patwardhan, Joshua Kepler, Ben FogelgrenMichael A. Ortega, Ross K. Villiger, Malia Harrison-Chau, Suzanna Lieu, Kadee-Kalia Tamashiro, Amanda J. Lee, Brent A. Fujimoto, Geetika Y. Patwardhan, Joshua Kepler, Ben Fogelgren

Imaginal disc growth factors are Drosophila Chitinase-like Proteins with roles in morphogenesis and CO2 response
Anne Sustar, Liesl Strand, Sandra Zimmerman, Celeste Berg

Frem1 activity regulated by Sonic Hedgehog signaling in the cranial neural crest mesenchyme guides midfacial morphogenesis
Matthew T. McLaughlin, Miranda R. Sun, Tyler G. Beames, Austin C. Steward, Joshua W. M. Theisen, Hannah M. Chung, Joshua L. Everson, Ivan P. Moskowitz, Michael D. Sheets, Robert J. Lipinski

Actomyosin contractility in olfactory placode neurons opens the skin epithelium to form the nostril
Marion Baraban, Clara Gordillo Pi, Isabelle Bonnet, Jean-François Gilles, Camille Lejeune, Mélody Cabrera, Florian Tep, Marie Anne Breau

Genetic and geometric heredity interact to drive polarized flow in the Drosophila embryo
Emily Gehrels, Bandan Chakrabortty, Matthias Merkel, Thomas Lecuit

Micropatterned Organoids Enable Modeling of the Earliest Stages of Human Cardiac Vascularization
Oscar J. Abilez, Huaxiao Yang, Lei Tian, Kitchener D. Wilson, Evan H. Lyall, Mengcheng Shen, Rahulkumar Bhoi, Yan Zhuge, Fangjun Jia, Hung Ta Wo, Gao Zhou, Yuan Guan, Bryan Aldana, Detlef Obal, Gary Peltz, Christopher K. Zarins, Joseph C. Wu

NvPrdm14d-expressing neural progenitor cells contribute to non-ectodermal neurogenesis in Nematostella vectensis
Quentin I. B. Lemaître, Natascha Bartsch, Ian U. Kouzel, Henriette Busengdal, Gemma Sian Richards, Patrick R. H. Steinmetz, Fabian Rentzsch

Human-specific progenitor sub-domain contributes to extended neurogenesis and increased motor neuron production
Sumin Jang, Elias Gunmit, Hynek Wichterle

CITED2 Is A Conserved Regulator Of Deep Hemochorial Placentation
Marija Kuna, Pramod Dhakal, Khursheed Iqbal, Esteban M. Dominguez, Lindsey N. Kent, Masanaga Muto, Ayelen Moreno-Irusta, Keisuke Kozai, Kaela M. Varberg, Hiroaki Okae, Takahiro Arima, Henry M. Sucov, Michael J. Soares

Spatial consistency of cell growth direction during organ morphogenesis requires CELLULOSE-SYNTHASE INTERACTIVE1
Corentin Mollier, Joanna Skrzydeł, Dorota Borowska-Wykret, Mateusz Majda, Mateusz Dulski, Antoine Fruleux, Roman Wrzalik, Richard S. Smith, Françoise Monéger, Dorota Kwiatkowska, Arezki Boudaoud

Single Cell Epigenetics Reveal Cell-Cell Communication Networks in Normal and Abnormal Cardiac Morphogenesis
Sanjeev S. Ranade, Sean Whalen, Ivana Zlatanova, Tomohiro Nishino, Benjamin van Soldt, Lin Ye, Angelo Pelonero, Langley Grace Wallace, Yu Huang, Michael Alexanian, Arun Padmanabhan, Barbara Gonzalez-Teran, Pawel Przytycki, Mauro W. Costa, Casey A. Gifford, Brian L. Black, Katherine S. Pollard, Deepak Srivastava

Characterization of the human fetal rete region by single cell transcriptional analysis of gonads and mesonephros/epididymis
Jasin Taelman, Sylwia M. Czukiewska, Ioannis Moustakas, Yolanda W. Chang, Sanne Hillenius, Talia van der Helm, Hailiang Mei, Xueying Fan, Susana M. Chuva de Sousa Lopes

A molecular mechanism for membrane chaperoning by a late embryogenesis abundant protein
Xiao-Han Li, Conny W.H. Yu, Natalia Gomez-Navarro, Viktoriya Stancheva, Hongni Zhu, Cristina Guibao, Andal Murthy, Boer Xie, Michael Wozny, Benjamin Leslie, Marcin Kaminski, Ketan Malhotra, Christopher M. Johnson, Martin Blackledge, Balaji Santhanam, Douglas R. Green, Junmin Peng, Wei Liu, Jinqing Huang, Elizabeth A. Miller, Stefan M.V. Freund, M. Madan Babu

| Genes & genomes

Obox4 secures zygotic genome activation upon loss of Dux
Youjia Guo, Tomohiro Kitano, Kensaku Murano, Ten D. Li, Akihiko Sakashita, Hirotsugu Ishizu, Masayuki Sato, Haruhiko Siomi

Transcription factors regulating the fate and developmental potential of a multipotent progenitor in C. elegans
Evan M. Soukup, Jill C. Bettinger, Laura D. Mathies

Context-dependent transcriptional remodeling of TADs during differentiation
Sanjay Chahar, Yousra Ben Zouari, Hossein Salari, Anne M Molitor, Dominique Kobi, Manon Maroquenne, Cathie Erb, Audrey Mossler, Nezih Karasu, Daniel Jost, Tom Sexton

BmHen1 plays an essential role in the regulation of eupyrene sperm development in Bombyx mori
Xu Yang, Dongbin Chen, Shirui Zheng, Meiyan Yi, Zulian Liu, Yongjian Liu, Dehong Yang, Yujia Liu, Linmeng Tang, Chenxu Zhu, Yongping Huang

Embryoid bodies facilitate comparative analysis of gene expression in humans and chimpanzees across dozens of cell types
Kenneth A Barr, Katherine L Rhodes, Yoav Gilad

The logic of native enhancer-promoter compatibility and cell-type-specific gene expression variation
Takeo Narita, Yoshiki Higashijima, Sinan Kilic, Elina Maskey, Katrin Neumann, Chunaram Choudhary

Histone demethylome map reveals combinatorial gene regulatory functions in embryonic stem cells
Yogesh Kumar, Pratibha Tripathi, Pushkar Dakle, Majid Mehravar, Varun K. Pandey, Michael J. Bullen, Zhongming Zhang, Dhaval Hathiwala, Marc Kerenyi, Andrew Woo, Alireza Ghamari, Alan B. Cantor, Lee H. Wong, Jonghwan Kim, Kimberly Glass, Guo-Cheng Yuan, Luca Pinello, Stuart H. Orkin, Partha Pratim Das

Transcription of Murine Endogenous Retrovirus MERVL Is Required for Progression of Development in Early Preimplantation Embryos
Akihiko Sakashita, Tomohiro Kitano, Hirotsugu Ishizu, Youjia Guo, Harumi Masuda, Masaru Ariura, Kensaku Murano, Haruhiko Siomi

Lineage-specific, fast-evolving GATA-like gene regulates zygotic gene activation to promote endoderm specification and pattern formation in the Theridiidae spider
Sawa Iwasaki-Yokozawa, Ryota Nanjo, Yasuko Akiyama-Oda, Hiroki Oda

Plap-1/Aspn lineage tracing and single-cell transcriptomics reveals cellular dynamics in the periodontal ligament
Tomoaki Iwayama, Mizuho Iwashita, Kazuya Miyashita, Hiromi Sakashita, Shuji Matsumoto, Kiwako Tomita, Phan Bhongsatiern, Tomomi Kitayama, Kentaro Ikegami, Takashi Shimbo, Katsuto Tamai, Masanori A Murayama, Shuhei Ogawa, Yoichiro Iwakura, Satoru Yamada, Lorin E Olson, Masahide Takedachi, Shinya Murakami

Stepwise progression of β-selection during T cell development as revealed by histone deacetylation inhibition
Anchi S Chann, Mirren Charnley, Lucas M. Newton, Andrea Newbold, Florian Wiede, Tony Tiganis, Patrick O Humbert, Ricky W Johnstone, Sarah M Russell

Efficient Human Germ Cell Specification from Stem Cells via Combinatorial Expression of Transcription Factors
Christian Kramme, Merrick Pierson Smela, Bennett Wolf, Patrick R. Fortuna, Garyk Brixi, Kalyan Palepu, Edward Dong, Jessica Adams, Suhaas Bhat, Sabrina Koseki, Emma Tysinger, Teodora Stan, Richie E. Kohman, Songlei Liu, Mutsumi Kobayashi, Toshi Shioda, George M. Church, Pranam Chatterjee

Activating and repressing gene expression between chromosomes during stochastic fate specification
Elizabeth A. Urban, Chaim Chernoff, Kayla Viets Layng, Jeong Han, Caitlin Anderson, Daniel Konzman, Robert J. Johnston Jr.

Young transposable elements rewired gene regulatory networks in human and chimpanzee hippocampal intermediate progenitors
Sruti Patoori, Samantha M. Barnada, Christopher Large, John I. Murray, Marco Trizzino

Gene expression analysis of the Xenopus laevis early limb bud proximodistal axis
D.T. Hudson, J. S. Bromell, R.C. Day, T McInnes, J.M. Ward, C.W. Beck

A New CUT&RUN Low Volume-Urea (LoV-U) protocol uncovers Wnt/β-catenin tissue-specific genomic targets
Gianluca Zambanini, Anna Nordin, Mattias Jonasson, Pierfrancesco Pagella, Claudio Cantù

Sociosexual behavior requires both activating and repressive roles of Tfap2e/AP- 2ε in vomeronasal sensory neurons
Jennifer M. Lin, Tyler A. Mitchell, Megan Rothstein, Alison Pehl, Ed Zandro M. Taroc, Raghu Ram Katreddi, Katherine E. Parra, Damian G. Zuloaga, Marcos Simoes-Costa, Paolo E. Forni

Control of neuronal terminal differentiation through cell context-dependent CFI-1/ARID3 functions
Yinan Li, Jayson J. Smith, Filipe Marques, Anthony Osuma, Hsin-Chiao Huang, Paschalis Kratsios

Changes of chromosomal architecture before establishment of chromosome territories revealed by recurrence plot reconstruction
Yuki Kitanishi, Hiroki Sugishita, Yukiko Gotoh, Yoshito Hirata

Single cell analysis of lymphatic endothelial cell fate specification and differentiation during zebrafish development
Lin Grimm, Elizabeth Mason, Oliver Yu, Stefanie Dudczig, Virginia Panara, Tyrone Chen, Neil I. Bower, Scott Paterson, Kazuhide Okuda, Maria Rondon Galeano, Sakurako Kobayashi, Anne Senabouth, Anne K. Lagendijk, Joseph Powell, Kelly A. Smith, Katarzyna Koltowska, Benjamin M. Hogan

Novel cell- and stage-specific transcriptional signatures defining Drosophila neurons, glia and hemocytes
Rosy Sakr, Pierre B. Cattenoz, Alexia Pavlidaki, Laura Ciapponi, Marta Marzullo, Nivedita Hariharan, Tina Mukherjee, Angela Giangrande

High Sox2 expression predicts taste lineage competency of lingual progenitors in vitro
Lauren A. Shechtman, Jennifer K. Scott, Eric D. Larson, Trevor J. Isner, Bryan J. Johnson, Dany Gaillard, Peter J. Dempsey, Linda A. Barlow

Nuclear architecture protein Distal antenna balances genome-binding and phase-separation properties to regulate neuroblast competence
Gillie Benchorin, Maggie Jiaqi Li, Richard Jangwon Cho, Yuxin Hu, Minoree Kohwi

Germ-cell specific eIF4E1B regulates maternal RNA translation to ensure zygotic genome activation
Guanghui Yang, Qiliang Xin, Iris Feng, Jurrien Dean

RNA-binding protein Elavl1/HuR is required for maintenance of cranial neural crest specification
Erica J. Hutchins, Shashank Gandhi, Jose Chacon, Michael L. Piacentino, Marianne E. Bronner

Diverse logics and grammar encode notochord enhancers
Benjamin P Song, Michelle F Ragsac, Krissie Tellez, Granton A Jindal, Jessica L Grudzien, Sophia H Le, Emma K Farley

linc-mipep and linc-wrb encode micropeptides that regulate chromatin accessibility in vertebrate-specific neural cells
Valerie A. Tornini, Ho-Joon Lee, Liyun Miao, Yin Tang, Sarah E. Dube, Timothy Gerson, Valeria J. Schmidt, Katherine Du, Manik Kuchroo, François Kroll, Charles E. Vejnar, Ariel A. Bazzini, Smita Krishnaswamy, Jason Rihel, Antonio J. Giraldez

Histone 4 lysine 5/12 acetylation provides a plasticity code with epigenetic memory of environmental exposure
Michael S. Werner, Tobias Loschko, Thomas King, Tobias Theska, Mirita Franz-Wachtel, Boris Macek, Ralf J. Sommer

Molecular Underpinnings and Environmental Drivers of Spontaneous Loss of Heterozygosity in Drosophila Intestinal Stem Cells
Lara Al zouabi, Marine Stefanutti, Nick Riddiford, Natalia Rubanova, Mylène Bohec, Nicolas Servant, Allison Bardin

Symbiosis-driven development in an early branching metazoan
Aki H. Ohdera, Justin Darymple, Viridiana Avila-Magaña, Victoria Sharp, Kelly Watson, Mark McCauley, Bailey Steinworth, Erika M. Diaz-Almeyda, Sheila A. Kitchen, Angela Z. Poole, Anthony Bellantuono, Sajeet Haridas, Igor V. Grigoriev, Lea Goentoro, Elizabeth Vallen, David M. Baker, Todd C. LaJeunesse, Sandra Loesgen, Mark Q. Martindale, Matthew DeGennaro, William K. Fitt, Mónica Medina

| Stem cells, regeneration & disease modelling

Brain natriuretic peptide improves heart regeneration after infarction by stimulating cardiomyocyte renewal
Anne-Charlotte Bon-Mathier, Tamara Déglise, Stéphanie Rignault-Clerc, Christelle Bielmann, Lucia Mazzolai, Nathalie Rosenblatt-Velin

Identification of a multipotent lung progenitor for lung regeneration
Chava Rosen, Elias Shetzen, Irit Milman -Krentsis, Ran Orgad, Xiaohua Su, Raj Yadav, Michal Shemesh, Adi Biram, Ziv Shulman, Smadar Eventov-Friedman, Mukesh Maharjan, Yuan Qi, Jing Wang, Yair Reisner

Chemical induction of gut β-like-cells by combined FoxO1/Notch inhibition as a glucose-lowering treatment for diabetes
Takumi Kitamoto, Yun-Kyoung Lee, Nishat Sultana, Wendy M. McKimpson, Hitoshi Watanabe, Wen Du, Jason Fan, Bryan Diaz, Hua V. Lin, Rudolph L. Leibel, Sandro Belvedere, Domenico Accili

Localized heterochrony integrates overgrowth potential of oncogenic clones
Nicola Blum, Matthew P. Harris

Multi-chamber cardioids unravel human heart development and cardiac defects
Clara Schmidt, Alison Deyett, Tobias Ilmer, Aranxa Torres Caballero, Simon Haendeler, Lokesh Pimpale, Michael A. Netzer, Lavinia Ceci Ginistrelli, Martina Cirigliano, Estela Juncosa Mancheno, Daniel Reumann, Katherina Tavernini, Steffen Hering, Pablo Hofbauer, Sasha Mendjan

Aberrant extracellular matrix and cardiac development in models lacking the PR-DUB component ASXL3
BT McGrath, YC Tsan, S Salvi, N Ghali, DM Martin, M Hannibal, CE Keegan, A Helms, A Srivastava, SL Bielas

Imp is required for timely exit from quiescence in Drosophila type II neuroblasts
Jordan A. Munroe, Mubarak H. Syed, Chris Q. Doe

leptin b and its regeneration enhancer illustrate the regenerative features of zebrafish hearts
Kwangdeok Shin, Ian J. Begeman, Jingli Cao, Junsu Kang

Visualization of Retroplacental Clear Space Disruption in a Mouse Model of Placental Accreta
Andrew A. Badachhape, Prajwal Bhandari, Laxman Devkota, Mayank Srivastava, Eric A. Tanifum, Verghese George, Karin A. Fox, Chandrasekhar Yallampalli, Ananth V. Annapragada, Ketan B. Ghaghada

Multi-omics analyses identify transcription factor interplay in corneal epithelial fate determination and disease
Jos GA Smits, Dulce Lima Cunha, Jieqiong Qu, Nicholas Owen, Lorenz Latta, Nora Szentmary, Berthold Seitz, Lauriane N Roux, Mariya Moosajee, Daniel Aberdam, Simon J. van Heeringen, Huiqing Zhou

Neonatal hyperoxia induces sex-dependent pulmonary cellular and transcriptomic changes in an experimental mouse model of bronchopulmonary dysplasia
Sheng Xia, Lisandra Vila Ellis, Konner Winkley, Heather Menden, Sherry M. Mabry, Daniel Louiselle, Margaret Gibson, Elin Grundberg, Jichao Chen, Venkatesh Sampath

Variation in whole-body regeneration between Botrylloides morphs and species
Berivan Temiz, Megan J. Wilson

Autophagy slows the aging of Germline stem cells in Drosophila through modulation of E-cadherin
Nidhi Murmu, Bhupendra V. Shravage

Sex-bias in utero alters ovarian reserve but not uterine capacity in female offspring
Annika V Geijer-Simpson, Haidee Tinning, Tiago H C de Bem, Ioannis Tsagakis, Alysha S Taylor, Laura Hume, Lisa M Collins, Niamh Forde

Graft of cardiac progenitors in a pig model of right ventricular failure triggers myocardial epimorphosis, regeneration and protection of function
V Lambert, A Deleris, F Tibourtine, V Fouilloux, A Martin, P Bridge, E Aries, D Benoist, M Pucéat

Mapping fetal myeloid differentiation in airway samples from premature neonates with single-cell profiling
Holly Welfley, Ranjit Kylat, Nahla Zaghloul, Marilyn Halonen, Fernando D. Martinez, Mohamed Ahmed, Darren A. Cusanovich

Ethanol Exposure Perturbs Sea Urchin Development and Disrupts Developmental Timing
Nahomie Rodríguez-Sastre, Nicholas Shapiro, Dakota Y. Hawkins, Alexandra T. Lion, Monique Peyreau, Andrea E. Correa, Kristin Dionne, Cynthia A. Bradham

CLASP1 is essential for neonatal lung function and survival in mice
Ana L. Pereira, Tiago F. da Silva, Luísa T. Ferreira, Martine Jaegle, Marjon Buscop-van Kempen, Robbert Rottier, Wilfred F. J. van Ijcken, Pedro Brites, Niels Galjart, Helder Maiato

Specific Deletion of Axin1 Leads to Activation of β-Catenin/BMP Signaling Resulting in Fibular Hemimelia Phenotype in Mice
Rong Xie, Dan Yi, Qiang Jie, Qinglin Kang, Zeng Zhang, Zhenlin Zhang, Guozhi Xiao, Lin Chen, Liping Tong, Di Chen

Directed Differentiation of Human iPSCs to Functional Ovarian Granulosa-Like Cells via Transcription Factor Overexpression
Merrick Pierson Smela, Christian Kramme, Patrick Fortuna, Jessica Adams, Edward Dong, Mutsumi Kobayashi, Garyk Brixi, Emma Tysinger, Richie. E. Kohman, Toshi Shioda, Pranam Chatterjee, George M. Church

Odd skipped-related 1 controls the pro-regenerative response of Fibro-Adipogenic Progenitors
Georgios Kotsaris, Taimoor H. Qazi, Christian H. Bucher, Sophie Pöhle-Kronawitter, Vladimir Ugorets, William Jarassier, Stefan Börno, Bernd Timmermann, Claudia Giesecke-Thiel, Pedro Vallecillo-García, Aris N. Economides, Fabien Le Grand, Petra Knaus, Sven Geissler, Sigmar Stricker

Zbtb14 regulates monocyte and macrophage development through inhibiting pu.1 expression in zebrafish
Yun Deng, Haihong Wang, Xiaohui Liu, Hao Yuan, Jin Xu, Hugues de Thé, Jun Zhou, Jun Zhu

Impact of late larval nutritional stress on adult metabolic, gut and locomotor phenotypes in Drosophila melanogaster
Shri Gouri Patil, Sushmitha Sekhar, Aman Agarwal, TS Oviya, Debashis Rout, Megha

Endothelial Dnmt3a controls placenta vascularization and function to support fetal growth
Stephanie Gehrs, Moritz Jakab, Ewgenija Gutjahr, Zuguang Gu, Dieter Weichenhan, Carolin Mogler, Matthias Schlesner, Christoph Plass, Hellmut G. Augustin, Katharina Schlereth

De-differentiation and Proliferation of Artery Endothelial Cells Drive Coronary Collateral Development
Gauri Arolkar, K. Sneha, Hanjay Wang, Karen M. Gonzalez, Suraj Kumar, Pamela E. Rios Coronado, Y. Joseph Woo, Kristy Red-Horse, Soumyashree Das

CTCF, BEAF-32 and CP190 are not required for the initial establishment of TADs in early Drosophila embryos, but have locus specific roles
Gabriel R. Cavalheiro, Charles Girardot, Rebecca R. Viales, Songjie Feng, Tim Pollex, T. B. Ngoc Cao, Perrine Lacour, Adam Rabinowitz, Eileen E.M. Furlong

Emergent dynamics of adult stem cell lineages from single nucleus and single cell RNA-Seq of Drosophila testes
Amelie A. Raz, Gabriela S. Vida, Sarah R. Stern, Sharvani Mahadevaraju, Jaclyn M. Fingerhut, Jennifer M. Viveiros, Soumitra Pal, Jasmine R. Grey, Mara R. Grace, Cameron W. Berry, Hongjie Li, Jasper Janssens, Wouter Saelens, Zhantao Shao, Chun Hun, Yukiko M. Yamashita, Teresa M. Przytycka, Brian Oliver, Julie A. Brill, Henry M. Krause, Erika L. Matunis, Helen White-Cooper, Stephen DiNardo, Margaret T. Fuller

Inhibition of TGFβ pathway prevents short body size and cardiac defects in Nipbl-deficient mice, a mouse model of Cornelia de Lange syndrome
Céline Hachoud, Faten Chaabani, Erwan Watrin, Valérie Cormier-Daire, Michel Pucéat

Single Cell Multimodal Analyses Reveal Epigenomic and Transcriptomic Basis for Birth Defects in Maternal Diabetes
Tomohiro Nishino, Sanjeev S. Ranade, Angelo Pelonero, Benjamin J. van Soldt, Lin Ye, Michael Alexanian, Frances Koback, Yu Huang, Nandhini Sadagopan, Arun Padmanabhan, Reuben Thomas, Joke G. van Bemmel, Casey A. Gifford, Mauro W. Costa, Deepak Srivastava

Foxm1 drives cardiomyocyte proliferation in adult zebrafish after cardiac injury
Daniel A. Zuppo, Maria A. Missinato, Lucas Santana-Santos, Guang Li, Panayiotis V. Benos, Michael Tsang

Cell cycle and temporal transcription factors regulate proliferation and neuronal diversity of dedifferentiation-derived neural stem cells
Kellie Veen, Francesca Froldi, Qian Dong, Edel Alvarez-Ochoa, Phuong-Khanh Nguyen, Kieran F Harvey, John P D McMullen, Owen Marshall, Patricia R Jusuf, Louise Y Cheng

RET enhancer haplotype-dependent remodeling of the human fetal gut development program
Sumantra Chatterjee, Lauren E. Fries, Or Yaacov, Nan Hu, Hanna E. Berk-Rauch, Aravinda Chakravarti

| Plant development

Gibberellins promote polar auxin transport to regulate stem cell fate decisions in cambium
Riikka Mäkilä, Brecht Wybouw, Ondrej Smetana, Leo Vainio, Anna Solé-Gil, Munan Lyu, Lingling Ye, Xin Wang, Riccardo Siligato, Mark Kubo Jenness, Angus S. Murphy, Ari Pekka Mähönen

The role of GmXTH1, a new xyloglucan endotransglycosylase/hydrolase from soybean, in regulating soybean root growth at seedling stage
Yang Song, Ye Zhang, Ye-yao Du, Sujie Fan, Di Qin, Zhuo Zhang, Pi-wu Wang

Single-cell transcriptomics of the Arabidopsis floral abscission zone
Isaiah W. Taylor, O. Rahul Patharkar, Che-Wei Hsu, John Baer, Chad E. Niederhuth, Uwe Ohler, Philip N. Benfey, John C. Walker

Cortical polarity ensures its own asymmetric inheritance in the stomatal lineage to pattern the leaf surface
Andrew Muroyama, Yan Gong, Kensington S. Hartman, Dominique Bergmann

Exotic alleles of EARLY FLOWERING 3 determine plant development and grain yield in barley
Tanja Zahn, Zihao Zhu, Niklas Ritoff, Jonathan Krapf, Astrid Junker, Thomas Altmann, Thomas Schmutzer, Christian Tüting, Panagiotis L. Kastritis, Marcel Quint, Klaus Pillen, Andreas Maurer

RAV1 mediates cytokinin signalling for regulating primary root growth in Arabidopsis
Drishti Mandal, Saptarshi Datta, Giridhar Ravindra, Pranab Kumar Mondal, Ronita Nag Chaudhuri

High-throughput and automatic structural and developmental root phenotyping on Arabidopsis seedlings
Romain Fernandez, Amandine Crabos, Morgan Maillard, Philippe Nacry, Christophe Pradal

Transcriptional signatures of wheat inflorescence development
Carl VanGessel, James Hamilton, Facundo Tabbita, Jorge Dubcovsky, Stephen Pearce

PAT mRNA decapping factors function specifically and redundantly during development in Arabidopsis
Zhangli Zuo, Milena Edna Roux, Yasin F. Dagdas, Eleazar Rodriguez, Morten Petersen

The circadian clock controls temporal and spatial patterns of floral development in sunflower
Carine M. Marshall, Veronica L. Thompson, Nicky M. Creux, Stacey L. Harmer

Cell surface receptor kinase FERONIA linked to nutrient sensor TORC1 signaling controls root hair growth at low temperature in Arabidopsis thaliana
Javier Martínez Pacheco, Limei Song, Lenka Kuběnová, Miroslav Ovečka, Victoria Berdion Gabarain, Juan Manuel Peralta, Tomás Urzúa Lehuedé, Miguel Angel Ibeas, Sirui Zhu, Yanan Shen, Mikhail Schepetilnikov, Lyubov A Ryabova, José M. Alvarez, Rodrigo A. Gutierrez, Guido Grossman, Jozef Šamaj, Feng Yu, José M. Estevez

REGENERATION VIA SOMATIC EMBRYOGENESIS FROM SEED EXPLANT OF MEDICINAL PLANT SOLANUM VIRGINIANUM (L.)
Dhanashree S. Patil, Swaroopa A. Patil

DEFECTIVELY ORGANIZED TRIBUTARIES 5 is not required for leaf venation patterning in Arabidopsis thaliana
Daniela Vlad, Jane A. Langdale

mRNA decapping machinery targets LBD3/ASL9 transcripts to allow developmental changes in Arabidopsis
Zhangli Zuo, Milena Edna Roux, Jonathan Renaud Chevalier, Yasin F. Dagdas, Takafumi Yamashino, Søren Diers Højgaard, Emilie Knight, Lars Østergaard, Eleazar Rodriguez, Morten Petersen

Seed reserve mobilization and seedling morphology in a bioassay for the detection of genetically modified soybean
Francisco Cleilson Lopes Costa, Samanda López Peña, Welison Andrade Pereira

| Evo-devo

The effect of developmental pleiotropy on the evolution of insect immune genes
Thi Minh Ngo, Alissa M. Williams, Ann T. Tate

Growth rate as a modulator of tooth patterning during adaptive radiations
Alexa Sadier, Neal Anthwal, Andrew L. Krause, Renaud Dessalles, Michael Lake, Laurent Bentolila, Robert Haase, Natalie Nieves, Sharlene Santana, Karen Sears

The interplay between developmental stage and environment underlies the adaptive effect of a natural transposable element insertion
Miriam Merenciano, Josefa González

Clonal development, not aggregation, drives the transition to multicellularity in an isogenic model system
Jennifer T. Pentz, Kathryn MacGillivray, James G. DuBose, Peter L. Conlin, Emma Reinhardt, Eric Libby, William C. Ratcliff

Teeth outside the mouth: the evolution and development of shark denticles
Rory L. Cooper, Ella F. Nicklin, Liam J. Rasch, Gareth J. Fraser

Evolution of the regulation of developmental gene expression in blind Mexican cavefish
Julien Leclercq, Jorge Torres-Paz, Maxime Policarpo, François Agnès, Sylvie Rétaux

Origins of smooth muscle and evolutionary specializations of the pulmonary mesenchyme in the vertebrate lung
Katharine Goodwin, Michael A. Palmer, Bezia Lemma, Celeste M. Nelson

Brachiopod and mollusc biomineralisation is a conserved process that was lost in the phoronid-bryozoan stem lineage
Joel Vikberg Wernström, Ludwik Gąsiorowski, Andreas Hejnol

Phenotypic plasticity, life cycles, and the evolutionary transition to multicellularity
Si Tang, Yuriy Pichugin, Katrin Hammerschmidt

The mammalian forelimb diversity as a morphological gradient of increasing evolutionary versatility
Priscila S. Rothier, Anne-Claire Fabre, Julien Clavel, Roger Benson, Anthony Herrel

Cell Biology

Kindlin-2 inhibits TNF/NF-κB-caspase 8 pathway in hepatocytes to maintain liver development and function
Huanqing Gao, Yiming Zhong, Liang Zhou, Sixiong Lin, Xiaoting Hou, Zhen Ding, Yan Li, Qing Yao, Huiling Cao, Xuenong Zou, Di Chen, Xiaochun Bai, Guozhi Xiao

A CDKB/KRP/FB3 cell cycle core complex functions in rice gametes and zygotes
Hengping Xu, Laura Bartley, Marc Libault, Venkatesan Sundaresan, Hong Fu, Scott Russell

Acquisition of the Spindle Assembly Checkpoint and its modulation by cell fate and cell size in a chordate embryo
Marianne Roca, Lydia Besnardeau, Elisabeth Christians, Alex McDougall, Janet Chenevert, Stefania Castagnetti

Meiotic and mitotic aneuploidies drive arrest of in vitro fertilized human preimplantation embryos
Rajiv C. McCoy, Michael C. Summers, Abeo McCollin, Christian S. Ottolini, Kamal Ahuja, Alan H. Handyside

Annexin A1 is a polarity cue that directs planar mitotic spindle orientation during mammalian epithelial morphogenesis
Maria Fankhaenel, Farahnaz Sadat Golestan Hashemi, Larissa Mourao, Emily Lucas, Manal Mosa Hosawi, Paul Skipp, Xavier Morin, Colinda L.G.J. Scheele, Salah Elias

Fluorescence spectroscopy of low-level endogenous β-adrenergic receptor expression at the plasma membrane of differentiating human iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes
Philipp Gmach, Marc Bathe-Peters, Narasimha Telugu, Martin J Lohse, Paolo Annibale

Pseudouridine-dependent ribosome biogenesis regulates translation of polyglutamine proteins during Drosophila oogenesis
Shane Breznak, Yingshi Peng, Limin Deng, Noor M. Kotb, Zachary Flamholz, Ian T. Rapisarda, Elliot T. Martin, Kara A. LaBarge, Dan Fabris, Elizabeth R. Gavis, Prashanth Rangan

Loss of cell polarity regulators initiates pyroptosis in trophoblasts at the human maternal fetal interface
Khushali Patel, Jasmine Nguyen, Sumaiyah Shaha, Ashley Zubkowski, Meghan Riddell

GJA1 Depletion Causes Ciliary Defects by Affecting Rab11 Trafficking to the Ciliary Base
Dong Gil Jang, Keun Yeong Kwon, Yeong Cheon Kweon, Byung-gyu Kim, Kyungjae Myung, Hyun-Shik Lee, Chan Young Park, Taejoon Kwon, Tae Joo Park

The serine/threonine kinase Back seat driver prevents cell fusion to maintain cell identity
Shuo Yang, Aaron N. Johnson

Propagation dynamics of electrotactic motility in large epithelial cell sheets
Yan Zhang, Guoqing Xu, Jiandong Wu, Rachel M Lee, Zijie Zhu, Yaohui Sun, Kan Zhu, Wolfgang Losert, Simon Liao, Gong Zhang, Tingrui Pan, Zhengping Xu, Francis Lin, Min Zhao

Dynamic states of cervical epithelia during pregnancy and epithelial barrier disruption
Anne Cooley, ShanmugaPriyaa Madhukaran, Elizabeth Stroebele, Mariano Colon Caraballo, Lei Wang, Gary C. Hon, Mala Mahendroo

Modelling

Model of neural induction in the ascidian embryo
Rossana Bettoni, Clare Hudson, Hitoyoshi Yasuo, Sophie de Buyl, Geneviève Dupont

Competency of the Developmental Layer Alters Evolutionary Dynamics in an Artificial Embryogeny Model of Morphogenesis
Lakshwin Shreesha, Michael Levin

A mathematical modelling portrait of Wnt signalling in early vertebrate embryogenesis
Claudiu V. Giuraniuc, Shabana Zain, Shahmama Ghafoor, Stefan Hoppler

Is cell segregation like oil and water: asymptotic versus transitory regime
Florian Franke, Sebatian Aland, Hans-Joachim Böhme, Anja Voss-Böhme, Steffen Lange

Reviews

The History, Current Status, Benefits, and Challenges of 3D Printed Organs
Alicia Shin, Sumin Kim

Mechanics of Morphogenesis in Neural Development: in vivo, in vitro, and in silico
Joseph Sutlive, Hamed Seyyedhosseinzadeh, Zheng Ao, Haning Xiu, Kun Gou, Feng Guo, Zi Chen

SUMOylation in Skeletal Development, Homeostasis, and Disease
Tao Yang , Huadie Liu , Sonya E. L. Craig , Vladimir Molchanov , Joe Floramo , Yaguang Zhao

Tools & Resources

Efficient knock-in method enabling lineage tracing in zebrafish
Jiarui Mi, Olov Andersson

Accurate simultaneous sequencing of genetic and epigenetic bases in DNA
Jens Füllgrabe, Walraj S Gosal, Páidí Creed, Sidong Liu, Casper K Lumby, David J Morley, Tobias W B Ost, Albert J Vilella, Shirong Yu, Helen Bignell, Philippa Burns, Tom Charlesworth, Beiyuan Fu, Howerd Fordham, Nick Harding, Olga Gandelman, Paula Golder, Christopher Hodson, Mengjie Li, Marjana Lila, Yang Liu, Joanne Mason, Jason Mellad, Jack Monahan, Oliver Nentwich, Alexandra Palmer, Michael Steward, Minna Taipale, Audrey Vandomme, Rita Santo San-Bento, Ankita Singhal, Julia Vivian, Natalia Wójtowicz, Nathan Williams, Nicolas J Walker, Nicola C H Wong, Gary Yalloway, Joanna D Holbrook, Shankar Balasubaramanian

CeDAR: incorporating cell type hierarchy improves cell type specific differential analyses in bulk omics data
Luxiao Chen, Ziyi Li, Hao Wu

Retaining pluripotency and exogenous mRNA introduction in planarian stem cell culture
Kai Lei, Wenya Zhang, Jiajia Chen, Sean A. McKinney, Eric J. Ross, Heng-Chi Lee, Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado

Maximizing CRISPRi efficacy and accessibility with dual-sgRNA libraries and optimal effectors
Joseph M. Replogle, Jessica L. Bonnar, Angela N. Pogson, Christina R. Liem, Nolan K. Maier, Yufang Ding, Baylee J. Russell, Xingren Wang, Kun Leng, Alina Guna, Thomas M. Norman, Ryan A. Pak, Daniel M. Ramos, Michael E. Ward, Luke A. Gilbert, Martin Kampmann, Jonathan S. Weissman, Marco Jost

Establishment and Characterization of Novel Canine Organoids with Organ-Specific Physiological Similarity
Christopher Zdyrski, Vojtech Gabriel, Oscar Ospina, Hannah Wickham, Dipak K. Sahoo, Kimberly Dao, Leeann S. Aguilar Meza, Leila Bedos, Sydney Honold, Pablo Piñeyro, Jonathan P. Mochel, Karin Allenspach

DrosOmics: the comparative genomics browser to explore omics data in natural strains of D. melanogaster
Marta Coronado-Zamora, Judit Salces-Ortiz, Josefa González

SMAP design: A multiplex PCR amplicon and gRNA design tool to screen for natural and CRISPR-induced genetic variation
Ward Develtere, Evelien Waegneer, Kevin Debray, Sabine Van Glabeke, Steven Maere, Tom Ruttink, Thomas B. Jacobs

The presence of BBB hastens neuronal differentiation of cerebral organoids – the potential role of endothelial derived BDNF
Giorgia Fedele, Alessandra Cazzaniga, Sara Castiglioni, Laura Locatelli, Antonella Tosoni, Manuela Nebuloni, Jeanette A. M. Maier

PhenoTrack3D: an automatic high-throughput phenotyping pipeline to track maize organs over time
Benoit Daviet, Romain Fernandez, Llorenç Cabrera-Bosquet, Christophe Pradal, Christian Fournier

Molecular characterization of the intact muscle spindle using a multi-omics approach
Bavat Bornstein, Lia Heinemann-Yerushalmi, Sharon Krief, Ruth Adler, Bareket Dassa, Dena Leshkowitz, Minchul Kim, Guy Bewick, Robert W. Banks, Elazar Zelzer

Generation of a transparent killifish line through multiplex CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene inactivation
Johannes Krug, Carolin Albertz, Vera L. Hopfenmüller, Christoph Englert

Neuro-mesodermal assembloids recapitulate aspects of peripheral nervous system development in vitro
Anna F. Rockel, Nicole Wagner, Süleyman Ergün, Philipp Wörsdörfer

zFACE: Facial Analytics from a Coordinate Extrapolation System for Developing Zebrafish
Lorena Maili, Oscar E. Ruiz, Philip Kahan, Stephen T. Larson, S. Shahrukh Hashmi, Jacqueline T. Hecht, George T. Eisenhoffer

Efficient generation of marmoset primordial germ cell-like cells using induced pluripotent stem cells
Yasunari Seita, Keren Cheng, John R. McCarrey, Nomesh Yadu, Ian Cheeseman, Alec Bagwell, Corinna N. Ross, Isamar Santana-Toro, Li-Hua Yen, Sean Vargas, Christopher S. Navara, Brian P. Hermann, Kotaro Sasaki

Research practice & education

RMeDPower for Biology: guiding design, experimental structure and analyses of repeated measures data for biological studies
Min-Gyoung Shin, Julia A. Kaye, Naufa Amirani, Stephanie Lam, Reuben Thomas, Steven Finkbeiner

If this title is funny, will you cite me? Citation impacts of humour and other features of article titles in ecology and evolution
Stephen B. Heard, Chloe A. Cull, Easton R. White

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Adam Shellard, a postdoc in Roberto Mayor’s lab, was the winner of the 2022 BSCB Postdoctoral Research Medal. We caught up with Adam over Teams to find out more about his career path so far, his evolving research interests and the Cell Migration webinar series that he started during the pandemic.  

Where are you originally from?

I grew up in London, before going to the University of Manchester for my undergraduate studies. As part of this course, I completed a year-long internship at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, USA in Renato Iozzo’s lab. I spent a lot of time doing western blots and qPCRs but it was a great experience, both in the lab and having the opportunity to travel.

Why did you choose Roberto Mayor’s lab for your PhD?

I was on the Wellcome Trust Stem Cell and Developmental Biology programme at UCL, which meant I spent my first year doing rotations in different labs. When I started on the programme, I was interested in everything and didn’t have a special interest in any particular topic. I tried to choose labs where I could learn different techniques. I went to a lab that did more biochemistry; I went to one that used electron microscopy; and I did mouse work and live imaging for the first time. The rotations were a great opportunity to try lots of different techniques and topics to discover what I was most interested in. In the end, a big reason for choosing Roberto’s lab was that it was a good environment, and I really liked the people there. The topic didn’t matter so much at that stage because I felt that I could become interested in anything! I liked the fact they had lots of microscopes, and a lot of cool projects were going on at that time.

Can you tell us about your PhD research?

When I started my PhD, I was supervised by Elena Scarpa, who is now a group leader in Cambridge. She had some preliminary data showing an actomyosin cable around the edge of a neural crest cell cluster when it was dissected out and imaged in vitro. My project was to look at the role of actin and myosin during neural crest cell migration as we didn’t know anything about it. This sounds a little crazy, because obviously actin and myosin play a role in migration, but we didn’t know much about how they were involved in the collective migration of the neural crest. So, it started from there. I tried lots of experiments and whilst they worked, there were a lot of negative results in the first three years. Then when I got to the final year, luckily, or serendipitously, a couple of techniques that I’d been trying to work out for a long time, started to work. I finally got laser ablations working on the microscope after searching for so long, so I could very specifically test actomyosin cable function. At the same time, Xavier Trepat’s lab had published some optogenetic constructs which controlled contractility, so I cloned those and used them as well. What we found was that the neural crest, as a cluster, had an actomyosin cable around its edge. And in the absence of any chemoattractant, the cable would contract around the edge, so it would look like the cluster was pulsing. But if you put on a chemoattractant like SDF1 and the cells move by chemotaxis, the SDF1 would inhibit contractility at the front of the cluster, whilst the contractility at the back continued. Using laser ablation and optogenetics, we found that the contractility specifically at the rear of the cluster was driving the directed migration of the neural crest. And we could do that in vitro and in vivo. Of course when you say it, it sounds really obvious because rear contractility contributes to the driving forces of migration in cells, we’ve known that for years. But the novelty was that we had seen the whole cluster was acting like a single cell, where many cells at the front had a protrusion, and many cells at the back had a contraction, which we described as a supracell. And so, the analogy of how a single-cell moves was essentially expanded up to the scale of a cluster. We had this idea for quite a while, but we never had the techniques to address it. We did initially use blebbistatin and attempted to use mosaics, but those methods were very crude, so it was difficult to get any specific conclusions.

Can you tell us about your decision to stay with Roberto for your postdoc and how your research focus evolve during this time?

When I was in my completing research status (CRS) year, which is supposed to be your writeup year, I was struggling to finish off the paper and at the same time I had a deadline to submit my thesis. I was trying to get both of those done. I managed to get the paper submitted and then in for the revisions. Then I had about three or four weeks to write my thesis; I just wrote non-stop for about a month and got the thesis submitted!  Then I think I had a round of revisions to do for the paper, so I had to stay on for a little bit longer to do those. Then I had my viva and by that point, it was November or December of that year, and I was just exhausted. I had not planned or considered my future at all at that point. I know you’re supposed to be looking for positions at least six months in advance, you can’t just ring someone up. So, at that point it was Christmas and Roberto offered that I could stay. The idea initially was just to stay for a little bit so that I could continue working until I found a postdoc position. I started my postdoc with Roberto basically a month later. Then, of course, the good thing about staying in a lab is that you already know how to do everything, so you can be super productive. But I did want to push my skillset, because many of the ideas I had required new techniques. So I developed some new methods especially in the context of labelling tissues in vivo and measuring and manipulating mechanics in vivo, as I was keen to explore what I saw was an open question of how chemical and mechanical cues interact in vivo. Fortunately, the lab acquired a nanoindenter to do mechanical measurements at around the same time. The combination of new techniques to address what I thought was a big question, and some promising results, led me to stay for the project.

Can you summarise the main findings from your recent paper?

There are a few main findings, one of them is that we saw durotaxis in vivo. Durotaxis is moving along a stiffness gradient, typically from soft substrates to a stiff substrate, which has been known for 22 years, but there was scarce evidence in vivo. So, that was the first one; we found that the neural crest undergoes durotaxis in vivo as well as chemotaxis, which we previously knew. And then following on from that, we found that the stiffness gradient was being formed by the neural crest cells themselves. The neural crest mechanically modifies an adjacent tissue, the placodes, and in doing so they generate a gradient in their own substrate. That was a very cool and surprising finding. And then towards the end of the paper, we describe how the mechanical signals in durotaxis and chemical signals in chemotaxis interact, how there’s interplay between those two. So essentially, both of these guidance cues work on the same set of proteins, Rho, Rac and actomyosin, influencing contractility. They work together in a cooperative manner. I think that this is going to be a big question for many systems in the next decade or so: how do the chemical signals and the mechanical ones interact to control various biological processes?

It’s interesting that the stiffness gradient moves with the cells.

Yes, so we had this result that there was a stiffness gradient. But at the time I was brand new to doing mechanical measurements, and as I was quickly learning, doing these measurements in embryos is really difficult. The embryos are super soft, which means that the cantilever you use also has to be really soft. All this means that even the tiniest thing can make a deflection and screw up your measurement; if it sticks, or if there’s a tiny piece of dust, anything like that. So, getting the data from the embryos was a really hard slog in the beginning. After we had observed the gradient, the obvious question is what happens at later time points when the cells move. We could have just seen that the gradient doesn’t move, that could totally make sense as well, the cells just move up the gradient. But, when we saw that the gradient moves, it was a very nice lab meeting slide!

During lockdown, you set up the Cell Migration webinar series, was this something you already had in mind or was it prompted by the pandemic? Can you tell us about the series and why you think it has been so successful?

Yes, the initiation of the series was totally pandemic driven. I don’t think anyone had even thought about virtual seminars pre-pandemic. I initially thought of the idea maybe a week into lockdown, but I didn’t act on it. After about a month or two, I started seeing other seminars pop up and people discussing them on Twitter. It seemed that people were interested in attending, because my initial worry was about putting all the effort in, and then having no one show up! So, it was good to see that people were attending virtual meetings on other topics. And whilst the series was pandemic driven, I’m really happy that it’s still going on. It’s been two years now and it’s still regularly getting high attendance, which is great. I guess it’s popular because people are interested in seeing seminars on their research topic. The cell migration community is a lot more diverse and vibrant than I’d previously known, so it is still attracting a lot of interest! The success is also due to Becky Jones, Jen Mitchell and Ankita Jha, who has taken over my role in organising the webinars, because it is quite a lot of effort.

Do you have any plans for in-person meetings linked to the series, or will you stick with the current format?

I’m not sure, I know some attendees have suggested that maybe the webinars could be organised as a one-day meeting for early career researchers in migration, which I think Jen and Ankita might be considering. But with the return of in-person meetings in cell migration, like the Abercrombie meeting this year and the GRC next year, I’m not sure whether adding another meeting would be a bit overkill. So, I think the virtual meetings will be there for now.

What’s next for you, both short term and longer term?

Short term, I’m trying to finish off a project for which I’m developing a lot of new skills for! I’m hoping to submit the paper before the end of the year, that is my optimistic plan. And then next year, I will be moving on to ‘destination unknown’. I’m considering my options, perhaps a short postdoc in another lab, or maybe a fellowship where you do a few months in many different labs, just to learn some new skills and experience some different environments before applying for positions. That’s one option that I’m considering, but I’m not totally sure yet.

It sounds like you are a big fan of developing new tools and techniques, is that something you enjoy doing?

I enjoy it, but it’s incredibly frustrating. I do it because I have to, not because I want to! I’m kind of attracted to the high risk, high reward projects, the projects that have a lot of potential. But often those are the projects that would have been done if the tools already existed. For example, the project I’m working on now, I’m forced to make new tools. But every time I do this, I always remember how difficult it is and how many months you have to spend developing these tools just to do a single experiment. So yes, I do it because I’m forced to, not because I want to; I enjoy using other people’s tools more than I enjoy making my own!

So, is it more that the question comes first and then you have to find a way to answer it, even if that means tool development?

Yes, that’s absolutely it. For example, in my postdoc I was interested in looking at the neural crest in vivo, in Xenopus, which as anyone who works with Xenopus knows, doing in vivo imaging is really, really difficult. There weren’t even any good antibodies for the neural crest; in the past it had always been inferred by the fact that there’s a fibronectin ECM around it. I spent a few months just developing fluorescence in situ hybridization for the neural crest so I could co-label it with other markers. So yes, the question always comes first, and then whatever technique I need to use to address it as best I can, that comes second. 

What do you think the big questions in developmental biology will be over the next ten years?

One of the things that I think will be important, as I mentioned before, is the integration of mechanical and chemical cues, or signals or factors, in trying to understand the cell behaviour in a holistic way. I think that comparatively, we know a lot about signalling pathways and step-by-step processes that are occurring in cells, and now, we’re even getting a decent amount of data about how mechanics affects those processes. But I think in terms of combining them we haven’t even scratched the surface of how these cues come together. And it’s not a trivial thing to do, because trying to do manipulations of those various things without having unwanted side effects is really, really challenging.  I think that’s going to be one of the main questions for the next 10 years of developmental biology.

When you’re not in the lab, what do you do for fun?

I enjoy painting, especially with oil paints. I’m really liking ‘Duolingo’ at the minute because I’m awful at languages. I also enjoy travelling, which is a rarity, but I’m happy to accept invitations!

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Chengting Zhang is a PhD student in the laboratory of Professor Steffen Scholpp at the Living Systems Institute, UK. Originally from China, Chengting came to the UK in 2018 after being awarded joint funding from the University of Exeter and the China Scholarship Council (CSC) to carry out her PhD project investigating the role of Wnt protein transport during zebrafish development.

We spoke to Chengting about what it was like to move from her home country in China to start a PhD abroad and to hear her advice for other early-career researchers thinking of making the same move.

We invite you to share your own stories on the Node. To hear more about how we support early-career researchers take a look at our website and we encourage China-based audiences to follow The Company of Biologists WeChat channel!

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When did you decide to do a PhD?
您在何时决定要攻读博士学位？

When I was a graduate student, I made the decision to pursue a PhD. Since graduate education in China typically lasts three years and I had little direct experience with experiments throughout my undergraduate studies, I became really interested in research when I was able to produce some experimental results. Naturally, this was partly a result of my master’s supervisor’s encouragement, who suggested that I try to apply for CSC in order to study overseas for my doctoral degree.

最开始决定读博，是在研究生时期。因为国内的研究生一般三年制，本科也没怎么实质性接触过实验，所以当在研究生时期能做出一些实验性成果时，让自己对研究产生了极大的兴趣。当然这也少不了我硕士导师的鼓励，并建议说读博可以试试申请CSC 出国读博，那也是第一次我接触到CSC

How did you decide where to go for your project?
您如何确定了自己研究的课题？

After speaking with my master’s supervisor, I also believed that pursuing a PhD while studying overseas would be a particularly positive experience. After having this notion, I talked about it and listened to what my family and friends had to say. The reaction I received was quite encouraging, so I ultimately opted to pursue my PhD abroad. Regarding how I came across the current project, it’s because Steffen, my PhD supervisor, is also interested in recruiting CSC students, and I choose this topic since I believe I can successfully tackle it.

通过与硕士导师交流后，也觉得出国读博确实是一个很好的经历。有了这个想法后，也和家人朋友都商量过，听取了他们的意见，获得的反馈都是很支持的，所以最后决定要出国读博。至于怎么发现如今的课题，是因为现在博士导师Steffen也是有意向招收CSC学生，然后涉及的课题也是自己思量后觉得自己是能胜任的，所以就选择了这个课题

What was the process of applying for your scholarship?
申请奖学金的过程是否艰难?

I read several pieces of advice on the Xiaomuchong app before deciding to apply to CSC and pursue my PhD abroad. The first step was to begin IELTS preparation because passing the English language exam is a prerequisite for travelling abroad. When I received the language results, I quickly wrote an email to the tutor I was interested in. At the same time, I also gathered other experience articles on the Internet. Fortunately, Steffen responded to my emails in a very positive manner and was very helpful to me throughout the application process. For example, he corrected the PowerPoint I used for my interview and provided me with the files I needed for my application. The procedure is generally as follows: passing a language test – reaching out to potential tutors – college interview – receiving an offer – CSC application.

当我决定要通过申请CSC出国读博时，就在小木虫上看各种攻略。首先第一点则是开始复习雅思IELTS，因为语言成绩是出国的首要条件；

与此同时，也在网上收集各种经验贴，在拿到语言结果的时候，立马给自己感兴趣的导师发了邮件。幸好Steffen回复的邮件很积极，在我申请过程中帮助了我很多，比如帮我批改面试ppt, 非常积极即使的提供申请所需要的资料。总的来说需要的一个过程是：语言成绩—联系意向导师—学院面试—拿到offer—申请CSC

What was it like moving to a new country?
生活在另一个国家是一种什么样的感觉？

When I first received the scholarship, I was still anxious about it because I would be travelling to a nation with a totally different culture to do my PhD. When I initially came to the UK, I found it difficult to control my tears and thought I would be all alone. Fortunately, during the adjustment time, my PhD supervisor was really kind and my colleagues also looked out for me, so I gradually improved. The most important thing is that you don’t have to think about other things as much while you are seriously engaged in study. Naturally, none of this would be possible without the help of my family and friends.

With reaching the end of my PhD, I’ve developed considerably and become a more mature person.

最开始拿到奖学金的时候，心里还是很期待的，因为自己即将去一个文化差异很大的国家读博。当刚到英国的那一刻，自己还是没忍住哭了，那一刻才真正的觉得，以后就是自己一个人了。在过渡期中，幸好博导人非常好，实验室的同事也都对我照顾有佳，慢慢的也就好了起来。最主要的是，当你认真投身科研的时候，也没有那么多思想去想其他的。当然这也少不了家人朋友的支持。此次读博经历，让我自己成长了很多，人也成熟了

What is your PhD project?
您在博士阶段的研究课题是什么？

My PhD research uses zebrafish as a model to examine the mechanism of Wnt signalling. The main focus of the research is on the transmission of Wnt/PCP signalling Wnt5b from generating cells to receiving cells, the interaction of the receptor Ror2 and ligand Wnt5b, and the impact of Wnt/PCP on zebrafish growth and development.

我的博士课题：以斑马鱼为模型，研究Wnt信号的传导机制。最主要的研究Wnt/PCP signalling Wnt5b 是如何从producing cells 传导到receiving cells的，以及配体Wnt5b 和受体Ror2的关系，以及Wnt/PCP 对斑马鱼生长发育的影响

How has your PhD experience been?
您如何评价自己读博的经历?

Because I had a fantastic and great supervisor, a terrific research environment, and solid research findings overall, I had an excellent PhD experience. I also gained a lot of knowledge. Along with learning, I also developed my mental faculties and social abilities.

我的博士经历总的来说是极好的，因为我有一个很好很好的导师，很棒的研究环境，在研究上也取得了好的研究成果。更多的是学习到了很多知识，除了学习，自己也磨练了心智，提升了自己与人相处的技能，如果要给此次英国博士之行打分，总分100分，我会给自己打95

What advice would you give to other early-career scientists planning to do research abroad?
对计划出国从事研究并处于职业生涯早期的其他科学家，您有何建议？

My recommendation is to give it your best because you won’t regret it. Research still largely revolves around the research platform. If you choose a foreign university, all things are excellent, but if you’re frightened to travel overseas, my advice is to still be daring and give it a shot because it’s also regarded as a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

我的建议是，自己想做的事，就全力以赴的去做就不会后悔。科研还是很看重研究平台，如果你选择了一个国外的院校，各方面都很优秀，但就是害怕出国的话，我的建议还是可以大胆尝试的，毕竟这也算人生中的一次难忘的经历

What are your plans for the future?
您未来有什么计划？

Since there is a solid platform for biological research at my master’s university, my current aim is to go back to my previous institution after I return to China, where I will continue to conduct research in the future.

现目前的计划是回国后回硕士母校， 因为那里有很好的生物研究平台，所以自己以后还是会继续投身科研中

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A new paper in Development, from Jennifer Watts and Amy Ralston, dissects the impact of Zika virus on mouse preimplantation embryos and find that the virus can infect all three lineages of the blastocyst and can even halt development, if infection occurs at the two-cell stage. You can find our more about the authors in our associated ‘The people behind the papers‘ interview.

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State University researchers have found that the Zika virus can halt an embryo’s development in the earliest stages of pregnancy, signaling that the risks posed by the virus are greater than previously appreciated.

This is objectively bad news, but the knowledge will help people better prepare for future Zika outbreaks, researchers said. For example, doctors can work with patients who are expecting or trying to conceive children to take more robust precautions to avoid Zika’s most severe outcomes, including miscarriage and birth defects.

The team from MSU also hopes its work, which was performed with mouse models, will inspire more studies examining how other diseases, such as cytomegalovirus — the leading infectious cause of birth defects — affect early pregnancy.

“Hopefully, this can be a push to look at what other viruses and bacteria could be causing embryo demise, specifically in these early stages,” said Jennifer Watts, the first author of the new study published July 28 in the journal Development.

“These are really critical windows of development,” said Watts, who worked on the study as a doctoral student in Amy Ralston’s laboratory in the College of Natural Science. Watts is now a postdoctoral scientist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio.

The findings could also spur the development of an approved and effective Zika vaccine, which currently does not exist, Ralston said. Especially if there is another epidemic similar to the one experienced by the U.S., Brazil and other countries in the Americas in 2015 and 2016.

“It’s feasible that there could be a Zika vaccine if people realized the full spectrum of threats this virus has, or that a vaccine could be pushed faster,” said Ralston, the James K. Billman, Jr., M.D. Endowed Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

‘Nobody was talking about it’

In showing that the virus can directly affect an embryo’s cells early in development, the research is also underscoring the dangers of Zika as a sexually transmitted pathogen.

“When we were traveling and going to conferences in 2015 and 2016, we’d see banners and signs warning about mosquito transmission,” Watts said.

“People knew it was sexually transmitted, too,” Ralston said. “But nobody was talking about it.”

This is especially important because expectant parents and their unborn children are the populations most vulnerable to Zika. For the average person, Zika’s symptoms are usually mild if they’re noticed at all. But more than 3,700 babies were born with birth defects attributed to Zika during the 2015-16 epidemic in North and South America. The birth defects included microcephaly, a condition in which a child’s head is much smaller than expected.

Pregnant people also faced an increased risk of preterm births and miscarriage. Now, the MSU research, which was supported by the National Institutes of Health, is showing that Zika can stop an embryo’s development within the first week of conception, before a fertilized egg implants in the uterus.

“People wouldn’t even know they’re pregnant within that week,” Watts said. “That means the virus could be a cause for infertility for people who are trying to conceive but not having success.”

Statistically speaking, Zika’s worst consequences are uncommon. Birth defects, for example, were found to occur in about one in 20 possible cases in the U.S. But the potential severity and the range of outcomes drew Ralston and Watts to the problem.

“Why do you have birth defects in some babies but not others?” Ralston said. “It’s something we still don’t know and it’s obviously worth studying.”

It was a different type of research project for Ralston’s team, which usually studies the fundamental biology of healthy early embryo development. But she and Watts knew they had the expertise and support at MSU to help answer how Zika viruses present at conception could affect the course of a pregnancy.

“I remember thinking, ‘Why hasn’t anyone checked?’” Ralston said. “Then I thought, ‘Well, who would do that? I guess we would.’”

Watts was a key ingredient in that “we.” Although Ralston’s team had the biological know-how and microscopy skills to probe that question, there was a huge virology component that Watts took on learning as a graduate student.

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“There were times, as her graduate adviser, I couldn’t actually advise her,” Ralston said. “I’m not a virologist, but Jenn had the perfect personality for this project. She would just go out and find the answers.”

‘It wasn’t what we wanted’

To that end, Watts worked closely with the lab of Zhiyong Xi, a professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. Xi studies mosquito-borne illnesses and, in 2017, he led one of the 21 grantsawarded by the U.S. Agency for International Development’s $30 million Combating Zika and Future Threatsprogram.

With help from Xi’s lab, Watts learned the skills she needed to design experiments, then measure and analyze the effects of Zika virus on developing mouse embryos.

Meanwhile, other researchers were racing to answer similar questions. For instance, during the MSU study, other scientists showed that Zika could alter the course of normal placenta development. But questions remained about Zika’s direct effects on the embryo, especially because it has a thick protein coat called the zona pellucida.

The coat protects the embryo during early development, but researchers already knew it wasn’t completely impenetrable. Studying whether the zona pellucida held up against Zika would provide key insights into the complete spectrum of ways the virus could affect pregnancies.

Watts, Ralston and their colleagues had the breadth of expertise to examine how Zika influenced different cell types at different times during early embryonic development, providing that more complete picture. Unfortunately, the team found that Zika eluded the shield.

“It wasn’t what we wanted to happen,” Watts said. “We could see the development arresting at a certain stage. For example, we’d see a fertilized egg infected when it was in its two-cell stage and it wouldn’t grow past eight cells or the blastocyst stage. That’s devastating.”

The next step, though, is turning that devastating news into something positive. To do that, the MSU researchers are sharing their work and providing valuable new information to the research and public health communities. That way, the next time Zika appears — which experts say is a matter of when and not if — they can offer valuable advice and collect important data they weren’t thinking about seven years ago.

“We can really inform epidemiologists what to look for and what to think about when they see differences in pregnancy outcomes,” Watts said.

“They know how to look for it,” Ralston said. “But they aren’t going to look for it unless they know they should.”

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Michigan State University has been advancing the common good with uncommon will for more than 165 years. One of the world’s leading research universities, MSU pushes the boundaries of discovery to make a better, safer, healthier world for all while providing life-changing opportunities to a diverse and inclusive academic community through more than 200 programs of study in 17 degree-granting colleges.

For MSU news on the Web, go to MSUToday. Follow MSU News on Twitter at twitter.com/MSUnews.

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“For all the claims that we had finally unlocked the secrets of human biology and were setting off into a new era of gene-driven medicine, there was one rather glaring issue with the first human genome: where were all the genes?”

Presenter Dr Kat Arney

In the latest episode of the Genetics Unzipped podcast, we’re discovering whether size really does matter – when it comes to your genes and genome, that is. Dr Kat Arney gets to grips with why the human genome has so few genes, why some species have more junk DNA than others, and whether you should avoid eating anything with more genes than you.

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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The Centre for Trophoblast Research (CTR) is looking to recruit a Technician to support cutting edge collaborative research in human biology. To apply for the job please visit: https://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/32716/

The purpose of the role of the CTR Technician is to further support the interface of clinical and basic sciences research within the CTR. Their priorities will be to support the CTR Licencing and Training Coordinator to ensure that research conducted within the CTR is maintained at a high standard and complies with regulatory requirements. The post holder will be responsible for day-to-day maintenance of the CTR Human Uterus in Pregnancy and Disease Biobank and embryos consented and donated for research. The CTR Technician will liaise with clinical collaborators and maintain effective collaborative links.

The CTR Technician will also provide support for the smooth running of the CTR laboratory, ensuring an organized space, stocked core reagents and operational shared equipment to foster further collaborative working. They will be responsible for the management of common CTR equipment and ensure codes of practice and relevant safety regulations are followed within the CTR. They will monitor core stock reagents and ensure restocking. They will supervise lab cleaning and organise rotas for the smooth running of the CTR lab space including any works required.

The post holder will initially gain training in advanced cell and organoid culture and molecular biological techniques under the supervision of the Licencing and Training Coordinator. They will record and interpret data and present the findings. After gaining relevant training in these cutting-edge techniques, the post holder will in turn train others and provide technical advice on the design of experiments. They will coordinate the shipment of reagents or samples to CTR colleagues or external collaborators in consultation with the Licencing and Training Coordinator. They will also provide local guidance and assistance with MTA applications.

The CTR Technician will support the CTR to provide an environment that enables the delivery of research at the highest level and to work in collaborative ways to provide research and training support. Training and mentorship will be provided by the Licencing and Training Coordinator in consultation with the Director. The CTR Technician will need to have a positive approach and be open and willing to engage with diverse groups across the CTR.

Candidates should hold a minimum qualification equitable to HND/HNC, level 4/5 vocational qualifications or an equivalent level of practical experience. Please refer to the further particulars document for a full list of essential skills and qualifications.

We will support visa application through the CTR if assistance is needed. We have a legal responsibility to ensure that you have the right to work in the UK before you can start working for us. Any job application you submit to us will be assessed using criteria based on the knowledge, skills and experience required for the relevant post. You will not be treated less favourably than another applicant on the grounds of national origin.

Appointments will be made on a fixed-term, full-time, basis for a period of 3 years, with the possibility of renewal subject to funding.  The salary range is £27,116 – £31,406 (+NI on-costs & Pension).

We would also welcome applications from individuals who wish to be considered for part-time working or other flexible working arrangements.

Instructions for applications: Candidates must submit an application via the Cambridge University Job Opportunities website https://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/ by the 31^st August 2022. References will be requested from candidates after interviews.

We aim to hold interviews shortly after the closing date.

To find out more about the CTR please visit our website at: https://www.trophoblast.cam.ac.uk/

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The University of Warwick (UK) is looking for an Assistant or Associate Professor in Developmental Biology

1. Tissue-scale development and patterning
2. Developmental genetics
3. Comparative biology (e.g. evo-devo, genomics)

https://tinyurl.com/2p8e98t7

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In our recent paper, we uncovered a WIP-mediated embryo-maternal communication in Arabidopsis, which specifically regulates embryonic root development (Fig. 1). WIP2, WIP4 and WIP5 expression in the embryonic root is necessary for the oriented cell division and distal stem cell fates within the root meristem. WIP1, WIP3 and WIP6 are expressed in the maternal tissues surrounding the embryo and suspensor, where they act non-cell autonomously to repress root cell fate specification through SIMILAR TO RADICAL-INDUCED CELL DEATH ONE (SRO) gene family members. The embryonic WIPs functionally oppose those maternal WIPs to orchestrate cell division orientation and cell fate specification in the embryonic root, thereby promoting regular root formation.

Nature Plants: Spatially expressed WIP genes control Arabidopsis embryonic root development

Nature Plants News & Views: A dialogue between generations

How did you get started on this project?

It has been shown that loss-of-function wip245 triple mutants are rootless (Crawford et al., 2015). WIP2, WIP4 and WIP5 are expressed in the hypophysis and its derivatives, where they act redundantly to specify distal root stem cell fates (Crawford et al., 2015). We observed that roots were able to form and grow in wip123456 sextuple mutants, this observation prompted us to explore how WIP genes are coordinated to control embryonic root development.

What was already known about the regulation of tissue organization during root development?

Tissue organization during root development requires precise coordination of root cell division, fate specification and differentiation in a spatiotemporal manner. Components in auxin signaling cascade are crucial for root formation in Arabidopsis: the BODENLOS (BDL)/IAA12-MONOPTEROS (MP)/AUXIN RESPONSIVE FACTOR5 (ARF5) and SOLITARY-ROOT (SLR)/IAA14-ARF7/ARF19 modules are required for the initiation of embryonic and lateral roots respectively (Fukaki et al., 2002; Hamann et al., 2002; Okushima et al., 2005; Przemeck et al., 1996). In terms of embryonic roots, BDL and MP expressed in the proembryo cells non-cell autonomously regulate hypophysis specification via two direct target genes of MP, TARGET OF MONOPTEROS5 (TMO5) and TMO7 (Schlereth et al., 2010). It has been shownWIP2, WIP4 and WIP5 act downstream of MP to promote embryonic root formation (Crawford et al., 2015), but hypophysis specification remains normal in wip245 mutants. Auxin and auxin signaling is also considered important in initiating formative cell divisions during both embryonic and lateral root formation (Marhavy et al., 2016; Yoshida et al., 2014). Moreover, PLETHORA (PLT) genes are key effectors for establishment of the root stem cell niche during embryonic pattern formation (Aida et al., 2004; Galinha et al., 2007). Loss-of-function of plt1^-/-plt2^+/-plt3^-/-bbm-2^-/- mutants show embryonic root defects that are morphologically similar to the ones displayed in wip245 mutants.

What was the key experiment?

Our results from three experiments made the story outline: the rescued root development in wip123456 sextuple mutants; the identification of SRO gene family members that are responsible for the overexpression of WIP1 induced plant growth arrest from the EMS mutagenesis; the rescued root development in rcd1-4wip245 quadruple mutants.

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

When we found that WIP1, WIP3 and WIP6 act maternally in a non-cell autonomous manner to repress root formation. This result points to a WIP-mediated embryo-maternal dialogue.

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

Generation of the multiple mutant combinations was time consuming and demanding.

Where will this story take the lab?

Our lab focuses on the sex determination process in cucurbits. The gynoecious gene WIP1 represses carpel development, causing the formation of male flowers, and its loss-of-function leads to purely female plants (Martin et al., 2009). In Arabidopsis, melon WIP1 and AtWIPs share common functions in inhibiting plant growth (Roldan et al., 2020), suggesting that the molecular network regulated by AtWIPs is likely conserved in plants. Therefore, we aim to transfer the knowledge gained from Arabidopsis back to the sex determination process in melon.

What next for you/your lab after this paper – let us know if you are continuing this research, starting/looking for a new position?

Currently, I am looking for a position and would like to continue the study of maternal-embryo communication in plants. Abdel’s lab will continue to characterize WIP functions in Arabidopsis and in cucurbits.

References:

Aida, M., Beis, D., Heidstra, R., Willemsen, V., Blilou, I., Galinha, C., Nussaume, L., Noh, Y.S., Amasino, R., and Scheres, B. (2004). The PLETHORA genes mediate patterning of the Arabidopsis root stem cell niche. Cell 119, 109-+.

Crawford, B.C.W., Sewell, J., Golembeski, G., Roshan, C., Long, J.A., and Yanofsky, M.F. (2015). Genetic control of distal stem cell fate within root and embryonic meristems. Science 347, 655-659.

Fukaki, H., Tameda, S., Masuda, H., and Tasaka, M. (2002). Lateral root formation is blocked by a gain-of-function mutation in the SOLITARY-ROOT/IAA14 gene of Arabidopsis. The Plant journal : for cell and molecular biology 29, 153-168.

Galinha, C., Hofhuis, H., Luijten, M., Willemsen, V., Blilou, I., Heidstra, R., and Scheres, B. (2007). PLETHORA proteins as dose-dependent master regulators of Arabidopsis root development. Nature 449, 1053-1057.

Hamann, T., Benkova, E., Bäurle, I., Kientz, M., and Jürgens, G. (2002). The Arabidopsis BODENLOS gene encodes an auxin response protein inhibiting MONOPTEROS-mediated embryo patterning. Genes & development 16, 1610-1615.

Marhavy, P., Montesinos, J.C., Abuzeineh, A., Van Damme, D., Vermeer, J.E., Duclercq, J., Rakusova, H., Novakova, P., Friml, J., Geldner, N., et al. (2016). Targeted cell elimination reveals an auxin-guided biphasic mode of lateral root initiation. Genes & development 30, 471-483.

Martin, A., Troadec, C., Boualem, A., Rajab, M., Fernandez, R., Morin, H., Pitrat, M., Dogimont, C., and Bendahmane, A. (2009). A transposon-induced epigenetic change leads to sex determination in melon. Nature 461, 1135-1138.

Okushima, Y., Overvoorde, P.J., Arima, K., Alonso, J.M., Chan, A., Chang, C., Ecker, J.R., Hughes, B., Lui, A., Nguyen, D., et al. (2005). Functional genomic analysis of the AUXIN RESPONSE FACTOR gene family members in Arabidopsis thaliana: unique and overlapping functions of ARF7 and ARF19. The Plant cell 17, 444-463.

Przemeck, G.K., Mattsson, J., Hardtke, C.S., Sung, Z.R., and Berleth, T. (1996). Studies on the role of the Arabidopsis gene MONOPTEROS in vascular development and plant cell axialization. Planta 200, 229-237.

Roldan, M.V.G., Izhaq, F., Verdenaud, M., Eleblu, J., Haraghi, A., Sommard, V., Chambrier, P., Latrasse, D., Jegu, T., Benhamed, M., et al. (2020). Integrative genome-wide analysis reveals the role of WIP proteins in inhibition of growth and development. Communications biology 3, 239.

Schlereth, A., Moller, B., Liu, W., Kientz, M., Flipse, J., Rademacher, E.H., Schmid, M., Jurgens, G., and Weijers, D. (2010). MONOPTEROS controls embryonic root initiation by regulating a mobile transcription factor. Nature 464, 913-916.

Yoshida, S., Barbier de Reuille, P., Lane, B., Bassel, G.W., Prusinkiewicz, P., Smith, R.S., and Weijers, D. (2014). Genetic control of plant development by overriding a geometric division rule. Dev Cell 29, 75-87.

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Christine J Watson, Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1QP

Email: cjw53@cam.ac.uk

We are excited that our study on immune cells, post-lactational regression of the mammary gland, and tumour growth has been published in a Special Issue of Development on The Immune System in Development and Regeneration. This paper is the culmination of many years of work by a fantastic team of women. For over two decades, my laboratory has been interested in the mechanisms of cell death that are utilised after weaning to remove the milk-producing alveolar cells in the lactating mammary gland as they are no longer required. The mouse mammary gland is a fantastic experimental tool with which to investigate cell death under physiological conditions as the lobuloalveolar structures that make milk during lactation arise de novo, with each and every pregnancy, and are subsequently removed when lactation ceases. The use of milk protein gene promoters to drive expression of Cre recombinase has allowed us to conditionally delete any gene of interest specifically in the alveolar cells and so we can investigate the role of specific genes in lactation and cell death during involution without perturbing normal mouse physiology.

We showed way back in 1998, using the beta-lactoglobulin promoter to drive Cre expression, that the transcription factor Stat3 was essential for initiating cell death during involution.  This was a wonderful collaboration with Rachel Chapman and the late Alan Clarke when our laboratories were based in Edinburgh. We continued our work on the mechanism of Stat3-mediated cell death after my laboratory moved to Cambridge and we were joined by a talented postdoc, Sara Pensa, who had done her PhD with a long-standing collaborator Valeria Poli from the University of Turin in Italy. Valeria’s lab has considerable expertise in Stat3 signalling, cancer and immunology. Among other things, Sara was interested in looking at the effect of age on mammary tumour growth and she initiated work to investigate this in mice. We were joined by a veterinary surgeon and histopathologist, Kate Hughes, who elected to do her PhD in my laboratory and another talented postdoc Bethan Lloyd-Lewis who brought considerable expertise in mammary gland, gained in Trevor Dale’s laboratory in Cardiff. Bethan had an interest in developing lineage tracing and imaging technologies to investigate mammary stem and progenitor cells. Combining these interests and technologies allowed us to investigate multiple aspects of tumour growth utilising a cell culture model of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) overexpression, used in Valeria’s laboratory, and called TUBO cells. HER2 is overexpressed in a subtype of breast cancer that affects about 1 in 5 women with breast cancer usually as a result of the gene encoding HER2 being present in multiple copies. Although this is a more aggressive type of breast cancer, the use of a humanised monoclonal antibody that targets HER2, called Trastuzumab, in combination with other therapies, has proved beneficial.

We decided to use the TUBO cell line as it is a reliable and predicable model of mammary cancer development. We wanted to investigate how the involution process, with its associated extensive cell death and tissue remodelling, would affect the growth of tumours arising from implanted TUBO cells. It is established that the involution process is associated with a transient increase in the risk of developing breast cancer in women, called post-partum breast cancer. However, a full-term pregnancy before the age of 30 reduces the lifetime risk of breast cancer while childbirth after the age of 35 does not provide any protection. It is not well understood how undergoing a full lobuloalveolar development programme during pregnancy can protect from cancer at a young age, why this is abrogated in older mothers, and why the involution process can be pro-tumourigenic.  We wished to gain some insights into the molecular and cellular events behind these observations. An interesting aspect of mammary gland involution is that there is an array of immune cell types present in the gland and a dramatic influx of immune cells around day 3 of involution when extensive phagocytosis of dead alveolar cells, milk fat and cellular debris is required along with remodelling of the extracellular matrix and redifferentiation of the white adipocytes in the mammary fat pad. It is remarkable that these processes do not cause overt inflammation. We realised that our team was missing an expert immunologist and we were fortunate to recruit a new postdoc with such expertise. Jessie Hitchcock had just completed her PhD at the University of Birmingham on immunity to infection, focussing on systemic inflammation, and she was keen to move into the cancer field. So, with Jessie on board, we were now well placed to carry out an extensive study on the growth of tumour cells transplanted into involuting mammary glands at various stages.

We were able to analyse immune cells and tumour growth in the mouse mammary gland using a variety of techniques combining our various expertise: histology, deep 3D imaging, flow cytometry, tumour cell implantation and tumour growth measurement. Jessie showed, surprisingly, that leukocytes (marked by CD45 expression) are present not only in the tissue stroma but that a subset intercalate between the myoepithelial and luminal epithelial cells in the ductal epithelial bilayer in virgin mammary gland while during lactation/early involution, these leukocytes co-localise with myoepithelial cells and have a very different shape similar to the star-like morphology of dendritic cells. As observed by 3D immunofluorescent imaging, the density of CD45+ cells in both the epithelium and stroma is greatest at 3 days after forced weaning, and decreases quite dramatically by day 6 of involution, with the leukocytes associating less with the contracting myoepithelium at this stage. Jessie also carried out an extensive analysis of immune cell types present in the mammary gland by flow cytometry at various stages of involution and also in pregnant and non-pregnant mice. Our tumour experiments focussed on injecting TUBO cells into mammary glands of both young and old syngeneic mice at different stages of involution followed by monitoring tumour growth. Syngeneic mice were essential to allow us to investigate whether the fluxes in immune cell types, that we had observed by flow cytometry, had an influence on initial tumour growth.

These were challenging experiments, but we generated some interesting data. Firstly, and surprisingly, we found that the environment in the mammary gland at day 3 involution promoted faster tumour growth compared to nulliparous mice while the environment at day 6 involution suppressed tumour growth considerably compared to day 3 involution and tumours were even slower growing than in nulliparous mice. We were able to correlate these changes in tumour growth rate with the immune cell types present in the gland at these times, and particularly with distinctly elevated CD11b-expressing macrophage populations, that may express inflammatory genes, at day 6 involution compared to day 3 involution. We also found that tumours tend to grow faster at day 3 involution in aged mice (10 months old, equivalent to 38 years of age in women) compared to young mice.  Despite differences in growth rate, the immune environment, and the age of mouse, all tumours appeared morphologically similar when assessed both histologically and by 3D imaging of optically cleared tumour tissue.

This work has provided a basis for preclinical studies in women’s breast cancers and for characterisation of weaning-induced breast involution in young women. Furthermore, our study highlights the merits of multidisciplinary work and collaboration between a team of talented and enthusiastic scientists.

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Lenka Belicova, Valeria Ghezzi.

Where Science meets Technology – NMMP2022 Summer School in Transcriptomics

In Sweden, where the sun doesn’t go down in the summer, the science stays awake!

“57 students, 20 universities and research institutes, 24 nationalities and 1 common interest: learning more about omics approaches.”: tweeted Professor Silvia Remeseiro, which together with Professor Claudio Cantù and Professor Andreas Moor co-organized the first ever NMMP2022 Summer School in Transcriptomics during Development and Cancer in an amazing location of Sandvik Gård on June 27^th-30^th, 2022.

One of the intriguing features of the Summer School was a relatively low ratio between students and teachers. Ten top-notch scientists coming from all over Europe and beyond helped students dive into a broad range of fascinating topics from newest technologies in single cell transcriptomics to 3D organization of chromatin.

Science unlimited

The four-day program of the Summer School was packed with exciting lectures by keynote and invited speakers, insightful “meet the speaker” sessions providing a glimpse on the life of scientists, and opportunities to discuss students’ projects and questions that are driving them. The Summer School succeeded in bringing together scientists at different career stages from variety of fields inspiring one another.

Students had the chance to listen to amazing lectures given by keynote speakers Prof. Sten Linnarsson, Prof. Johan Elf and Prof. Susan Mango, as well as the ones given by the invited speakers: Dr. Yonatan Stelzer, Prof. Anna Alemany, Dr. Shamit Soneji, Prof. Martin Mikl, Prof. Guillaume Andrey, Prof. Magda Bienko and Dr. George Hausmann.

Read more about about the speakers and organisers in the “Meet the speakers” paragraph later on this page!

Blurring the lines between dry and wet

Many biological questions require computational approaches to be explored in depth. Experimentalists have to find a common language with bioinformaticians and computational scientists and vice versa, which is not always an easy task. The organizers know it well and designed the program with the hope to generate ample opportunities for “wet” and “dry” scientists to exchange ideas and discuss how to build a bridge between these two domains. Indeed, according to the poll (Fig. 3), the participants had diverse experiences from “dry” and “wet” lab, and almost a fifth was open to transition.

One of the ways to find a common language is to try to explain our projects to researchers outside of our immediate niche. The students tried this during a new poster session format: the “Non-poster” poster session. For two and a half hours, the students divided into small groups presented their posters and provided feedback to each other. The fun part: the projects were as different as it gets. The students left the poster session energized, inspired and willing to try new approaches to their problems. The only complaint they had: “We were enjoying it too much! Two hours and a half were not enough!”. We are sure organizers will take a note for the next edition of the Summer School.

A dive into data

The science at the Summer School was at the top of innovation. For example, students got to hear about a new, fresh from the press, scRNA-seq technology VASAsequencing by Prof. Anna Alemany. Many students presented their projects on developing the technology of the future we are looking forward to putting in practice one day.
Perhaps one of the most immersive experiences of the future of transcriptomics data analysis was provided by Dr. Shamit Soneji and his team that developed CellexalVR software. Using virtual reality, students were able to literally dive into single-cell data and visualize the data with a whole new perspective!

Technology has its place in biological research

One could argue that recent fancy technological developments push us paradoxically further away from answering biological questions. Recently, this topic ignited a vivid debate on the Node platform and Twitter. The Summer School was a perfect place to continue discussing this topic as it united biologists experimentalists on one hand and technology fans on the other. Prof. Magda Bienko, avid fan of technological advances and pioneer in understanding the 3D organization of chromatin, added an interesting angle to the debate. We should give enough time for the technology to be developed fully, so all its caveats are addressed before we use it to answer a biological question. If we do it too early, we risk overinterpretation of the results, confusion and mistrust in technology. Technology has a great promise to help us understand the world around us, but we should not rush the process and trust that it will deliver once optimized properly.

Consequently, we witnessed a couple of “conversions” of pure experimentalists willing to give a new technology a try: “Before the Summer School, I saw technology as something that brings me away from the lab work, losing contact with the magic of seeing biology unfolding in front of your eyes. But I realized that technology is just a wonderful mean to get a deeper insight into biological mechanisms. Now I can’t wait to go back and put my hands on one of these amazing tools I learned about here!” stated one of the early-career-stage students.

Such realizations don’t come as a surprise given the keynote and invited speakers are leaders in the leveraging technological advances to gain insights into biology and elicited great enthusiasm in all of the
students present at the Summer School with their talks.

Meet the speakers

• Prof. Sten Linnarsson’s work is shaping the transcriptomics field and transforming our view of the multitude of cells type that emerge during animal development. With his group, he crafted new ways to identify secret messages hidden within transcriptomics datasets.
• The work of Prof. Johan Elf is bringing the gene regulation field into a new dimension, as it is producing quantitative physical models and biological observations that, when merged, enable to determinate the real behavior of molecules.
• The contributions of Prof. Susan Mango and her group are incredible: from identifying master regulators that shape cell fate, to the compelling and almost counteracting notion that variable environmental conditions play a non-negligible role on developmental trajectories. She is transforming C. elegans into a star of developmental biology.
• Dr. Yonatan Stelzer’s group is implementing and developing cutting-edge genome- and epigenomeediting tools together with sophisticated epigenetic and gene expression reporters on embryonic stem cells and developing mice.
• Prof. Anna Alemany‘s training and scientific production position her work among the emerging stars in the field of single-cell transcription, and how this can be used to understand cell-fate commitment. She contributed to developing a new scRNA-seq technology – VASAseq – that gives high throughput
  full gene body read-out with single cell resolution.
• Dr. Shamit Soneji’s group is developing analytical pipelines in a new dimension: they recently developed Virtual Reality tools to navigate and analyse most sophisticated datasets. Among these tools, CellexalVR is a platform for visualisation and analysis of single-cell gene expression data.
• Prof. Martin Mikl works on generating new ways to identify, in a high-throughput and standardized manner, the rules that govern mRNA function and localization.
• Prof. Guillaume Andrey is an emerging leader in the field of the 3D genome, he focuses on the ideological and conceptual innovation of how the genome could be regulated in 3D in addition to the DNA sequence.
• Prof. Magda Bienko developed GPseq: a new creative technique that allows mapping the radial organization of the human genome, revealing new patterns of genomic and epigenomic features, gene expression, and activity compartmentalization.
• Dr. George Hausmann has an enviable scientific experience and writing dexterity: the entire Department of Molecular Life Science in Zurich competes with his time for help or consultation on manuscript design, writing and perfectionism.

Organizers:

• Prof. Claudio Cantù’s Lab, at Linköping University, is focused on discovering the mechanisms of genome regulation that drive specialization during embryonic development using sophisticated tools, from mouse genetics to high-throughput state-of-the-art biochemical approaches. The group is focused on the so-called ‘Wnt signalling pathway’, a molecular cascade important for virtually all aspects of development, and whose deregulation causes human malformations and several forms of aggressive cancers.
• Prof. Silvia Remeseiro works as a Wallenberg Molecular Medicine Fellow in Umeå University. Her group is mainly focused on how the reprogramming of regulatory regions and topological changes in 3D chromatin organization determine gene dysregulation in glioblastoma, and how this subsequently contributes to malignancy, heterogeneity and invasiveness.
• Prof. Andreas Moor works at the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineer, at ETH Zurich, focusing on exploring the way in which single cells collaborate within tissues to achieve their common functions. His group makes use of quantitative approaches to study cellular and subcellular heterogeneity while preserving information about the spatial tissue context.

Future is in good hands

The Summer School was a dream come true for the organizers Claudio Cantù, Silvia Remeseiro and Andreas Moor, finally taking place after the delay caused by the pandemic. Their hope was to provide similar experiences, that shaped their scientific thinking when they were trainees, to a next generation.

Probably, even their wild imagination was exceeded by the success of this edition of the Summer School: 56 students from all over Europe and one, Vasikar Murugapoopathy, from McGill University in Canada, thanks to a travel grant offered by Antibodies online GmbH.

High quality of student talks, their engagement and drive to discuss science till late hours impressed the tutors.

When Prof. Susan Mango was asked to describe the Summer School in one word, she answered: “My word would have been STUDENTS. They were great – very interactive, smart questions. A really good lot”.

Prof. Anna Alemany later revealed: “It was really motivating, from the speaker point of view, to discuss the different aspects of science during lunch, coffee breaks, and walks around the lake. The motivation was contagious, I am sure this group of people will achieve anything they want!”.

It looks like the future of life science and molecular medicine is in good hands.

Shall we meet next year?

The Summer School was generously supported by a collaborative grant of The National molecular Medicine Fellows Program (NMMP) in Sweden awarded to the organizers Claudio Cantù and Silvia Remeseiro.

Both are part of NMMP network: 100 group leaders recruited to the Wallenberg Centers of Molecular Medicine, which is co-funded by SciLifeLab and Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.

BioNordika and Antibodies online GmbH were the only two, carefully chosen additional sponsors.

Dr. Stefan Pellenz, accomplished scientist and currently product manager at Antibodies online GmbH,
shared his insights on how to profile the epigenome with CUT&RUN and CUT&Tag methods.

We hope the Summer School was not a one-time experience and organizers will be able to get support for the next edition.

With an amazing venue, new connections created, excitement shared about the future of science, participant enjoyed the Summer School so much that they unanimously voted for the next edition!

Want to be part of the future? Join the next edition on NMMP2022 Summer School in Transcriptomics!

Get in touch with us:

Claudio Cantù

Silvia Resemeiro

Andreas Moor

Wallenberg Centre For Molecular Medicine (Linköping)

Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelse

National Molecular Medicine Programme

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