Page 6 - Embryonic Development News Today

The phenomenon of regeneration was discovered over 200 years ago in the freshwater polyp Hydra. Until now, however, it was largely unclear how the orderly regeneration of lost tissues or organs is activated after injury.

Years of work by developmental biologists from Trinity College Dublin, working with colleagues at the University of Edinburgh's MRC Human Genetics Unit, has yielded a resource of unparalleled detail that will help researchers assess how key genes control the differentiation of tissues and organs of developing embryos.

In biology, getting rid of stuff can be just as important as making it. A buildup of cells, proteins, or other molecules that are no longer needed can cause problems, so living things have evolved several ways to clean house.

Certain childhood tumors have an extreme need for amino acids. Scientists at the Hopp Children's Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ), the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), the University of Heidelberg, and HI-STEM gGmbH have now discovered the molecular mechanisms underlying this and how the cancer cells could be turned off.

Children with Dravet syndrome, a severe form of epilepsy that begins in infancy, experience seizures, usually for their entire life.

The spinal column is the central supporting structure of the skeleton in all vertebrates. Not only does it provide a place for muscles to attach, it also protects the spinal cord and nerve roots. Defects in its development are known to cause rare hereditary diseases.

The pancreas is a key metabolic regulator. When pancreatic beta cells cease producing enough insulin, blood sugar levels rise dangerously — a phenomenon known as hyperglycemia — thus triggering diabetes.

In a world-first, scientists from BGI-Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a group of partners published a study in Nature, announcing the discovery of a transgene-free, rapid, and controllable method to convert pluripotent stem-cells into bona fide 8-cell totipotent embryo-like cells, paving the way for advances in organ regeneration and synthetic biology.

Scientists have mapped out the key molecular changes that orchestrate how embryonic mouse cells differentiate into the diverse cell types that will ultimately form all the different tissues and organs of the adult animal.

Smoking by mothers during the period immediately before and after conception is linked to a delay in embryonic development, smaller foetuses at the time of the 20-week ultrasound scan, and lower birth weight.