Targeting the cell membrane in established and emerging model organisms Summary: Screening a toolkit of diverse membrane-localising tags identifies candidates that efficiently localise proteins to the plasma membrane in a wide range of animals and choanoflagellates.

Finding molecular tags that localise fluorescent proteins to the cell membrane was the goal of our latest paper, now published in Development @dev-journal.bsky.social. The tags act as address labels, sending proteins to the cell membrane, where they highlight the shape and arrangement of cells. 2/9

Crick Crash Course: Embryo development

I am giving a "Crash Course in Embryo Development" for the general public (no science background needed! pitched around GCSE-level) in London on 21st May www.crick.ac.uk/whats-on/cri... We'll dip into development, with a splash of embryo models, and a pinch of ethics. And it's free! Book online 👍

The ABC of my fave things in this paper:

* ABOLISHING both silencing AND leakiness of SynNotch (check out the DTA-based demo of this 😍) while preserving high efficiency, in pluripotent & differentiating cells

* BOOSTING signal during #PUFFFIN neighbour-labelling

* CITING Robbie Burns (1786) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

This work was carried out by the incredible @edinuni-irr.bsky.social PhD student Aisling Fairweather, and the brilliant @edinburghbiology.bsky.social undergraduate Yana Slavova, who joined the lab on a @biologists.bsky.social Gurdon Summer Studentship.

Delighted to introduce KELPE: mESCs with two insulated genomic landing pads, which we use to generate new synNotch and PUFFFIN neighbour-labelling lines.
They were named after kelpies, creatures from Scottish folklore, and they look pretty on a kelpie micropattern!
#DevBio #SynBio

HxC Survey on Interdisciplinary Work

Want to tell us about your challenges in interdisciplinary research within bioinformatics & biomedicine?

Please take our HxC survey!

Our aim is to create lasting change and address barriers to interdisciplinary collaboration and creativity
app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/edinburgh/...

Thank you

@ely-pavezlorie.bsky.social thank you! We're taking a bottom-up approach. We'll be using human epidermal equivalents to start with, and we'll add in more complexity (e.g. full thickness equivalents) as we progress.

Extremely thankful to @acmedsci.bsky.social for the opportunity, and very excited to get started on this project at @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social !
#Springboard25

🚨 Just 2 weeks left to apply for our Policy Internship with the Medical Research Council.

Gain hands-on experience in science policy, insight into research impact and connect with top UK health leaders 🌟

Open to 3rd and 4th year MRC funded PhD students.

👉 Learn more and apply: lnkd.in/eNrYvPMh

The Company of Biologists 100 logo to the left and QR code to the right. Portrait of Kate Storey to the left, text to the right 100 extraordinary biologists Kate Storey Kate Storey served as a Director from 2007 to 2022. She initiated the Company's Workshops programme and co-organised the first Workshop. Kate also co-initiated the Company's support for Sustainable Conferencing. Kate's lab researches nervous system development at the University of Dundee, UK. #100biologists #biologists100

We are highlighting Kate Storey, who served as a Director at @biologists.bsky.social from 2007 to 2022 and co-founded the Company’s Workshop programme, as an extraordinary biologist. #100biologists

Beyond the standard: Unconventional vertebrate models in biomedicine The use of a handful of model organisms has proven essential for scientific discovery and to unlock new therapeutics to combat human disease. As society looks to the future, the gateway to new scient…

Interested in biological research beyond the standard?
Join us in Edinburgh for the EMBO Workshop exploring how unconventional vertebrate models are becoming engines for biomedical research! 🦇 🐿️ 🦌 🐒 🦍 🐹🧍‍♀️

🚨 Abstract submission deadline: 11 April 2025 🚨

meetings.embo.org/event/25-ver...

Figure 2 Overview of cell state transitions in hPSCs in 2D and 3D embryo models. Embryo illustrations on the left represent the in vivo developmental stages corresponding to the three pluripotency states: naive (yellow), formative/intermediate (light green) and primed (dark green). On the right, the lineages they have the potential to give rise to in stem cell-based embryo models are illustrated. The generation of primordial germ cells (PGCs) from amnion remains to be determined. EXM, extra-embryonic mesoderm; PGCs, primordial germ cells.

In this Review, @bernasozen.bsky.social, Patrick Tam & Martin Pera summarize how recent studies of embryo models have advanced our understanding of cell state transitions of the pluripotent human epiblast and highlights some key remaining questions:
doi.org/10.1242/dev....

STAT3 signaling enhances tissue expansion during postimplantation mouse development Azami et al. reveal that STAT3 deletion depletes epiblast cells at implantation, causing a persistent developmental delay of around a day. STAT3 null embryonic stem cells contribute to all embryonic t...

Happy to share our study on Stat3, now published in Cell Reports!
Huge thanks to all collaborators!
www.cell.com/cell-reports...

Best FACS plot I've ever seen!

Developmental Biology is building a social media team! Apply before April 30th!

Social Media Volunteers Needed!

Developmental Biology is building a social media team (Bluesky X LinkedIn Insta )😎

If you're a passionate developmental biologist & interested in working with other social media enthusiasts for DB, apply today!😆
Deadline Apr 30
docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Poster listing the faculty for the 2025 stem cell summer school on Spetses. Check our website (URL in bio) for full details.

The 2025 European Summer School in Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine will take place 12-19 Sept 2025, on the beautiful Greek island of Spetses.

Keep an eye on our website www.stemcellsummerschool.org for updates, or give us a follow 😀

Deadline for applications: 30th May 2025

March in preprints - the Node Welcome to our monthly trawl for developmental and stem cell biology (and related) preprints. The preprints this month are hosted on bioRxiv and arXiv –

March in preprints

In this latest monthly preprint list, we look back at the #DevBio and #StemCells #preprints that came out in March.
(Let us know if we've missed anything!)

thenode.biologists.com/march-in-pre...

I'm over the moon for receiving an @acmedsci.bsky.social #Springboard25 award!
We will use these funds to apply our synthetic neighbour-labelling tools to human skin organoids, to study communication between diseased cells and healthy neighbours.
#EngBio #SynBio #DevBio #SkinResearch #CancerResearch

Practical considerations for data exploration in quantitative cell biology Summary: We present practical guidelines for data exploration in quantitative cell biology that are designed to help yield reliable conclusions and promote a collaborative, transparent approach to dat...

Here we share our opinions on "Practical considerations for data exploration in quantitative cell biology"
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...

Joanna, Hanna and I worked quite a bit on this piece and I hope you find it useful
Many thanks to @jcellsci.bsky.social for publishing it

A microscopy image of colourful cells

Hello!

My lab is interested in understanding how healthy mammalian cells sense and react to mutant neighbours.

We do this by developing and using engineering biology tools to identify and manipulate neighbours of mutant cells.

We also love taking colourful microscopy pictures!