Preprint highlights, selected by the biological community
Universitat de Barcelona
Insights from a survey of mentorship experiences by graduate and postdoctoral researchers
Selected by
Chee Kiang Ewe et al.
Stem cell-derived mouse embryos develop within an extra-embryonic yolk sac to form anterior brain regions and a beating heart
AND
Mouse-embryo model derived exclusively from embryonic stem cells undergo neurulation and heart development
Selected by
Monica Tambalo et al.
A cell fate decision map reveals abundant direct neurogenesis in the human developing neocortex
Selected by
Juan Moriano
An Atlas of Cortical Arealization Identifies Dynamic Molecular Signatures
Selected by
Juan Moriano
9 months
Juan Moriano
How does a single cell generate a complete organism? The concerted changes in shape and function that take place during development, with commonalities and differences among species, and the specification of a rich variety of cell types truly amazed me when I was an undergraduate student. Currently, as a PhD student, it’s exciting to know that we are witnessing remarkable progress in the field of developmental biology with the help of the organoid technology. The works highlighted in this preLights’ post are milestones in the path to model embryonic development with enough fidelity and reproducibility. I was very happy to collaborate with Monica and Martin while writing this post. It wasn’t an easy task to summarize all relevant aspects of the two preprints, but they made the writing easier and smoother. Also, it was enriching to exchange our opinions while writing drafts, where I found we, very often, held similar views.