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Paying it forward

2 November 2017

As a new assistant professor at James Cook University (JCU), marine conservation physiologist Jodie Rummer applied to the Journal of Experimental Biology for a Travelling Fellowship to perform fieldwork at Lizard Island Research Station in the Northern Great Barrier Reef of Australia.

Visualising the bacterial cytoskeleton

5 July 2017

The bacterial cytoskeleton controls many important cellular processes including bacterial cell morphogenesis, division and motility. Elements of the bacterial cytoskeleton mirror the major components of the cytoskeleton in eukaryotic cells; for example, the actin homologue MreB, the tubulin homologue FtsZ and the intermediate filament homologue CreS.

Developing skills in invertebrate embryology

5 July 2017

In June 2016, students and post-docs from China, Colombia, Mexico, Germany, USA, India and Russia attended the Second International Summer Course on the embryology of marine invertebrates at the White Sea Biological Station attached to Moscow State University (WSBS MSU).

Tracking neural crest development

8 May 2017

The neural crest is a vertebrate-specific embryonic cell population that originates near the developing neural tube and migrates to form critical adult structures, including the skull and peripheral nervous system. To shed light on the molecular mechanisms of vertebrate evolution, Dorit Hockman from the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of Oxford studies the development and evolution of the neural crest by investigating its development in the most basal vertebrate model organism, the lamprey.

Coming in from the cold

28 March 2017

In February 2016, multidisciplinary postdoc Blanca Figuerola was part of a research campaign in Antarctica, on board the oceanographic vessel BIO Hespérides. The objectives of the campaign were to identify natural products (secondary metabolites) involved in ecological relationships and to assess potential pharmacological effects. Blanca’s field of interest is the chemical ecology of Antarctic bryozoans, which use repellent compounds to defend against predators. 

Developing a framework of support

24 July 2017

One of the research areas of the Martinez-Arias lab in the Department of Genetics at the University of Cambridge, UK, is the development of gastruloids – small, self-organising aggregates of mouse embryonic stem cells. PhD student Peter Baillie-Johnson was working on the generation of elongating gastruloids to mimic the first stages of axial elongation in the mouse embryo, but was limited by aggregates adhering to the surface of culture plates.

Diving right into research

5 July 2017

Combining biology and mathematics, Julia Samson, a PhD student at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, focuses her research on the pulsing behaviour of soft corals (Xenia and Heteroxenia) and how this behaviour affects and is affected by local water flows. Her project includes computational fluid dynamics simulations and flow visualisation experiments in the lab, with field data essential to test and validate these fluid–structure interaction models.

Experimental neuroscience takes to the hills

5 July 2017

The Transylvanian Experimental Neuroscience Summer School (TENSS) grew from an idea shared between Florin Albeanu and Raul Mureşan during a conference in Romania in 2010. Two years later, the first TENSS took place on the shores of Pike Lake in the picturesque province of Transylvania, Romania.

Making the connection

12 April 2017

To investigate a potential relationship between herpes simplex virus infection and Alzheimer’s disease-related neuropathology, Eloise Mikkonen from the University of Tampere, Finland, was part of a collaborative project with researchers from Umeå University, Sweden.

Studying the stars

28 March 2017

Claudia Cuomo from the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn in Naples, Italy used a Travelling Fellowship from Development to visit Dr Veronica Hinman’s lab at the Carnegie Mellon University of Pittsburgh to learn about the breeding, handling and manipulation of the sea star Patiria miniata at an artificial sea water facility close to the lab. Ensuring she is able to regularly harvest fresh, good quality gametes is crucial to Claudia’s research into the homeodomain transcription factor protein, Xlox, in echinoderms.

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