In the not-too-distant future, cells taken from patients with diabetes will be “re-programmed” in the laboratory to create new insulin-producing beta cells that potentially can cure their disease. It sounds like science fiction, but researchers are quickly learning the genetic keys to this developmental path. read more
Summer 2008 - What the Embryo Can Teach Us
The fine art of brain development
It takes more than a hammer and chisel to shape the grandest sculpture of them all, the human brain. At least half the genome (10,000 genes or more) may be required. Equally surprising: development never stops. The living brain never achieves a “final” form. read more
The lub-dub of a healthy heart
Valves in action give the heart its characteristic lub-dub sound. When they fail, the results can be fatal. What if scientists could build replacement heart valves from patients’ own tissues? The hypothesis may be “outrageous,” but according to Vanderbilt researchers, it just might work. read more
Trudi Schüpbach and Eric Wieschaus: A shared passion for nature’s truth
Princeton developmental biologists Eric Wieschaus and Trudi Schüpbach, who are husband and wife, have shared more than their work in the laboratory and a home life raising three daughters – they are of one mind when it comes to preserving the “purity” of scientific truth. read article
Internationally known reproductive biologist S.K. Dey advocates “a million scientists march” on Washington to sound the alarm about regulatory impediments and dwindling research support that are slowing the pace of progress. If the situation doesn’t improve, he warns, scientists may become “an endangered species.” read article
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