Publication highlights

Researchers from the Bates, Turajlic and Sahai labs have collaborated to develop a computer model to analyse how the way in which tumours grow affects their genetic makeup. Using this new model, they have identified links between tumour growth and shape, and how quickly a patient’s cancer might progress.

Researchers in the Vincent Lab, , in collaboration with the group of Yohanns Bellaiche at Institut Curie in Paris, have developed a new tool for robust control of gene expression in Drosophila using light. They successfully used the new method to activate key genes in different tissues and at various developmental stages and demonstrated gain and loss-of-function phenotypes at animal, organ, and cellular levels. Their work provides developmental biologists with the ability to control gene expression with high temporal and spatial resolution, a valuable addition to the Drosophila genetic toolkit.

Researchers in the Turner lab, in collaboration with the University of Kent, used gene editing technology to create female-only and male-only mice litters with 100% efficiency. Targeting the Top1 gene, which is essential to DNA replication and repair, their method uses CRISPR-Cas9 to induce sex-linked lethality before embryo implantation, allowing only the desired sex to develop. This proof of principle study demonstrates how the technology could be used to improve animal welfare in scientific research and perhaps also agriculture.

Researchers from the Pachnis lab have uncovered a fundamental role of glial cells in the gut nervous system in maintaining a healthy intestine. These cells have been found to coordinate the immune responses of the gut following pathogen invasion and could be key targets when exploring new treatments for inflammatory bowel conditions.

A zebrafish study by researchers in the Hill lab has provided new insights into the role of the SMAD4 protein in vertebrate embryo development. Very early in development, SMAD4 was thought to be required to transmit signals from two closely related members of the TGF-β protein family, BMP and Nodal, which are responsible for organising different parts of the body plan of an embryo. Surprisingly, when the Smad4 gene was deleted in zebrafish, the parts of the embryo patterned by BMP signalling were severely disrupted, but those for which Nodal was responsible were far less affected. SMAD4 is thus differentially required for signalling by different TGF-β family members, which has implications for diseases such as cancer where it is mutated or deleted.

A study led by Lucia Prieto-Godino has investigated evolutionary changes in ligand preference that occur in a family of olfactory receptors. The work found that different receptors’ odour preferences are linked to particular protein mutations. Some of these mutations appear at the same position over evolutionary distances, highlighting of a “hot-spot” that has a major role in determining ligand preference.

Research from Ian Taylor’s lab has investigated the molecular basis of Ty1 transposition, which is regulated by copy number control. Their work presents the structural, biophysical and genetic analyses of p18m, a key protein that directs copy number control through disruption of Ty1 virus-like particle assembly.

Research from the Behrens lab found that insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas are generated by endocrine progenitor cells located in the pancreatic ducts, and that these progenitor cells counteract diabetes.

The Briscoe lab has used single cell mRNA sequencing to study the developing human spinal cord during gestational weeks 4 to 7. The team compared their results with the ones obtained in mice and found similarities as well as human-specific differences. This data is available as an open resource and will prove useful for future studies into sensory and motor control systems.