This contribution is part of the special series of Inaugural Articles by members of the National Academy of Sciences elected in 2013. Cell differentiation in the embryo is regulated by diffusible ...

Summary: A new study has revealed how two morphogens, WNT and Sonic Hedgehog, act as molecular “traffic cops,” directing early human brain development. Using a custom device and stem cell-derived ...

Just a few weeks after conception, stem cells are already orchestrating the future structure of the human brain. A new Yale-led study shows that, early in development, molecular “traffic cops” known ...

Researchers have created a way to guide and control the development of stem cells into specific tissues and organs, opening the door to developing a means of one day tackling complex diseases like ...

Precursor cells in the embryonic neural tube are organized in a specific striped pattern which depends on the signals they receive (left). Lehr and colleagues recreated this pattern in a cell culture ...

Researchers at Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI), Kanazawa University, demonstrate how morphogens combined with cell adhesion can generate tissue domains with a sharp boundary in an in vitro ...

In a recent study published in Nature Communications, researchers examinea the effects of temporal morphogen gradient during neural induction (NI) on the formation of brain organoids. Study: Temporal ...

Morphogen gradients can instruct cells about their position in a patterned tissue. Non-linear morphogen decay has been suggested to increase gradient precision by reducing the sensitivity to ...

Morphogen-mediated signaling is critical for proper organ development and stem cell function, and well-characterized mechanisms spatiotemporally limit the expression of ligands, receptors, and ...

Spatial boundaries formed during animal development originate from the pre-patterning of tissues by signaling molecules, called morphogens. The accuracy of boundary location is limited by the ...