Axes of Development

Researchers have pioneered a technique to investigate how embryos develop, but which doesn't use embryo tissue. This could side-step the ethical issues involved in embryo research. Aimed not to produce a living animal, but rather to find out more about the first steps in development. The technique uses stem cells, which can become many different types of cell. When the team stimulated mouse stem cells in a dish, the cells organised themselves into artificial embryo-like structures, called gastruloids (pictured). Next, the gastruloid developed along three axes that are known to be an important blue-print for the location of limbs. These axes run front to back, top to bottom and left to right. Here, cells that are spreading out to form the length of the body are labelled green, while cells which will ultimately become the tail bud are in pink. Further developing cells are labelled blue.

Written by Deborah Oakley

Deborah Oakley

Writer

Deborah is researching healthy cognitive ageing at the University of Cambridge. She previously worked as a science communicator in London, working closely with the BPoD team.

• Image by Mehmet Girgin, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL)
• Research from the Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK; University of Geneva and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL)
• Image originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 3.0)
• Research published in Nature, October 2018