Neural plate pre-patterning enables specification of intermediate neural progenitors in the spinal cord.

Dorsal-ventral patterning of neural progenitors in the posterior neural tube, which gives rise to the spinal cord, has served as a model system to understand how extracellular signals organize developing tissues. While previous work has shown that signaling gradients diversify progenitor fates at the dorsal and ventral ends of the tissue, the basis of fate specification in intermediate regions has remained unclear. Here we use zebrafish to investigate the neural plate, which precedes neural tube formation, and show that its pre-patterning by a distinct signaling environment enables intermediate fate specification.

Tetrahedral serial multiview microscopy and image fusion for improved resolution and extent in stained zebrafish embryos.

Background: Spatial mapping on the single-cell level over the whole organism can uncover roles of molecular players involved in vertebrate development. Custom microscopes have been developed that use multiple objectives to view a sample from multiple views at the same time. Such multiview imaging approaches can improve resolution and uniformity of image quality as well as allow whole embryos to be imaged (Swoger et al.

Fanless, porous graphene-copper composite heat sink for micro devices.

Thermal management in devices directly affects their performance, but it is difficult to apply conventional cooling methods such as the use of cooling liquids or fans to micro devices owing to the small size of micro devices. In this study, we attempted to solve this problem by employing a heat sink fabricated using copper with porous structures consisting of single-layer graphene on the surface and graphene oxide inside the pores. The porous copper/single-layer graphene/graphene oxide composite (p-Cu/G/rGO) had a porosity of approximately 35%, and the measured pore size was approximately 10 to 100 µm.

Cyclin-dependent Kinase 1 and Aurora Kinase choreograph mitotic storage and redistribution of a growth factor receptor.

Endosomal trafficking of receptors and associated proteins plays a critical role in signal processing. Until recently, it was thought that trafficking was shut down during cell division. Thus, remarkably, the regulation of trafficking during division remains poorly characterized.

Dissecting the sharp response of a canonical developmental enhancer reveals multiple sources of cooperativity.

Developmental enhancers integrate graded concentrations of transcription factors (TFs) to create sharp gene expression boundaries. Here we examine the hunchback P2 (HbP2) enhancer which drives a sharp expression pattern in the Drosophila blastoderm embryo in response to the transcriptional activator Bicoid (Bcd). We systematically interrogate cis and trans factors that influence the shape and position of expression driven by HbP2, and find that the prevailing model, based on pairwise cooperative binding of Bcd to HbP2 is not adequate.

Surgical Size Reduction of Zebrafish for the Study of Embryonic Pattern Scaling.

In the developmental process, embryos exhibit a remarkable ability to match their body pattern to their body size; their body proportion is maintained even in embryos that are larger or smaller, within certain limits. Although this phenomenon of scaling has attracted attention for over a century, understanding the underlying mechanisms has been limited, owing in part to a lack of quantitative description of developmental dynamics in embryos of varied sizes. To overcome this limitation, we developed a new technique to surgically reduce the size of zebrafish embryos, which have great advantages for in vivo live imaging.

An All-Organic Composite System for Resistive Change Memory via the Self-Assembly of Plastic-Crystalline Molecules.

An all-organic composite system was introduced as an active component for organic resistive memory applications. The active layer was prepared by mixing a highly polar plastic-crystalline organic molecule (succinonitrile, SN) into an insulating polymer (poly(methyl methacrylate), PMMA). As increasing concentrations of SN from 0 to 3.

Fibronectin contributes to notochord intercalation in the invertebrate chordate, Ciona intestinalis.

Background: Genomic analysis has upended chordate phylogeny, placing the tunicates as the sister group to the vertebrates. This taxonomic rearrangement raises questions about the emergence of a tunicate/vertebrate ancestor.

Results: Characterization of developmental genes uniquely shared by tunicates and vertebrates is one promising approach for deciphering developmental shifts underlying acquisition of novel, ancestral traits.

Graphene quantum dots as a highly efficient solution-processed charge trapping medium for organic nano-floating gate memory.

A highly efficient solution-processible charge trapping medium is a prerequisite to developing high-performance organic nano-floating gate memory (NFGM) devices. Although several candidates for the charge trapping layer have been proposed for organic memory, a method for significantly increasing the density of stored charges in nanoscale layers remains a considerable challenge. Here, solution-processible graphene quantum dots (GQDs) were prepared by a modified thermal plasma jet method; the GQDs were mostly composed of carbon without any serious oxidation, which was confirmed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.

Class I HDAC imaging using [ (3)H]CI-994 autoradiography.

[ (3)H]CI-994, a radioactive isotopologue of the benzamide CI-994, a class I histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi), was evaluated as an autoradiography probe for ex vivo labeling and localizing of class I HDAC (isoforms 1-3) in the rodent brain. After protocol optimization, up to 80% of total binding was attributed to specific binding. Notably, like other benzamide HDACi, [ (3)H]CI-994 exhibits slow binding kinetics when measured in vitro with isolated enzymes and ex vivo when used for autoradiographic mapping of HDAC1-3 density.