An interview with Christopher Wright.

Christopher Wright is Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology and the director of the Program in Developmental Biology at Vanderbilt University. His lab works on pancreas organogenesis and how it relates to disease, using techniques spanning from single-cell technology through to high-resolution imaging. Chris was awarded the 2022 Society for Developmental Biology (SDB) Victor Hamburger Outstanding Educator Prize and we talked about what winning this award means to him, as well as discussing his career and his hopes for the future of developmental biology.

An interview with Eugenia del Pino.

Eugenia del Pino was a Professor at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador (PUCE) in Quito, Ecuador, where her research focussed on understanding the unique development of marsupial frogs. During her career, Eugenia was elected to the US National Academy of Science in 2006 and was awarded the L'Oréal-UNESCO prize for women in science (2000), The Latin American Society for Developmental Biology prize (2019) and the Eugenio Espejo National Prize from the Government of Ecuador in 2012. This year, Eugenia was awarded the Society for Developmental Biology (SDB) Lifetime Achievement award.

Transitions in development interview - Daniel Ríos Barrera.

Daniel Ríos Barrera is a group leader at Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. His research focusses on the coordination of cells to form functional tissues during development. We talked with Daniel over Teams to find out about his career path so far, his research and his work in promoting science in Mexico.

An interview with Emma Rawlins.

Emma Rawlins is a senior Group Leader at the Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge, where her research focuses on lung development and regeneration. This year, Emma was the recipient of the BSDB Cheryll Tickle Medal, which is awarded to a mid-career female scientist for outstanding achievements in developmental biology. We talked to Emma about her research career, mentorship and how she felt about receiving the Cheryll Tickle Medal.

Transitions in development - an interview with Aissam Ikmi.

Aissam Ikmi is a group leader at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany. Aissam uses the sea anemone Nematostella vectensi to interrogate how genetic and environmental factors combine to influence development. Aissam shared with us his thoughts on the ups and downs of scientific careers, and the importance of surrounding yourself with the 'right' people.

Transitions in development - an interview with Chin-Min (Kimmy) Ho.

Kimmy Ho is an Assistant Research Fellow at the Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology, Academia Sinica, Taiwan. Her research focuses on leaf epidermal development. We caught up with Kimmy over Zoom to find out about her research, her transition to becoming a group leader and her approach to mentoring students.

Transitions in Development - an interview with Alberto Roselló-Díez.

Alberto Roselló-Díez is a Group Leader at the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute, Monash University. His lab is developing new tools to ask fundamental questions about limb development. We met with Alberto over Teams to discuss his career, his transition to becoming a group leader and his research plans.

Immunodeficiency and severe susceptibility to bacterial infection associated with a loss-of-function homozygous mutation of MKL1.

Megakaryoblastic leukemia 1 (MKL1), also known as MAL or myocardin-related transcription factor A (MRTF-A), is a coactivator of serum response factor, which regulates transcription of actin and actin cytoskeleton-related genes. MKL1 is known to be important for megakaryocyte differentiation and function in mice, but its role in immune cells is unexplored. Here we report a patient with a homozygous nonsense mutation in the MKL1 gene resulting in immunodeficiency characterized predominantly by susceptibility to severe bacterial infection.

Susceptibility to tuberculosis is associated with variants in the ASAP1 gene encoding a regulator of dendritic cell migration.

Human genetic factors predispose to tuberculosis (TB). We studied 7.6 million genetic variants in 5,530 people with pulmonary TB and in 5,607 healthy controls.

Herpes simplex virus 1 counteracts tetherin restriction via its virion host shutoff activity.

The interferon-inducible membrane protein tetherin (Bst-2, or CD317) is an antiviral factor that inhibits enveloped virus release by cross-linking newly formed virus particles to the producing cell. The majority of viruses that are sensitive to tetherin restriction appear to be those that acquire their envelopes at the plasma membrane, although many viruses, including herpesviruses, envelope at intracellular membranes, and the effect of tetherin on such viruses has been less well studied. We investigated the tetherin sensitivity and possible countermeasures of herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1).

A systematic analysis of host factors reveals a Med23-interferon-λ regulatory axis against herpes simplex virus type 1 replication.

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is a neurotropic virus causing vesicular oral or genital skin lesions, meningitis and other diseases particularly harmful in immunocompromised individuals. To comprehensively investigate the complex interaction between HSV-1 and its host we combined two genome-scale screens for host factors (HFs) involved in virus replication. A yeast two-hybrid screen for protein interactions and a RNA interference (RNAi) screen with a druggable genome small interfering RNA (siRNA) library confirmed existing and identified novel HFs which functionally influence HSV-1 infection.

Glycoprotein M is important for the efficient incorporation of glycoprotein H-L into herpes simplex virus type 1 particles.

Herpes simplex virus type 1 glycoprotein M (gM) is a type III membrane protein conserved throughout the family Herpesviridae. However, despite this conservation, gM is classed as a non-essential protein in most alphaherpesviruses. Previous data have suggested that gM is involved in secondary envelopment, although how gM functions in this process is unknown.

Analysis of Rab GTPase-activating proteins indicates that Rab1a/b and Rab43 are important for herpes simplex virus 1 secondary envelopment.

Assembly of herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) occurs in the cytoplasm, where the capsid and tegument bud into host cell membranes. It is at this point that the viral glycoproteins are incorporated into the virion, as they are located at the assembly site. We investigated the role of the Rab GTPases in coordinating the assembly process by overexpressing 37 human Rab GTPase-activating proteins (GAPs) and assessing infectious titers.

Formation and function of Weibel-Palade bodies.

Weibel-Palade bodies (WPBs) are secretory organelles used for post-synthesis storage in endothelial cells that can, very rapidly, be triggered to release their contents. They carry a variety of bioactive molecules that are needed to mount a rapid response to the complex environment of cells that line blood vessels. They store factors that are essential to haemostasis and inflammation, as well as factors that modulate vascular tonicity and angiogenesis.

High-pressure freezing provides insights into Weibel-Palade body biogenesis.

The Weibel-Palade bodies (WPBs) of endothelial cells play an important role in haemostasis and the initiation of inflammation, yet their biogenesis is poorly understood. Tubulation of their major content protein, von Willebrand factor (VWF), is crucial to WPB function, and so we investigated further the relationship between VWF tubule formation and WPB formation in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). By using high-pressure freezing and freeze substitution before electron microscopy, we visualised VWF tubules in the trans-Golgi network (TGN), as well as VWF subunits in vesicular structures.