Stem cell differentiation is controlled by manipulating RNA condensates.

Reactive astrocytes emerge as a primary consequence of TSC2 loss in tuberous sclerosis complex, implicating glial dysfunction as a primary driver of pathogenesis and highlighting the astrocytes as pot...

Single-cell transcriptomics, spatial transcriptomics and chromatin accessibility maps of the human craniofacial region in developing embryos provide insights into the mechanisms underlying facial vari...

Transposable elements mobilize within and occasionally between genomes, including from host to virus. We identified two insertions of the human BC200 noncoding RNA gene in the poxvirus molluscum conta...

TRAM is a regulator of myddosome assembly through dissociating MyD88 from the TLR–TIRAP complex to enable myddosome maturation and durable downstream signal transduction.

Xenocortication with human neurons enables circuit- and behaviour-level analysis of neurodevelopment in mice.

How post-transcriptional mechanisms shape the mammalian body plan remains unclear. Here, the authors establish a single-cell CRISPR screening platform in gastruloids to identify Cnot8-dependent mRNA d...

The lab investigates the molecular mechanisms that control biological timing in mouse and human stem cells (Azzi & Rayon, Curr Opinions 2024; Nakanoh et al., Dev Cell 2026). The central aim of this ex...

Tsai et al. describe a transient morphogen exposure strategy that establishes anterior and posterior organizers in neocortical organoids, driving long-term tissue polarization and areal molecular identities. This approach improves the modeling of neurodevelopmental disorders with area-specific neocortical phenotypes.

Single-nucleus RNA sequencing and spatial validation across human and mouse striatum define principles of neuronal specialization across cell types, subregions, and species. These findings lay the fou...

In aging hosts, platelet serotonin fuels lung-damaging clots, leading to enhanced respiratory distress in the context of COVID-19.

Embryonic stem cells for chicken and seven other avian species are derived.

6-7 October 2027, Leuven, Belgium

Using a combination of microglia-specific conditional mouse knockout and knockin approaches and xenotransplantation of human iPSC-derived microglia, Diaz-Salazar et al. demonstrate that the human-spec...

Mammals share a laminar cerebral cortex, with excitatory neuron subtypes organized in distinct layers. Although this framework is conserved, subtype balance varies markedly between species due to larg...

RGP lineage tracing in stem-cell-derived organoids shows highly plastic proliferation and reduced clonal neuronal diversity, indicating that missing non-cell-autonomous niche cues are essential for fa...

Why do mammalian species develop at different speeds? Nakanoh, Stamataki, et al. show that mouse neural progenitors have faster protein synthesis and proteasome-mediated degradation than human. Manipu...

Human embryonic development proceeds more slowly than in mice. The segmentation clock offers a tractable model for studying species-specific developme…

The pace of embryonic development differs between mammalian species, yet the molecular basis for this remains unknown. By comparing protein dynamics i…

The differentiation variability of human pluripotent stem cell lines is diagnosed and corrected.

Using a combination of microglia-specific conditional mouse knockout and knockin approaches and xenotransplantation of human iPSC-derived microglia, Diaz-Salazar et al. demonstrate that the human-spec...

Housekeeping genes maintain robust expression across cell types despite dynamic transcription factor fluctuations, yet their haploinsufficiency is associated with many tissue-specific developmental di...

Von Economo neurons are linked to higher cognition but remain poorly understood. A study now combines Patch-seq and transcriptomics in macaques to define their molecular identity, diversity and signal...

Early clinical trials of PSC-derived dopamine cell therapies for Parkinson’s disease show encouraging safety and clinical benefits. However, these trials revealed divergent outcomes. We propose a three-level framework to identify sources of variability across studies, patients, and graft sites within individuals, integrating cell product, host, immune, and transplantation-related factors.

DNMT1 binds unmethylated CpG islands at active genes and, upon catalytic inhibition, redistributes to partially methylated, inaccessible regions, triggering viral mimicry via endogenous retroelements ...

All organisms defend against viral infections through active immunity mechanisms that clear the virus or population-level mechanisms that cause regulated cell death. Recent research increasingly shows...

Neural crest cells (NCCs) are progenitor cells vital in establishing the head, heart, gut and peripheral nervous system of vertebrate embryos. Disruptions to NCC development underlie neurocristopathie...

Internship - Pönisch Lab

Neural crest cells differentiate into skeletogenic mesenchyme and neuro-glial lineages, thereby contributing to craniofacial formation. Here, single-cell analysis of cranial neural crest shows that sp...

Our prizes are awarded to researchers who have contributed to scientific breakthroughs or in other ways distinguished themselves within natural or medical science.