University of Chicago's MGCB Associate Professor Sally Horne-Badovinac PhD and DRSB PhD student Claire Stedden published a study in Current Biology on February 28th. The study lays out their discoveries dealing with how cells communicate in order to synchronize their movement. These findings are particulary interesting as there is not a lot of information on this topic.
Nancy Averett gives us insight into Horne-Badovinac's process and research in her article at the Forefront:
"Sally Horne-Badovinac, PhD, was studying zebrafish to gain insight into how human intestines develop when she had a scientific epiphany. While staring through a high-powered microscope at a section of the fish's gut tube--their version of intestines--she happened to glance at some neighboring tissue. She noticed that it had a really interesting shape -- an asymmetric pattern of folds -- that indicated how it was pushing the gut tube over to the left. Gut tubes in zebrafish and humans acquire bends as they develop. In humans this helps the organ to fit inside the abdomen, and Horne-Badovinac had just discovered a key aspect of that process in zebrafish. She rushed over to a white board and began sketching it out for the other trainees in the lab."