The transcription machinery used to regulate gene expression and self-renewal in human embryonic stem cells is different from that found in other cells.

A combination of cellular, biochemical, genetic and genomic techniques have revealed a new molecular player in the production of fat cells in mice, which could improve our understanding of obesity.

The Notch signaling pathway has a central role in the formation of the circuit that controls egg-laying in the nematode worm C. elegans.

Sensory neurons in the olfactory system develop from two different regions of the ectoderm, the olfactory placode and the cranial neural crest, whereas sensory neurons within the eye and ear develop from just one region.

The intestine contains distinct subregions specialized for digestion along its anterior-posterior axis, and the stem cells that constantly renew these subregions are not interchangeable.

Cells from vertebrate and invertebrate model systems can be reprogrammed into stem-like cells using mouse genes.

A protein called Megf8 regulates the activity of key signaling molecules involved in the development of the peripheral nervous system.

The differentiation decisions made by pluripotent cells depend on their exposure to appropriate extrinsic signals and also on morphogenetic events that control receptivity to those differentiation cues.

A signalling cascade involving PI3K/Akt1 remodels the extra-cellular matrix to achieve atypical cellular responses and control cell fate specification within the embryonic endoderm.