Animals have colonized the entire world from rather moderate to the harshest environments,
some of these so extreme that only few animals are able to survive. Cave environments …

Cranial sensory placodes derive from discrete patches of the head ectoderm and give rise to
numerous sensory structures. During gastrulation, a specialized “neural border zone” forms …

Natural populations subjected to strong environmental selection pressures offer a window
into the genetic underpinnings of evolutionary change. Cavefish populations, Astyanax …

Defective cholesterol biosynthesis in eye lens cells is often associated with cataracts;
however, how genes involved in cholesterol biosynthesis are regulated in lens cells remains …

Cell fate specification occurs along invariant species-specific trajectories that define the
animal body plan. This process is controlled by gene regulatory networks that regulate the …

Purpose The ocular lens contains only two cell types: epithelial cells and fiber cells. The
epithelial cells lining the anterior hemisphere have the capacity to continuously proliferate …

During vertebrate neurulation, the embryonic ectoderm is patterned into lineage progenitors
for neural plate, neural crest, placodes and epidermis. Here, we use Xenopus laevis …

Purpose: The pathological mechanisms underlying cataract formation remain largely
unknown on account of the lack of appropriate in vitro cellular models. The aim of this study …

The physical contact of optic vesicle with head surface ectoderm is an initial event triggering
eye morphogenesis. This interaction leads to lens specification followed by coordinated …

Introduction Genetic and molecular signatures have been incorporated into cancer
prognosis prediction and treatment decisions with good success over the past decade …