Une étude menée par Denis Duboule et publiée le 21 novembre 2014 dans Science démontre que la formation de ces structures embryonnaires dépend de l’action concertée du même groupe de gènes et qu’elles sont issues de la mise en œuvre de mécanismes similaires très anciens.
Actualité / Bio.news
Michael Hothorn becomes EMBO young investigator
Michael Hothorn, who became associate professor at the Department of Botany and Plant Biology in 2014 and heads the Structural Plant Biology Laboratory, has been nominated for the EMBO Young Investigator Programme, for 3 years, as of January 2015.
How the transcription factor HY5 helps protect plants from UV-B rays
The group of Roman Ulm further unveils the elaborate molecular dialogue occurring in Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings to minimize damage caused by UV-B. The study was published on October 28, 2014 in The Plant Cell.
New models for Parkinson’s disease research
The team of Emi Nagoshi shows that the fly and worm transcription factor p48 mammalian homologs share a role in protecting dopaminergic neurons from oxidative stress and degeneration. Their invertebrate genetic models of Parkinson’s disease are detailed in a study published on October 23, 2014 in PLoS Genetics.
Tenrecs help understand the evolutionary origin of the placenta
Athanasia Tzika and Michel Milinkovitch participated to a study demonstrating that the emergence of mammals from egg-laying reptiles has been facilitated by the capture and recycling of a viral gene for the development of an evolutionary innovation: the placenta. The study was published on October 14, 2014 in PNAS.
Michel Milinkovitch nominated as a new SIB group leader
In SIB, the group of Michel Milinkovitch forms the ‘Artificial & Natural Evolutionary Development of Complexity group’ for their activities in the physics of epithelia (including patterns of skin appendages and skin colour), comparative genomics/transcriptomics, and the development of stochastic heuristics for phylogeny inference.
Subsides INNOGAP – appel à projets
Chaque année, Unitec, le bureau de transfert de technologies et de compétences de l’UNIGE et des HUG, accorde jusqu’à 5 bourses INNOGAP d’un montant maximum de 30’000 CHF chacune à des chercheurs de l’UNIGE et des HUG afin de soutenir financièrement des projets en phase de « preuve de concept » ou de prototypage.
Prochain délai de soumission de demandes : lundi 13 octobre 2014
Ribosomal protein gene promoter architecture
David Shore’s group published in Genes & Development on August 1st, 2014 a detailed study of the promoter architecture of a large group of co-regulated genes, the ribosomal protein genes, which drive cell growth in yeast. In particular, this study reveals an unusual class of dynamic nucleosomes that may help to promote the high transcription level of these genes.
Cell Interactions
Sandra Citi’s group reveals the role of MgcRacGAP in the development of the tight junction barrier during epithelial junction assembly. The article was published in Molecular Biology of the Cell on July 15, 2014.
Science in the Classroom: Cracking the Armor
The article published in Science by Michel Milinkovitch’s team in 2013 is covered by Science in the Classroom, an education portal with a collection of annotated research papers and accompanying teaching materials for teachers and their students in high schools and universities.