Non-human primate chimeras make a move

Clinical trials make a move toward mice

Foretelling the future is often the stuff of science fiction but for a team of scientists at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR), it’s their end goal. Led by Juliet Williams, Director of Oncology Pharmacology, and Bill Sellers, Global Head of Oncology, the team has developed a unique system to help predict how cancer drugs might fare well before they enter clinical testing: A...

Gravity biases in a non-human primate?

Pre-school children expect falling objects to travel in a straight line even when there are clear physical mechanisms that deviate the object’s path (Hood, 1995). The current study set out to determine whether this expectancy is limited to humans. Cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus oedipus ), a New World monkey species, were tested on Hood’s (1995) experimental task where objects are dropped...

P-50: Elongating and Elongated Spermatids Manufactured In Vitro from Non-Human Primate Pluripotent Stem Cells

Background: We have recently shown that human embryonic (hESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) can differentiate into advanced spermatogenic cells including round spermatids by in vitro culture (Easley et al., Direct differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells into haploid spermatogenic cells. Cell Reports 2, 440-446 2012) and also, in collaboration, that rhesus spermatogonial ...

The Non-human Primate as a Model of Human Parkinsonism

Carl-Philipp Heisenberg: Early embryos make a big move

E arly on, the embryo is basically a ball of undifferentiated cells. But at gastrulation, three new cell types (ectoderm, mesoderm, and endo-derm) emerge and begin to organize into primitive structures, establishing the basic patterns upon which embryonic development will elaborate. Carl-Philipp Heisenberg is fascinated by how these embryonic progenitors organize into separate tissue layers (1)...