Developmental Cell Archive

September 19, 2019

Microvilli in motion

Live cell imaging studies have revealed that microvilli — finger-like protrusions on the surface of epithelial cells — move and collide as they form the brush border.

By Anivarya Kumar

January 17, 2019

Building a pancreas

Vanderbilt investigators are defining the genetic programs that control the development of pancreatic beta cells — studies that could inform new cellular or regenerative therapies for diabetes.

By Leigh MacMillan

August 23, 2018

Enzyme helps build motor that drives neuron death

Vanderbilt scientists have discovered a signaling mechanism that tells neurons to die, findings that could lead to new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases.

By VUMC News and Communications

February 8, 2016

Building intestinal brush borders

Studies of the molecular complex that helps build specialized cellular surfaces could shed light on the mechanisms underlying a genetic deaf-blindness syndrome accompanied by intestinal disease.

By Leigh MacMillan

January 28, 2016

Findings offer new insight on how cell division proteins work

A family of proteins with critical roles in cell division, synaptic transmission and cell migration don’t all function the way scientists thought they did, according to two new studies led by Vanderbilt researchers.

By Leigh MacMillan

December 3, 2015

Microtubules act as cellular ‘rheostat’ to control insulin secretion

Microtubules — cellular “highways” that deliver cargo to the cell membrane for secretion — have a surprising role in pancreatic beta cells. Instead of facilitating glucose-stimulated insulin secretion, they limit it, a team of Vanderbilt investigators reported recently in Developmental Cell.

By Leigh MacMillan

October 30, 2014 VU study reveals factor’s new role in cell division, migration
Vanderbilt University investigators have discovered a new molecular mechanism that regulates microtubule dynamics. The unexpected finding, reported in Developmental Cell, has implications for cancer drug discovery.
By Leigh MacMillan
December 12, 2013 VU study points to central regulator of neuron development
Developmental biologist Chin Chiang, Ph.D., and his colleagues have discovered that Purkinje neurons in the cerebellum act as central regulators of neuronal development.
By Leigh MacMillan