{"id":34442,"date":"2020-12-09T12:00:27","date_gmt":"2020-12-09T11:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/?p=34442"},"modified":"2024-03-22T11:22:08","modified_gmt":"2024-03-22T10:22:08","slug":"ebisuya-erc-grant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/ebisuya-erc-grant\/","title":{"rendered":"EMBL group leader Miki Ebisuya receives ERC Consolidator Grant"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Miki Ebisuya established her research group at EMBL Barcelona in 2018<\/a> to study the biochemical processes governing the development of embryos. In particular, she wants to understand why different species go through developmental processes at different speeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In their most recent study, Ebisuya and her colleagues observed that biochemical reactions in developing mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) run at different speeds. The rhythmic signal of the segmentation clock \u2013 a genetic network that governs the sequential formation of the body pattern in embryos \u2013 beats more slowly in humans than in mice<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biological concept behind this phenomenon is called \u2018developmental allochrony\u2019, and Ebisuya\u2019s ERC grant will allow her to investigate it further, and in greater detail than before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previously, the scientists studied a gene named HES7<\/em>, which is part of the segmentation clock. \u201cWe found that in mouse cells both the HES7<\/em> messenger RNA gets processed and the HES7 protein gets degraded much faster than in human cells. But we don\u2019t know yet why this is the case \u2013 the molecular mechanisms behind developmental allochrony remain unknown,\u201d explains Ebisuya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is where the ERC Consolidator Grant comes in. Endowed with \u20ac2 million for a period of five years, Ebisuya and her group will be able to scrutinise the entire genome for genes that show different biochemical reaction speeds, similar to HES7<\/em>. The goal is for this approach to help the scientists to identify shared characteristics among these genes, and lead them towards the molecular mechanisms. The team has already identified two cellular processes that might be involved and will test these hypotheses in parallel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, Ebisuya and her group will be able to address the important question of how universal their observations are. \u201cSo far, we have looked at mouse ESCs and human iPSCs that were developing into a specific cell type, called presomitic mesoderm. In future, we aim to study gastruloids \u2013 3D aggregates of stem cells that develop an embryo-like organisation. We can obtain gastruloids from ESCs or iPSCs of diverse mammalian species,\u201d explains Ebisuya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using gastruloids, they will be able to investigate which cell types exhibit differences in biochemical reaction speeds. The approach will also shed light on the question of how widespread developmental allochrony is among mammals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe ERC Consolidator Grant allows us to perform a much more detailed analysis of developmental allochrony. Additional group members will be working on the topic, and we will be able to expand our experimental toolkit,\u201d adds Ebisuya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The European Research Council is Europe\u2019s main research funding organisation. It awards grants to researchers at various levels of experience across all scientific disciplines. ERC Consolidator Grants support scientists who have been performing independent research for several years, and whose work has made substantial contributions to their respective field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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