From Cell to Embryo

Almost all humans are born with two arms, two legs, twenty digits, two eyes, two ears, a single nose -- a consistency that is no accident. On February 17, Professor Stephen Small, brought “Molecular Mechanisms of Embryo Formation from a Single Cell” to a group of spellbound listeners at NYU Shanghai. He showed the “powerful genetic mechanisms” at play during conception using the fruit fly Drosophila as a model. His talk focused on how the “boundaries of gene expression divide the embryo into regions” and organize how the mature body plan is shaped and structured.

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