May 2, 2013

Finding Nematostella: an ancient sea creature shines new light on how animals build an appendage




Study of tentacle-formation in a sea anemone shows how epithelial cells form elongated structures and puts the spotlight on a new model organism

There’s a new actor on the embryology stage: the starlet sea anemone Nematostella vectensis. Its career is being launched in part by Stowers Institute for Medical Research Associate Investigator Matt Gibson, Ph.D., who is giving it equal billing with what has been his laboratory’s leading player, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.