Issues

Summary: This Editorial provides a brief historical perspective on the transition of the nematode roundworm, Caenorhabditis elegans, from a purely basic research organism to a preclinical model for human disease.

Summary: Organ-on-a-chip devices, which combine engineered 3D skeletal muscle tissues and integrated biosensors, hold great promise as a tool for studying muscular dystrophies and developing new therapies for these conditions.

Summary: Advances in the study of the cylindromatosis gene (CYLD), utilising diverse models, provide new insights into cellular homeostasis and human diseases.

Summary: This Review summarizes and promotes the use of Caenorhabditis elegans to investigate ten of the 14 cancer hallmarks that define the mechanisms of cancer.

Summary: Loss of NR2F1, which regulates mitochondrial genes in neurons, leads to mitochondrial dysfunction and impaired neuron function, which could contribute to pathogenesis of the neurodevelopmental disorder Bosch-Boonstra-Schaaf optic atrophy syndrome.

Summary: LY2090314 suppresses 2D and 3D adipogenesis of fibro/adipogenic progenitors by stabilizing a transcriptional-competent β-catenin complex.

Summary: Kidney-on-a-chip-based in vitro models have greatly evolved and provide valuable instruments to study human kidney (patho-)physiology, contributing to the Reduction, Replacement and Refinement of animal experiments.

Summary: The C921Y O-GlcNAc transferase variant found in patients with intellectual disability leads to a defect in pluripotent stem cell self-renewal and decreased levels of pluripotent stem cell markers.

Summary: This study shows the effectiveness of irinotecan, eribulin, trabectedin and their combination in a patient-derived xenograft model of desmoplastic small round cell tumor, a rare and incurable malignancy.

Summary: Male mice lacking microRNA-29a/b1 develop bladder enlargement and diminished bladder contractility, associated with upregulation of genes related to extracellular matrix formation and turnover.

Summary: Mutations in the renin leader peptide or pro-segment associated with autosomal dominant tubulointerstitial kidney disease lead to misrouting of the mutated protein to mitochondria.

Summary: A novel technique using ultrasound-stimulated microbubbles coupled with fractionated radiation enhanced vascular disruption in the tumour microenvironment via an ASMase-dependent mechanism.

Editor's choice: Activation of R-spondin 1 signaling in the adrenal cortex leads to a sexually dimorphic phenotype in mice, causing hyperplasia in females and immune cell recruitment in males.

Summary: Simultaneous inhibition of gba1 and smpd1 gene function (both implicated in Parkinson's disease) unexpectedly rescues neuronal gene expression and mitochondrial defects, and extends the lifespan of gba1 mutant zebrafish.

Summary: Vemurafenib partially improves muscle histopathology by restoring the TGF-β/SMAD3 and mTORC1/p70S6K signaling pathways but does not improve muscle function in a mouse model of LAMA2-related-congenital muscular dystrophy.

Summary: Surgical rescue of Ednrb^−/− rats, a model for Hirschsprung disease, required dietary intervention for survival and showed reduced colon diameter in the aganglionic region, overall normal histology and changes in innervation.

Summary: Hypokalemic periodic paralysis model cells that allow the fluorometric evaluation of gating pore currents in a multi-well-plate format.

Summary: We developed the deCLUTTER²⁺ pipeline to analyze calcium traces to discover spontaneous or cue-dependent patterns of Ca²⁺ transients, and a protocol for the generation of iPSC-derived ventral midbrain patterned astrocytes.

Summary: We report a method to rapidly analyze craniofacial development in zebrafish embryos using morphometric analysis, creating a new platform to quantitatively detect phenotypic variation after genetic alteration.

Summary: Development of an automated image analysis workflow to enable fast and reliant immune cell counting in Shigella-infected zebrafish larvae, and to reveal the in vivo impact of antibiotics on Shigella–neutrophil interactions.

Summary: A new zebrafish transgenic line that labels the expression of the gene arg2 can be used to visualise immune cell polarisation and investigate the mechanisms of innate immunity during infections.