More Than Skin Deep

HHMI Bulletin | May 2007

Elaine Fuchs used to do crossword puzzles as a diversion from her undergraduate studies. With crosswords, every solved clue creates new hints to help solve neighboring clues. Fuchs, an HHMI investigator at The Rockefeller University, has followed a similar approach throughout her professional life. By honing each experimental finding into a new set of tools, she has probed deeper into the question that first piqued her curiosity three decades ago.  read in full issue (pdf)

Sculpting Brain Connections

HHMI Bulletin | May 2007

Unlike your computer’s memory chips, whose circuits are etched into a solid slab of silicon, real brain circuits change shape as they learn. HHMI investigator Michael D. Ehlers and his colleagues at Duke University are themselves learning how neurons remold their connections, and they may have identified the brain’s favored sculpting tool.
read in full issue (pdf)

A Pluripotent Stew

HHMI Bulletin | February 2007

Embryonic stem (ES) cells are plain enough to look at, forming a nondescript clump within the hollow ball of an early embryo. But that generic character is key to their magical rejuvenating potential. Unlike all other cells, which are preordained toward a specialized form and function, ES cells have a clean slate. The developing embryo can mold them into any cell type it needs. 

Scientists Crack Code for Motor Neuron Wiring

HHMI Bulletin | February 2006

As you turn the pages of this Bulletin, motor neurons that project from your spinal cord are coordinating the precise actions of more than 50 muscles in each of your arms. Each muscle is individually controlled by its own motor neuron cluster, which has a distinct identity and pattern of connectivity.  read in full issue (pdf)

One Key Hormone Calls the Tune

HHMI Bulletin | Spring 2004

When it comes to getting a start in this world, flies don’t dillydally. After fertilization, a one-celled egg in the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) takes but three hours to develop into a hollow oval containing some 8,000 cells. Ten minutes later, sheets of cells from the edge of the sphere stream into the center, establishing what will become Drosophila’s internal tissues and organs. In less than a day, the tiny fly larva works its way out from its eggshell. read in full issue (pdf)