Developmental biology: Separating head from tail

Review Myosin V from head to tail

Myosin V (myoV), a processive cargo transporter, has arguably been the most well-studied unconventional myosin of the past decade. Considerable structural information is available for the motor domain, the IQ motifs with bound calmodulin or light chains, and the cargo-binding globular tail, all of which have been crystallized. The repertoire of adapter proteins that link myoV to a particular ca...

From Developmental Biology to Cardiac Regeneration

Cardiomyocyte death is associated with diverse forms of heart disease, which is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in industrialized countries. Myocardial infarctions are a major public health problem and affect >1 million Americans yearly. A tremendous loss of cardiomyocytes through apoptosis and necrosis underlies both acute and chronic myocardial infarction. To compensate for the d...

Adapted from Developmental Biology, in press

Developmental Biology

Developmental Biology's excellent reputation in Freiburg goes back to the days of the Hans Spemann who received the Nobel prize for his groundbreaking discovery of an "organizer center" in early amphibian embryos that controls the behavior and fate of surrounding cells. Today the University of Freiburg is one of the few universities in Germany that offers a full curriculum in Developmental Biol...

Developmental Biology

At the core of biology is the study of development. How do organisms from all modes of life grow from one single cell to a complete and functional body? How do we know to establish “right” from “left,” or know to form a certain number of fingers and toes? Why can some organisms regenerate organs, while others must do without if they are lost? What processes occur as a tadpole becomes a frog? As...