Research Progress

• Primate embryos grown in the lab to gastrulation stage

  Peri-implantation embryonic development is a critical process during which the embryo establishes a close relationship with maternal uterus, forms the basic body plan, and differentiates into three germ layers (endoderm, mesoderm and ectoderm) through gastrulation. The endoderm gives rise to most of the internal linings of the embryo body, including the lungs, the liver, the pancreas and the intestinal tract; the mesoderm differentiates into the heart, the skin, the muscle system and the bones; the ectoderm forms the nervous systems, the mammary glands and the hair. The abnormal development of human peri-implantation embryos appears to be correlated with the frequencies of woman reproductive disorders and human major structural malformations in central nervous system, heart and limbs. However, the knowledge of human peri-implantation embryonic development and gastrulation is very limited.

  Nov 07, 2019
• Rodents could mediate mutualism and antagonism among sympatric tree species via seed rain

  Oct 24, 2019
• Intensified human disturbance and climate change attributed to population decline and local extinction of mammals

  Global biodiversity has been declining rapidly in modern times. Accelerated anthropogenic impact and climatic change are widely blamed to be responsible for unprecedented species extinction. But, quantitative relationships between local extinction of animals and anthropogenic or climatic factors have been rarely evaluated. This prevents us from disentangling the relative roles of human impacts and climate change in causing population decline or local extinction of species, and to take effective conservation actions. Because human disturbance and climate change are often highly correlated, it is still challenging to disentangle their distinctive effects on population change. Solving this problem needs long-term spatial-temporal data of animal populations.

  Sep 03, 2019
• Microbiota-gut-brain interaction confers thermal benefits to survive cold in small mammals

  Aug 30, 2019
• Herbivore Phylogenetic Diversity Can Be Affected By Plant Diversity Loss

  Global change leads to increasing biodiversity loss, usually with consequences for the structure and functioning of ecosystems, such as primary productivity and nutrient cycling. Addressing biodiversity loss is a key scientific and societal challenge. Previous work has emphasized the strong linkages between the loss of plant species richness and declines in consumer abundance and diversity. However, the mechanisms underlying these linkages are still unclear.

  Aug 23, 2019
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  Turtle embryos can influence their own sexual destiny

  Aug 04, 2019
• New Insights in Molecular Mechanism of High-altitude Adaptation in Birds

  May 21, 2019
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  Primary cilia regulate hematopoietic stem cell specification in zebrafish

  Apr 25, 2019
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  Rejuvenation of Aging Cells Helps to Cure Osteoarthritis Through Gene Therapy

  Aging is a risk factor for the development of osteoarthritis (OA), a chronic disease characterized by degeneration of articular cartilage leading to pain and physical disability. Senescent mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) are found in cartilage tissues isolated from patients suffering from osteoarthritis. Notably, senescent MSCs have been regarded as an important therapeutic target for geroprotection against tissue degeneration.

  Mar 26, 2019
• Researchers Reveal a Novel Role of Protein Coalescence in Controlling Fly Lifespan

  Mar 15, 2019