Nov. 3, 2009 meeting

Becca from the Matunis lab will be presenting (12:30 in W2303 in the SPH).

Two-step oligoclonal development of male germ cells; PNAS 2009, 106:175-180
Ueno, Turnbull, and Weissman
Weissman lab profile here
Hot off the presses (FYI) - a profile on Weissman in the brand new issue of JCB

Becca's comments on this paper choice -
"This paper uses tetrachimeric mice to mark and study the development of the male germline and finds that the entire lineage is derived from a mere 4 cells. One of my projects is to characterize the primodial germ cell (PGC) to germline stem cell (GSC) transition in Drosophila embryos. It has long been known that, in Drosophila, the number of PGCs initially incorporated into the gonad is greater than the number of GSCs, suggesting that some sort of selection process occurs. This paper suggests that there are parallel themes in mammals, where germ cells that actually contribute to adult spermatogenesis also arise from a smaller, perhaps select few, cells within a pool of potential founder cells."

Oct. 20, 2009 meeting - the Y chromosome makes an appearance

Rachel from the Matunis lab will be presenting at the Oct. 20 meeting (12:30, W2303 in the SPH).

Cell, 2009, 138:855-869
Isodicentric Y chromosomes and Sex Disorders as Byproducts of Homologous Recombination that maintains Palindromes
Lange et al. (David Page lab)

This paper has also gotten a number of highlight write-ups (e.g., The Scientist, ScienceDaily). Since the RBJC blog started last year, this will be our first meeting on the Y chromosome and on science related to sex determination pathways (yay for new post labels!). This should be an interesting step back from the biology of the testis (which has been abundantly represented in papers presented) to the biology linked with the very first steps for getting the testis there in the first place. (Thanks, Rachel!)

Post script - Bonus points to Rachel for rallying through a cold, and for finding a comedienne who uses her Turner Syndrome as a focal point for her humor - "Dude, where's my chromosome?" [Who knew???]