Cover article – Tenascin-C modulates cell cycle length and differentiation in neural stem/progenitor cells

Our latest cover from Andreas Faissner and colleagues shows embryonic mouse spinal cord neural stem cells (nestin, red) beginning to differentiate into astrocytes (GFAP, green) and other neural cell types under proliferating conditions. In their Research Article, the authors report that ECM glycoprotein tenascin-C modulates growth factor responsiveness and cell cycle length of these embryonic spinal cord progenitor cells in vitro.

Featured article – Exposure of zebra mussels to extracorporeal shock waves demonstrates formation of new mineralized tissue inside and outside the focus zone

Extracorporeal shock wave (ESW) therapy is used for bone fracture non-unions in human medicine. In a recent Research Article, Christoph Schmitz and co-workers used zebra mussels as an invertebrate model to gain new insights into the complex process of biomineralization induction by ESWs.

First Person interviews

Have you seen our interviews with the early-career first authors of our papers? Recently, we caught up with first authors Anna Hoy and Avinash Khandagale.

Why should you publish your next paper in BiO?

Biology Open has strong credentials and publishing with us is easy and fast. BiO aims to provide rapid publication for scientifically sound observations and valid conclusions in developmental, cell, experimental and translational biology. Submit your paper here; you’ll be in good company.

Recent developmental biology research highlights in BiO – a new Methods & Techniques article from Seth Donoughe, Chiyoung Kim and Cassandra G. Extavour describes a customizable device for mounting and live-imaging of embryo samples across a wide range of tissues and species.

Transfer to Biology Open

If your submission to one of our other journals, Development, Journal of Cell Science, Journal of Experimental Biology or Disease Models & Mechanism, is unsuccessful, did you know you can transfer your paper and any reviews directly to Biology Open? The majority of papers transferred with reviews are accepted for publication. Find out how here.

preLights – Are Martians microbes?

Daphne Ng highlights a recent preprint from Stephen Pointing and team, characterising the sediment and bacterial community compositions of the Atacama Desert, a Mars analogue environment on Earth.