Researchers at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, University of Sydney, and the Royal Hospital for Women have uncovered important new insights into the biology of recurrent miscarriage - a devastating condition that affects up to one in fifty couples trying to conceive.

Proteins are often called the building blocks of cells, but even those building blocks need to be built. One of the most important steps in the process of building proteins is glycosylation, when sugar molecules (glycans) are attached to the maturing protein. These sugars can affect how the protein folds and functions, and mistakes during glycosylation can lead to disease.

A new study from Robert Keenan’s group at the University of Chicago, in collaboration with Rajat Rohatgi’s lab at Stanford University, sheds light on how this fundamental process can be regulated.

Francisella tularensis is a highly infectious bacterium, a Tier 1-select agent on the US Federal Select Agent Program, and the causative agent of tularemia, a potentially fatal zoonotic disease.

The development of synthetic embryo models using early stem cells has emerged as a powerful platform for studying mammalian development in vitro. However, the generation of high-quality post-implantation embryo models in mice has typically relied on embryonic stem cells (ESCs) engineered to transiently express master regulators of extraembryonic lineages. This strategy diverges from the natural in vivo process of extraembryonic lineage specification.