Uploaded April 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
John Wallingford, professor of molecular biosciences at The University of Texas at Austin, and his team used a process called live cell imaging to witness frog embryo cells flattening and stretching, which helps a developing embryo transform from its early ball shape into the elongated shape of a tadpole with a distinct head and tail. Disruptions to this process in human embryos can lead to birth defects.
In the video, frog cells are starting to flatten from a rounded shape to a horizontally elongated shape. Later, this will allow the cells to stack up like pancakes.
“The fascinating thing about embryos is that they construct themselves,” Wallingford said. “That is, your own cells built your body when you were an embryo, which is rather like a bunch of bricks building a house. Just as you have to exert some effort to mold a piece of modeling clay, cells in an embryo must generate physical forces to build the embryo.”
Learn more: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/live-cell-imaging-reveals-new-clues-about-processes-linked-to-birth-defects
John Wallingford, professor of molecular biosciences at The University of Texas at Austin, and his team used a process called live cell imaging to witness frog embryo cells flattening and stretching, which helps a developing embryo transform from its early ball shape into the elongated shape of a tadpole with a distinct head and tail. Disruptions to this process in human embryos can lead to birth defects.
In the video, frog cells are starting to flatten from a rounded shape to a horizontally elongated shape. Later, this will allow the cells to stack up like pancakes.
“The fascinating thing about embryos is that they construct themselves,” Wallingford said. “That is, your own cells built your body when you were an embryo, which is rather like a bunch of bricks building a house. Just as you have to exert some effort to mold a piece of modeling clay, cells in an embryo must generate physical forces to build the embryo.”
Learn more: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/live-cell-imaging-reveals-new-clues-about-processes-linked-to-birth-defects
