Morphogenesis

Over the past decades, the notions of organic form and morphology—a scientific field historically associated with the eighteenth century polymath Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832)—have stealthy re-assumed a central role in various scientific disciplines. Although the study of organic form was apparently excluded from the main stage of evolutionary theory and biological sciences during the second half of the twentieth century, since morphology was considered as a descriptive and ancillary science unable to contribute to the neo-Darwinian synthesis of evolution 1, morphological concepts and approaches have now been re-brought onto the central stage of mainstream science. 2 In fact, several interdisciplinary Clusters of Excellence 3 have been for instance established in Germany to investigate the enigma and power of form transformations. These clusters recall and expand Goethe’s and Romantic definition of form, this meant as a complex and ever-changing phenomenon. Within biological disciplines, new research programs have been put forward to explicitly investigate what has been disqualified in biology over the past decades: the very concept of organic form. For example, according to Austrian evolutionary biologist Gerhard Müller, “Evolutionary developmental biology (evo–devo) emerged as a distinct field of research in the early 1980s to address the profound neglect of development in the standard modern synthesis framework of evolutionary theory, a deficiency that had caus...

Morphogen A morphogen is defined as signaling molecules (proteins or otherwise) that act over long distances to induce responses in cells based on the concentration of morphogen that the cells interact with (Rogers and Schier, 2011). From: Cell Polarity in Development and Disease, 2018 Related terms: • Growth Factor • Facilitated Diffusion • Sonic Hedgehog • Heparan Sulfate • Bone Morphogenetic Protein • Nested Gene • Stem Cell • Hedgehog • Mouse Morphogen gradient systems are complex, but share many common features, which can be summarized as follows ( Rogers and Schier, 2011): 1. Morphogens are released from dynamic localized sources, assemble with other molecules, and move via diffusion through the extracellular space. 2. Gradient shape is determined by flux from the source, diffusivity, and clearance from tissues. 3. Morphogen concentration and duration are transmitted linearly to intracellular molecules, ultimately resulting in the graded and proportional activity of transcriptional effectors. 4. Transcriptional effectors participate in complex regulatory networks that involve preexisting intrinsic factors, which ultimately determine target gene responses. 5. Feedback mechanisms act to buffer fluctuations in morphogen production, regulate signaling interpretation, and confer scalability and robustness to morphogen-mediated patterning. Elena Camacho-Aguilar, Aryeh Warmflash, in Current Topics in Developmental Biology, 2020 Abstract Morphogens play an essential role in ...

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript. How the shape of embryos and organs emerges during development is a fundamental question that has fascinated scientists for centuries. Tissue dynamics arise from a small set of cell behaviours, including shape changes, cell contact remodelling, cell migration, cell division and cell extrusion. These behaviours require control over cell mechanics, namely active stresses associated with protrusive, contractile and adhesive forces, and hydrostatic pressure, as well as material properties of cells that dictate how cells respond to active stresses. In this Review, we address how cell mechanics and the associated cell behaviours are robustly organized in space and time during tissue morphogenesis. We first outline how not only gene expression and the resulting biochemical cues, but also mechanics and geometry act as sources of morphogenetic information to ultimately define the time and length scales of the cell behaviours driving morphogenesis. Next, we present two idealized modes of how this information flows — how it is read out and translated into a biological effect — during morphogenesis. The first, akin to a programme, follows deterministic rule...

Translational biomarker data underscores IFx-Hu2.0 mechanism; Demonstrates activation of systemic tumor-specific immune responses Data presented at the 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting TAMPA, Fa. and MENLO PARK, Calif., June 05, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Morphogenesis, Inc. (“Morphogenesis”), a privately-held Phase 2/3 clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel personalized cancer vaccines and tumor microenvironment modulators to overcome primary and acquired resistance to current immunotherapies, and CohBar, Inc. (NASDAQ: CWBR) (“CohBar”), today announced positive initial results from an exploratory analysis of anti-tumor responses to rechallenge with an ICI following protocol directed IFx-Hu2.0 therapy among patients with advanced MCC or cSCC who exhibited primary resistance to ICIs. The abstract titled, “ Phase 1b trial of IFx-Hu2.0, a novel personalized cancer vaccine, in checkpoint inhibitor resistant Merkel cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma ,” was presented by Andrew Brohl, MD, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in a poster presentation as part of the Melanoma/Skin Cancers – Advanced/Metastatic Diseases session held at the “While patients with advanced Merkel cell carcinoma and cutaneous Squamous cell carcinoma exhibit high response rates to immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy, the approximately 50% of patients who fail to respond have limited treatment options. We are parti...