Category Archives: General

New Years Dinner

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To celebrate the beginning of the New Year, the Vastenhouw lab had a delicious meal at Fischhaus Dresden. This idyllic restaurant is situated at the edge of the forest and with freshly fallen snow, the atmosphere was magical.

Methods Article in ‘Development’

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We are happy to post about our lab’s recent publication in Development. The article describes how to label and analyze single mRNA molecules, within single cells, at different stages of the zebrafish embryo’s development. With this technique, we hope to open new avenues into gene expression patterns and cellular differentiation programs.

The project was chiefly driven Carine Stapel, currently a PhD student in the Vastenhouw Lab. Carine developed the experimental protocol. The associated, freely available image analysis and quantification pipeline was developed in collaboration with Gene Myer’s research group as well as the Scientific Computing Facility. In fact, all work was done in-house at the MPI-CBG, demonstrating the institute’s wide array of qualifications as well as its collaborative spirit.

The article and protocol are available from Development, and the article also contains the analysis pipeline in its Supplementary Information. Article Page at Development

Automated detection and quantification of single RNAs at cellular resolution in zebrafish embryos

L. Carine Stapel, Benoit Lombardot, Coleman Broaddus, Dagmar Kainmueller, Florian Jug, Eugene W. Myers, Nadine L. Vastenhouw; Development 2015  : doi: 10.1242/dev.128918
Vastenhouw Lab Group Photo

Lab Photo Shoot – Winter 2015

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With new faces in the lab, it was time to update our lab photo. After a fun session having our pictures taken in a boutique cafe by the Elbe, we finally had our winning picture. Thank you Vineeth Surendranath for snapping our pictures!

DIPP Predoc Course – Vastenhouw Lab

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In the DIPP program, PhD students in their first year of study are required to attend four 1 week lab rotations. This week, four students joined the Vastenhouw lab and under the supervision of Shai, they carried out experiments examining the role of chromatin during zygotic genome activation. It was a fantastic week with a lot interesting results, stimulating discussions and learning. Good luck for your future PhDs!

Shai giving Friday Seminar

MPI-CBG Internal Seminar with Shai & Lennart

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The MPI of Cell Biology and Genetics (CBG) traditionally has an internal seminar, weekly on Fridays. It used to showcase achievements of students and PostDocs after 2-3 years of work, thus keeping the whole CBG community informed of the different types of research being done at the institute. The format was now changed to two presentations: 30 minutes + questions for a speaker with 2-3 years of research behind them, and 10 minutes without questions for a student or PostDoc in their first year of research. On Friday, October 2nd, Shai and Lennart were the first members of the Vastenhouwlab to present in the new format. While the hour from 16:00-17:00 was rather packed, it was good to present a very accomplished work alongside new ideas and first experimental results.