There are many things we still don't know about the very first hours of an embryo's development. In this time, does an embryo separate its back from front? Left from right? Or is this decided later?
We know about certain pathways that are involved in the early development of embryo. But do we have the whole picture? And how can we even try to look at it?
This is what I am interested in my work. On my daily commute people often ask what it is that I work with. I tell them I use a technique to try to look at all the proteins at once within early embryos, mass spectrometry proteomics.
"What kind of embryos? Human (with varying tones)? Mouse? Rat?"
We know about certain pathways that are involved in the early development of embryo. But do we have the whole picture? And how can we even try to look at it?
This is what I am interested in my work. On my daily commute people often ask what it is that I work with. I tell them I use a technique to try to look at all the proteins at once within early embryos, mass spectrometry proteomics.
"What kind of embryos? Human (with varying tones)? Mouse? Rat?"
"No." I reply. "Frogs."
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| A frog embryo, more commonly known as 'Frogspawn'. Image credit: Andrew Michaels (Creative Commons) |
