Adiyant Lamba

eLife Assessment This fundamental work substantially advances our understanding of the molecular basis by which early symmetry breaking events connect to the following cell fate specifications in preimplantation mammalian embryos. The evidence supporting the conclusions is compelling, with advanced image based assays and microinjection based functional tests. The work will be of broad interest to cell and developmental biologists.

Abstract The first lineage allocation in mouse and human embryos separates the inner cell mass (ICM) from the outer trophectoderm (TE). This symmetry breaking event is executed through polarization of cells at the 8-cell stage and subsequent asymmetric divisions, generating polar (TE) and apolar (ICM) cells. Here, we show that embryo polarization is unexpectedly asynchronous.

The standard model of particle physics describes our reality in terms of fundamental forces and particles — but searching for these elementary particles is no mean feat! Scientists have employed many methods in order to detect them, a famous example being the high-energy particle collisions at CERN that resulted in the discovery of the Higgs boson.