Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 28, 2025
12:48
A Time-lapse, Label-free, Quantitative Phase Imaging Study of Dormant and Active Human Cancer Cells
Published on: February 16, 2018
7.5K
Automated time-lapse data segmentation reveals in vivo cell state dynamics
Miriam A Genuth1, Yasuhiro Kojima1,2,3, Dörthe Jülich1
1Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
Science Advances
|June 2, 2023
Summary
Embryonic development involves cell state transitions. Collective cell behavior can create asymmetries, challenging the idea that it buffers individual cell noise.
Area of Science:
- Developmental biology
- Cellular dynamics
- Systems biology
Background:
- Embryonic development relies on precise cell state transitions.
- These transitions are influenced by inherent molecular noise.
- Understanding the interplay between cell states and collective behavior is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To define and map gene expression and cell motion states during zebrafish tailbud development.
- To investigate the dynamics of biological state transitions using quantitative methods.
- To explore the origins of reproducible patterns and asymmetries in embryonic development.
Main Methods:
- Single-cell RNA sequencing for gene expression profiling.
- In vivo time-lapse cell tracking for cell motion analysis.
- Dimensional reduction and change point detection algorithms for state identification.
Main Results:
- Identified and mapped distinct gene expression and cell motion states in zebrafish embryos.
- Demonstrated that reproducible cell state patterns and bilateral symmetry emerge from temporal averaging.
- Observed transient deviations leading to left-right asymmetries in collective cell motion.
Conclusions:
- Collective cell behavior can be a source of developmental asymmetry.
- Temporal averaging plays a key role in establishing reproducible patterns and symmetry.
- The study provides new insights into the mechanisms underlying embryonic development and asymmetry.
