Highlights

The use of high-spatiotemporal resolution live imaging has enabled us to discover and characterize new cellular structures essential for early embryo development. Firstly, we revealed the existence of long filopodia that form in some cells of the preimplantation mouse embryo and stretch out over their neighbors to facilitate the crucial process of embryo compaction (Nature Cell Biology, 2013). I also contributed to work characterizing a non-centrosomal microtubule organising centre that directs intracellular transport of adhesion molecules in the embryo (Science, 2017). Most recently, I discovered rings of actin filaments that form on apical cell surfaces of the mouse embryo and expand to the cell junctions just prior to blastocyst formation (Cell, 2018). We showed that coupling of these rings to the junctions triggers a tension-dependent zippering process that seals the embryo and allows expansion of the first cavity.

The development of an embryo requires a series of cell fate decisions to produce all the future cells of the body and extraembryonic tissues. Deciphering the mechanisms controlling cell fate determination is important not only to understand embryonic development, but also to provide advances in stem cell reprograming and regenerative medicine. My research has provided important insights into when and how cell fate bias first arises in the embryo and the mechanisms that drive the physical separation of the first cell lineages. By applying fluorescence correlation spectroscopy in the living embryo, we measured the binding dynamics of fate-specifying transcription factors (TF) in individual cells and revealed how differences in histone methylation affect TF dynamics to bias cell fate (Cell, 2016). Using 4D cell segmentation and computational tracking and laser-based ablations, we demonstrated that subcellular heterogeneities in tensile forces drive the first spatial segregation of cells in the embryo (Developmental Cell, 2015).

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Highlights

Associate Professor Irina Vetter has a strong background in neuropharmacology, pain models, toxinology and high-throughput screening. Currently her primary research interests lie in the fields of peripheral pain mechanisms, target identification, biodiscovery of venom peptide ion channel modulators and analgesic drug discovery.

Associate Professor Vetter has always been fascinated by how we perceive the world around us, in particular, the role of sensory neurons in the body. Sensory neurons are an intricate network of nerve cells that convert external stimuli from the environment into messages within the body, like pain. Her research is demystifying the different pathways that contribute to pain in various disease states. She is using biomedical research and pharmacology to develop pain treatments from venoms and toxins.

Associate Professor Vetter is an ARC Future Fellow and Deputy Director of the Centre for Pain Research at The University of Queensland. She is a registered pharmacist and has worked in hospital as well as community pharmacy. She obtained her PhD in 2007 from the School of Pharmacy, and conducted postdoctoral studies as an NHMRC postdoctoral fellow under Prof Geoffrey Goodhill at the Queensland Brain Institute and under Prof Richard J Lewis at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience in the areas of axon guidance and venom peptide pharmacology

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