A map to study the behavior of early pancreas cells

Anne Grapin-Botton’s research group focuses on how single cells act communally to generate an organ. Together with colleagues from the Novo Nordisk Foundation at University of Copenhagen, she and her team used a special method to watch both the activity of the gene Neurogenin 3 and the protein it makes in human pancreas cells. The researchers developed a methodology that can link the dynamic behaviors of pancreatic cells observed in live imaging movies to all the genes they express. This will contribute to a better understanding of how the hormone-producing cells of the pancreas develop.