Gastrulation is a central event in animal development whereby the cellular mass that results from divisions of the zygote undergoes choreographed spatial reorganizations to outline the body plan of the organism. Using embryonic pluripotent stem cells we have been able to reconstruct aspects of this event in the laboratory. In this process we have uncovered a number of features of early animal development that have evolutionary implications.

Alfonso Martínez Arias is a developmental biologist with an internationally recognized career. After earning his PhD at the University of Chicago, he conducted research at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. He later joined the University of Cambridge as a Wellcome Trust senior fellow and, since 2003, has held a chair in the Department of Genetics. His work has made significant contributions to understanding the molecular basis of cell fate heterogeneity and the self-organizing properties of cells during development. He has been an EMBO member since 2007 and received the Waddington Medal in 2012 for his contributions to developmental biology.

Refs
Turner, D. and Martinez Arias, A. (2024)  Three dimensional stem cell models of mammalian gastrulation. Bioessays PMID 39194406

Steventon, B., Busby, L. and Martinez Arias, A. (2021) Establishment of the vertebrate body plan: rethinking gastrulation through stem cell models of early embryogenesis. Dev Cell 56, 2405-2418.