Share this page!

Enter URL or ID to Unroll

You can paste full URL like: https://x.com/threadreaderapp/status/1644127596119195649
or just the ID like: 1644127596119195649

How to get URL link on X (Twitter) App

  1. On the Twitter thread, click on or icon on the bottom
  2. Click again on or Share Via icon
  3. Click on Copy Link to Tweet
  4. Paste it above and click "Unroll Thread"!
  5. More info at Twitter Help
Umme H. Faisal, MBBS Profile picture
Umme H. Faisal, MBBS
@stethospeaks
Postdoc studying brain tumors at @AhmedLabNW @NeurosurgeryNM | Science Communicator; Opinions my own.
4 subscribers
Jul 3 • 11 tweets • 3 min read
Why fund scientific research?
Why spend years chasing theories in labs?
Because sometimes…a quiet discovery changes everything.
This is the story of how basic science gave us a gene-editing tool that’s now curing disease.
It’s why science saves lives.
🧵 It started with bacteria.

Scientists studying how bacteria fight viruses stumbled upon a strange pattern in their DNA:
CRISPR.
To most, it looked like a curiosity.
To a few researchers, it looked like nature’s own genetic scissors.
Nov 12, 2023 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
Did you know the Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) gene, crucial in brain and limb development, is whimsically named after the iconic video game character? While SHH plays a key role in embryonic patterning and cell differentiation, its name reflects a fun side of scientific nomenclature. 🧵 "Promotional artwork for the video game 'Sonic the Hedgehog'. Sonic the Hedgehog is a 2D, side-scrolling platformer, whose gameplay centers around Sonic's ability to run at high speed through levels image features Sonic standing with one hand on his hip and the other giving a thumbs up. During human brain development, the Neural Tube (precursor to the Central Nervous System), divides to form:
1. Alar plate: positioned dorsally (back part of the NT); gives rise to sensory neurons.
2. Basal plate: ventrally located (front part of the NT); forms motor neurons. Dorsal and ventral signaling in the early central nervous system.A, Signals from sonic hedgehog (Shh) (orange arrows) in the notochord induce the floor plate. B, In the dorsal part of the future neural tube, bone morphogenetic protein-4 (BMP-4) and BMP-7 (green arrows) from the ectoderm adjacent to the neural tube induce snail-2 in the future neural crest and maintain Pax-3 and Pax-7 expression dorsally. Ventrally, Shh, now produced by the floor plate, induces motoneurons. C, Shh, produced by the floor plate, suppresses the expression of dorsal Pax genes (Pax-3 and Pax-7) in the ventral hal...