A novel animal study has uncovered clues to embryo developmental timing and growth rates. The study, recently published in Endocrinology, should prompt further research and improve the understanding on the role of the thyroid hormone (T3) signaling pathway during early development, according to lead author Yun-Bo Shi, PhD, of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute Child Health and Human Development.

Read related articles: 

• Unliganded Thyroid Hormone Receptor May Play Role in Development. Derek Bagley; Jan 2015. 
• Unliganded Thyroid Hormone Receptor Function: Amphibian Metamorphosis Got TALENs. Laurent M. Sachs.  (PDF 37 KB)
• Unliganded TRs regulate growth and developmental timing during early embryogenesis: evidence for a dual function mechanism of TR action. Paul M. Yen. 

LabTV is a website that hosts fun videos of today’s scientists describing their research projects for a lay audience. Thomas Miller (photo at right), former fellow in the Shi lab, has a new LabTV segment covering his research on stem cell formation in Xenopus laevis as they go from tadpoles to frogs. Curious? Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m959RlwCr6U .

Dr Miller also took advantage of opportunities at the NIH to gain experience presenting and communicating his research through the Three Minute Talks contest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ExTxxS1a3Y&feature=youtu.be. 

Thomas Miller featured on LabTV 

Thomas Miller's 2014 "Three-Minute Talk" 

The industrial chemical bisphenol A (BPA), widely used to manufacture plastics and other consumer goods, disrupts sex differentiation primarily by mimicking estrogen. But how this happens and whether hormones are involved has not been clear. New research suggests that amphibians could serve as good study models and that thyroid hormone may also play a role in BPA's endocrine-disrupting effects.

Continue reading: BPA Inhibits Development via Thyroid Hormone