High five

I've earned myself a high five yesterday for an apparent breakthrough in my developmental biology education - or may be for just acknowledging the potential power of development.  A high five from the boss is only second to the proverbial 'gold star' - a classic embedded in the hearts of all since elementary school.

So what exactly did I do to earn this symbol of achievement?  One of my current goals is to identify the receptor that sea urchin larvae use to sense the quantity (and possibly quality) of food in the environment (see variable development page).  We have a couple of candidates, none of which have panned out thus far.  So how to proceed?... through developmental biology.  If I can prevent the development of this sensory system through genetic pertubation(s), then we can use genomic approaches to identify the genes, including the receptor, which comprise the sensory system.  Ah ha... genius.  Now to find the right genetic perturbation...