Nicola Carruthers

Array-CNCC: precise aggregation and arrayed plating facilitate quantitative phenotyping of human cranial neural crest cells and craniofacial disease modelling Facial development is highly sensitive to genetic and environmental perturbation, with craniofacial malformation associated with over one-third of congenital birth defects. The face arises during an early and largely inaccessible window of embryonic development, with a large contribution from transient and multipotent cranial neural crest cells (CNCCs). Assessment of the molecular and cellular mechanisms driving normal and disordered human facial development therefore relies greatly on the use of in vitro cellular models. Here, we adapted a neurosphere-based CNCC differentiation protocol to facilitate robust quantification of early specification and migration events. Introduction of single-cell aggregation with arrayed plating enabled standardisation of neurosphere size, growth and patterning. Inclusion of fibronectin coating enhanced the efficiency of neurosphere attachment and synchronicity of CNCC migration timing. To demonstrate application of the Array-CNCC method, we developed a strategy for mosaic co-culture, which can facilitate differentiation of wildtype untreated cells directly alongside cells exposed to distinct drug treatments or genetic alterations. Finally, we present a screening approach which we use to test the impact of distinct extracellular matrix components on neurosphere morphology, CNCC migration and gene expression. Together, the Array-CNCC method is highly amenable to quantitative phenotyping and screening approaches, enabling enhanced craniofacial disease modelling with both cellular and molecular readouts. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Medical Research Council, MC\_UU\_00035/12, MC\_ST\_00035 Wellcome Trust, https://ror.org/029chgv08, 227712/Z/23/Z

📣 Preprint alert!

I am happy to share that our neural crest manuscript is now available on BioRxiv! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

What a wonderful week spent at the EMBO Enhancer Mechanics and Enhanceropathies workshop! 🧬 Such a warm and supportive group of people and some really cool science! Plus some the best food I’ve ever eaten at a conference 🍰

CBP-IDRs regulate acetylation and gene expression. Intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) have emerged as crucial regulators of protein function, allowing proteins to sense and respond to their environment. Creb binding protein (CBP) and EP300 (p300)...

Hot off the press for your Friday morning! 🔥 Our new (and highly revised!) preprint is out. It significantly expands on our previous work, unveiling exciting new data on how CBP's intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) regulate genes.
Link to preprint: tinyurl.com/5npjkyps

#IDRs #condensates #CBP

Fantastic talk from @nicola-carruthers.bsky.social at today's @mcb-sheffield.bsky.social postdoc talk series! #CBP #RNAs #enhancers and everything in between- smashed it! 👏

I’m very late to the party, but finally made it to Bluesky 🦋