In the embryo, stem cells proliferate and then undergo a highly controlled maturation process to generate the various cell types composing our organs. Deciphering the mechanisms underlying this process is key to understand how regeneration could be improved and cancer can be cured. This video illustrates how the fruitfly Drosophila and the chick embryo are used at the IBDM to investigate the fate of stem cells.
And yet it diffuses!
Free diffusion of Wnt ligands can polarize target cells at distance in C. elegans embryos.