Prof Hong Yan and his Team having Paper Published in Top Journal – Nature Communications

Prof Hong Yan (Chair Professor of EE), Mr Zelin Li (PhD student), and Dr Jianfeng Cao (PhD graduate in 2021), have published a paper in the top journal – Nature Communications, on 18 April 2025. The paper titled "Cell lineage-resolved embryonic morphological map reveals signaling associated with cell fate and size asymmetry" is a collaborative work with scholars coming from Peking University and Hong Kong Baptist University.

This Nature Communications paper can be found at Nature Communications. To give you a glimpse of the research work, here is a quote from the abstract: Here we present a comprehensive real-time cellular map that covers over 95% of the cells formed during Caenorhabditis elegans embryogenesis, featuring nearly 400,000 3D cell regions. This map includes information on each cell’s identity, lineage, fate, shape, volume, surface area, contact area, and gene expression profiles, all accessible through our user-friendly software and website. Our map allows for detailed analysis of key developmental processes, including dorsal intercalation, intestinal formation, and muscle assembly. We show how Notch and Wnt signaling pathways, along with mechanical forces from cell interactions, regulate cell fate decisions and size asymmetries. Our findings suggest that repeated Notch signaling drives size disparities in the large excretory cell, which functions like a kidney. This work sets the stage for in-depth studies of the mechanisms controlling cell fate differentiation and morphogenesis.