The bat, the rat and the hagfish

All things cellular is the main topic of the March/April issue of Australian Life Scientist, but we also take a look at bats, rats and the role of hagfish in the evolution of the vertebrate eye.

We also have a chat to the new Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr, to see what he has in store for the research sector.

Graeme O'Neill has a follow-up story to his fruit bat evolution article from the previous issue - this time accompanied by the Most Interesting Gene in the Human Genome - and he also takes a look at the intertwined peregrinations of Homo sapiens and Rattus rattus.

Fiona Wylie previews the Hunter Cellular Biology meeting, talking to cell biologists studying the wonderfully named Hedgehog, Salvador, Hippo and Yorkie genes. She also talks to the Garvan Institute's David James about cucumbers with warts.

Kate McDonald talks to Shaun Collin and Trevor Lamb, who are getting up close and personal with the hagfish, a not-so-nice jawless fish that is a bit of a slime-ball, all in the name of tracing the evolution of the vertebrate eye.

We also look at what is happening in stem cell research with Andrew French, John Rasko and Rod Rietze; take a look at the discovery of two new viruses using genetic sequencing techniques; and talk to Tom Gonda and his automated approach to expression cloning.

As always, ALS features all of the latest products and methods on the market in Lab News, the latest scientific literature in our Bookshop and local and international conference dates in Events.

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