Bo Wang (Associate Professor by courtesy, of Developmental Biology) and Christine Jacobs-Wagner (a Dev Bio alumni) have shown that planaria have “ruptoblasts”, cells that can kill invading bacteria by blowing themselves up, taking the bacteria out with them! 🧨💥 news.stanford.edu/stories/2026...

Contributed by Irv Weissman to PNAS (doi.org/10.1073/pnas...) a very cool study on "resetting" stem cells to increase the lifespan of sea squirts - Botryllus schlosseri.

The @isscr.org honors Kyle Loh the 2026 Early Career Impact Award for Transformative Advances in Stem Cell Biology! They have “recognized his transformative contributions to human pluripotent stem cell biology *and* his exceptional commitment to mentorship and inclusion!” loh.stanford.edu

It's early January and overnight temperature are in the mid 30's here at Stanford, but the cherry trees are already blossoming!

Our Christmas tree is up in the lobby! It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

Here is a nice write-up about what the Seung Kim lab has been up to: news.stanford.edu/stories/2025...

Congratulations to Dan Jarosz on being named the first associate dean for basic science in the Stanford School of Medicine! news.stanford.edu/stories/2025...

Our introduction: Since 1989 the Dept. of Developmental Biology at Stanford has been investigating The Emergence of Form from Uniformity, Development and Disease and much more. Our alumni work in medicine, academia and healthcare. Check us out at devbio.stanford.edu/...!