The people behind the papers – Matthew Kourakis and William Smith

The caudal nerve cord of the tunicate Ciona has similar anatomical features to the vertebrate spinal cord, but it is reported to lack motor neurons or to contain ill-defined neurons. In a new study, William Smith and colleagues looked at a later developmental stage than previous studies and identified functional motor neurons in the Ciona larval tail, suggesting homology between the Ciona caudal nerve cord and the vertebrate spinal cord. To find out more about the work, we caught up with first author Matthew Kourakis and corresponding author William Smith, Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA.