The people behind the papers – Tina Balayo, André Dias and David Turner

Gastruloids are embryonic stem cell-derived in vitro models that mimic the axial patterning of the gastrulating embryo. The N2B27 basal medium in which mouse gastruloids are cultured can either be home-made (HM-N2B27), with materials of known origin, or commercially sourced (NDiff227), where the exact formulation is unknown. In their recent publication, Balayo et al. have investigated whether these formulations result in significant differences in gastruloid development. To find out more about their work, we spoke to first author Tina Balayo, and to co-corresponding authors André Dias and David Turner. In the Barcelona team, Tina and André are members of the Martínez Arias lab at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona, Spain), where Tina works as a research technician and lab manager, and André is an EMBO postdoctoral fellow. Heading the Liverpool team, David is a lecturer and group leader of the Development and Stem Cell Lab at the University of Liverpool, UK.