Journal Lab | Open Peer Review

Journal Lab helps you find relevant research that you can trust.

We are a community of scientists who share open summaries and peer review of published literature. With your help, we’re creating a world where everyone from scientists to policymakers to patients can find the research that’s relevant to them, quickly make sense of that research, and see what experts in the field think of it.

Female mice lack adult germ-line stem cells but sustain oogenesis using stable primordial follicles.

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Solid Science x3

Conclusion matches data x1

"This is a classic and elegant genetic reporter. Cre-ER (the way real lineage-tracing is done) and low dose tamoxifen injections. Check the supplemental material to be convinced that the negative control has no labeling."

THE ROLE OF THE EYE AND OF THE HYPOTHALAMUS IN THE PHOTOSTIMULATION OF GONADS IN THE DUCK.

I have a question x2

I'm Skeptical x1

A positive feedback loop involving gcm1 and fzd5 directs chorionic branching morphogenesis in the placenta.

Solid Science x2

I have a question x2

Awesome experiment! x1

"What happens if Wnt2 is overexpressed? Does it mean that cell junctions would dissociate prematurely?"

Mutations in LRRC50 Predispose Zebrafish and Humans to Seminomas.

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Solid Science x4

Novel x2

I have a question x1

"Is Lrrc50 expressed in humans? Is it mis-expressed in seminomas?"

Max is a repressor of germ cell-related gene expression in mouse embryonic stem cells.

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I'm Skeptical x5

Conclusion matches data x1

Missing Controls x1

"The authors mention that Max associates with these histone modifiers at the G0 stage of cell cycle ... proliferating ESCs are not in G0, and in vivo germ cells do not enter G0 until after they colonize the gonad and commit to their sex-specific fate, when they are no longer PGCs. Again, the authors' connection to "PGC" seems strange as everything points to a later stage in germ cell development (entry to meiosis or beginning of differentiation as prospermatogonia)."

Prospective isolation of human embryonic stem cell-derived cardiovascular progenitors that integrate into human fetal heart tissue.

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I have a question x2

Novel Method x1

Conclusion matches data x1

"I particularly like how they show the upregulation of cardiac markers by qPCR along with the simultaneous downregulation of pluripotent stem cell marker like Oct4."

Human-specific histone methylation signatures at transcription start sites in prefrontal neurons.

I'm Skeptical x9

I have a question x5

Interesting hypothesis x3

"This picture should be higher resolution (the peaks). Also, maybe they could have selected a better example for D. It looks like there are peaks on the non human samples (RM2 and PT2)"

A cooperative microRNA-tumor suppressor gene network in acute T-cell lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL).

Missing Controls x3

Important to Note x1

Correct interpretation? x1

"Although this data in the figure is very impressive, it is important to note that other miRNAs were tried as well and the data are in the supps. These include miRNAs that were not predicted to cause leukemia, causing leukemia. Interesting, the control miR-30, is also the top hit of their Myc oncogenic potential screen. Generally, it seems like almost every miRNA and siRNA they tried has this effect on leukemia. "

Essential role of sox2 for the establishment and maintenance of the germ cell line.

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Conclusion matches data x3

Conclusion does not match data x1

I have a question x1

"I'm disappointed that "semi-quantitative" RT-PCR was used. It's not semi-quantitative and people should be moved away from this in 2013. There are too many variables that regulate exactly how bright bands are on a PCR gel to make solid conclusions (particularly because control genes are normally run at so many cycles the signal is saturated - but the authors do not show a dilution series to convince the reader of anything otherwise). Assuming there are not egregious errors in this method, there ..."

Circular RNAs are a large class of animal RNAs with regulatory potency.

I have a question x4

Irrelevant Model x1

4/18/2013 BMS Journal Club x1

"Why doesn't linear CDR1as work as well as circular CDR1as? What is the biological mechanism behind this difference? Specific RBPs that only recognize circRNAs? Specific recognition of the head-to-tail splice junction?"

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