Kim-Chew Lim, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor and Melin Khandekar, Graduate Student, Cell & Developmental Biology
Blood vessels are some of the first structures to form in the embryo and are critical to their survival. It is interesting that the different types of vessels, arteries (blue) and veins (non-blue) develop separately, but then become connected as the embryo grows. This picture shows the intricate network of vessels with moving red blood cells (red patches) in the yolk sac (membrane) surrounding a mouse embryo. We hope that by learning more about how these vessels form, we may be able to improve tissue repair after trauma or to inhibit the growth of tumors since both of these processes depend on vessel growth.