THE IMACT OF CAMBIO

The Cambio initiative will provide a unique resource that will enable students of embryology to visualize the complex four-dimensional events that occur during the development of an organism. We believe, on the basis of our own experience, that access to an interactive, 4D data set of a developing embryo will considerably facilitate the attainment of a deep understanding of the events of embryogenesis. The availability of a database of normal and pathological development (such as occurs in embryonic mutants) should enable a research worker to interpret his or her own observations on the target organism.

The initial focus of the Cambio effort has been on the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. This organism has become one of the foremost model systems for studying basic questions in cell and developmental biology. A database containing annotated 4D data sets of canonical wild-type development will be of enormous use to both students and research workers in this field. In addition data sets illustrating the perturbations to normal development caused by mutations in certain genes will lead to a clearer understanding of the function of the wild-type allele of the gene in normal development. Based on the experience we will have gained by establishing a database of C. elegans embryonic development, we will establish databases of the development of other popular model systems such as Drosophila, zebra fish, sea urchins, amphibians and the plant Arabadopsis. In addition, we intend to extend these data sets to include development of mammals such as mice up to the pre-implantation stage.