Nicole B. Webster

The paper demonstrates autonomous neural specification for brain and ventral nerve cord in two annelid species, suggesting conservation of this mechanism within Annelida.

The paper investigates BMP signaling in Capitella teleta, finding that dominant-negative BMPR1 causes asymmetric loss of left tissues rather than increasing neural tissue, suggesting evolutionary divergence in CNS development mechanisms.

This study investigates the role of BMP signaling in early development of the annelid Capitella teleta, identifying three key time windows of BMP activity and suggesting it may have functioned in patterning ectodermal fates along the D-V axis in the last common ancestor of annelids.