Congratulations to Susan Cole, whose two year grant entitled "Alternative polyadenylation of Hes7 in the mouse segmentation clock" was recently funded by the National Institutes of Health. This work will focus on a genetic clock that acts during embryonic development to time the formation of the vertebrae and ribs. When the functions of genes in this clock are perturbed, congenital defects including skeletal deformities such as scoliosis are the result. The project will examine different mechanisms that control the expression of genes that have been linked to this clock, focusing on how alternative isoforms of the Hes7 RNA could contribute to the speed at which the clock "ticks".