The mammary gland is a uniquely dynamic organ with a branching architecture that develops entirely after birth in response to hormonal cues. A common approach in mammary gland biology is the evaluation of branching morphogenesis to characterize the role of developmental, physiological and molecular perturbations on branching tissue invasion, growth, and maintenance. Yet, the field still lacks a fully open-sourced, quantitative framework to analyze whole-mount mammary tissue images, as a commonly utilized methodology. Here, we present MaGNet (Mammary Gland Network analysis tool), a method that leverages network theory to characterize key features of ductal branching during mammary gland development. Applying this pipeline to mammary gland images captured at three pubertal timepoints, we achieved reproducible quantification of ductal tree expansion across development. In addition, this network analysis pipeline captures ductal expansion induced by pregnancy hormones. By providing open-source tools to the research community, this method may increase reproducibility and broad applicability across diverse organ systems, model organisms, and developmental stages.

Banerjee et al. present a comprehensive T cell receptor cross-reactivity database and a hierarchical Bayesian framework to predict T cell receptor targets. Together, they reveal structural and biochem...

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A lawyer working with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has asked the F.D.A. to withdraw approval of the current shot because it hasn’t been tested against a placebo. Scientists say such a test would be unethical...

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Breast cancer patients often exhibit disrupted circadian rhythms in circulating glucocorticoids (GCs), such as cortisol. This disruption correlates with reduced quality of life and higher cancer morta...

The two-hit hypothesis suggests that a second mutation is necessary for cancer development in cells with a defective tumor-suppressor gene, such as BRCA1. However, a study now shows that the loss of j...

A second hit to Brca1 in heterozygous mice leads to accelerated tumor development compared to wild-type mice in which both alleles are simultaneously deleted. This is because of an epigenetic state as...