Reed College 2 articles published in JoVE Developmental Biology Eye Removal in Living Zebrafish Larvae to Examine Innervation-dependent Growth and Development of the Visual System Olivia L. Hagen1, Yehyun Kim1, Elaine Kushkowski1,2, Hannah Rouse3, Kara L. Cerveny1 1Department of Biology, Reed College, 2Committee on Development, Regeneration, and Stem Cell Biology, University of Chicago, 3Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London The article explains how to surgically remove eyes from living zebrafish larvae as the first step toward investigating how retinal input influences optic tectum growth and development. In addition, the article provides information about larval anesthetization, fixation, and brain dissection, followed by immunohistochemistry and confocal imaging. Developmental Biology A Cell-based Assay to Investigate Non-muscle Myosin II Contractility via the Folded-gastrulation Signaling Pathway in Drosophila S2R+ Cells Kimberly A. Peters1, Elizabeth Detmar1, Liz Sepulveda2, Corrina Del Valle2, Ruth Valsquier2, Anna Ritz2, Stephen L. Rogers1,3,4, Derek A. Applewhite2 1Department of Biology, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2Department of Biology, Reed College, 3Carolina Center for Genome Sciences, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 4Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Here we describe a contractility assay using Drosophila S2R+ cells. The application of an exogenous ligand, folded gastrulation (Fog), leads to the activation of the Fog signaling pathway and cellular contractility. This assay can be used to investigate the regulation of cellular contractility proteins in the Fog signaling pathway.