The quail is a small, unassuming bird that glides rather than flies and prefers to hide under bushes than to perch on top of a tree. And now, it’s also helping scientists understand serious birth defects in humans.

In a new paper published in Nature Communications, my colleagues and I introduce a new way to study how spinal cords form in the earliest stages of development and what can go wrong – using a genetically modified fluorescent quail embryo.

A fluorescent quail may not be helpful for survival in the wild. But in the lab it allows us to watch living cells organise themselves in real time, revealing processes previously impossible to observe.

What is the neural tube?

The neural tube is the precursor to the brain and spinal cord. In humans, it forms during the first four weeks of pregnancy.

It isn’t much more than a tiny tube stretching from what will become the head to the future tail bone. When this process fails, the neural tube is left open in what is called a neural tube defect.

At least 214,000 pregnancies are impacted by these defects worldwide every year.

In some cases pregnancies are lost; in others the baby will have lifelong disabilities. Spina bifida occurs when the spine is open, most commonly resulting in mobility loss and loss of feeling. Other conditions such as anencephaly occur when this opening is in the brain.

Studying these birth defects is........

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