Our team is recruiting a PhD student to investigate the evolution of pressure sensation in Zooplankton! The project will use marine invertebrate larvae to explore the molecular, cellular, and neuronal mechanisms behind this fascinating sensory system. More details here: bit.ly/3TTeF4Q

Postdoc opportunity in Copenhagen! Interested in marine bioluminescence, comb jellies & experimental biology? A great 2-year postdoc (possibility of 1-year extension), working with CRISPR, imaging & EM in the labs of Anders Garm & Cornelia Jaspers. Deadline: 16.08 jobportal.ku.dk/videnskabeli...

Postdoc in Marine Bioluminescence - re-advertisement

jobportal.ku.dk

Our Dispatch "Evolution: Ancient monoamines in a neuron-less animal" out in @currentbiology.bsky.social. Monoamine signaling and behavioral responses in placozoans suggest this system predates bilaterians. authors.elsevier.com/a/1nYJl3QW8S... @annaferraioli.bsky.social @msarscentre.bsky.social

If you are interested in nervous system evolution you may want to read our review with Kei Jokura on nerve nets: "Revisiting nerve nets: functional organization and evolutionary implication" https://link.springer.com/article/10.1038/s44318-026-00879-w […] [Original post on biologists.social]

Prebilaterian Origin of Monoaminergic Signalling is out! This paper represents four years of work, not only mine, but friends and colleagues. I am particularly grateful to Tatiana Mayorova; without her help, this paper would not have been nearly as complete. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Prebilaterian origin of monoaminergic signaling

Monoamines such as serotonin, dopamine, and tyramine regulate physiological and behavioral processes in bilaterian animals, but the evolutionary origi…

sciencedirect.com

Our News & Views article “Body-plan organizer in comb jellies hints at animal ancestry” now published in @nature.com 🎉 We discuss fascinating work revealing organizer activity in comb jellies & the evolution of animal development. rdcu.be/fsLWq @ruthstyfhals.bsky.social @msarscentre.bsky.social

How ancient are the building blocks of animal sensory systems? Key components of animal sensory systems evolved before animals. We find that choanoflagellates possess diverse & spatially segregated TRP channels, pointing to ancient origins of sensory specialization. doi.org/10.64898/202...

It is easy to think that sea squirts only display simple behaviors and do not significantly interact with their environment 🌊 New research lead by @olegtolstenkov.bsky.social, Sissel Norland and @mchatzigeorgiou.bsky.social proves this assumption wrong 👏⤵

New study reveals an unsuspected range of behaviors in the sea squirt Ciona

New research on the sea squirt Ciona intestinalis challenges the view that animals living fixed in place have simple behaviors and limited responses to their environment.

uib.no

1/5 A fascinating new #ctenophore preprint 🧵 Ferraioli et al. uncover a “ladder-like” neural architecture in the living comb jelly Mnemiopsis and connect it to preserved neuroanatomical traces in Cambrian fossils. But the real importance isn’t the anatomy. It’s what the anatomy implies.

Pawel Burkhardt@pawelburkhardt.bsky.social · 3mo ago

A fossil nervous system meets modern neurobiology. We found that a living comb jelly preserves neural architecture remarkably similar to those inferred from Cambrian fossils over 500 million years old 🤩. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Super excited to see this story out ✨ ‪ Ctenophores are full of surprises 🪜🤩

Pawel Burkhardt@pawelburkhardt.bsky.social · 3mo ago

A fossil nervous system meets modern neurobiology. We found that a living comb jelly preserves neural architecture remarkably similar to those inferred from Cambrian fossils over 500 million years old 🤩. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Happy #CtenophoreDay (10/4)! Last month, my picture of a cteno illustrated the cover of the latest paper of @annaferraioli.bsky.social & @pawelburkhardt.bsky.social lab on the Aboral Organ of Mnemiopsis. Zoom in on the centre of the image to see a white dot: the AO www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Our new book chapter on the culture of gelatinous plankton is out! Written with Miguel Candelas Pérez and @joanjsoto.bsky.social. Check out the book by using this link or contacting me: ecosur.repositorioinstitucional.mx/jspui/handle... Many thanks to the editor María A. Mendoza Becerril.

Congratulations to all the authors 👏 A special mention goes to @alexandrejan.bsky.social for a gorgeous cover image! @leodigel.bsky.social @jeffcolgren.bsky.social @carinelegoff.bsky.social @joanjsoto.bsky.social @maikekittelmann.bsky.social @aaas.org 4/4

New article from the @pawelburkhardt.bsky.social group highlighted on the cover of Science Advances 🤩👏 The work, led by @annaferraioli.bsky.social, describes in unprecedented details the structure of the comb jelly's aboral organ (AO) 🧵 1/4

Ctenophore research points to earlier origins of brain-like structures

New 3D reconstructions of a key sensory organ in ctenophores reveal an unexpected structural and functional complexity. The findings suggest that an elementary brain may have already appeared in our m...

tinyurl.com

Honored to illustrate the work of @annaferraioli.bsky.social and the team of @pawelburkhardt.bsky.social featured in Science Advances. Check it out!

Pawel Burkhardt@pawelburkhardt.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Even more excited — our paper is featured on the cover of Science Advances! Huge thanks to @alexandrejan.bsky.social who took this incredible photo of a ctenophore (aka comb jelly) and the editors. Here’s the cover 👇 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

I’m beyond excited to see our work published in Science Advances! 🎉 Deeply grateful to everyone involved — and especially to @pawelburkhardt.bsky.social for the great mentorship ✨ www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Pawel Burkhardt@pawelburkhardt.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Thrilled to share that our preprint has been accepted in Science Advances! Grateful to an incredible team & collaborators. Link: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... 👏 @annaferraioli.bsky.social @maikekittelmann.bsky.social @msarscentre.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu @hfspo.bsky.social #ctenophores

Excited to see this story out as a preprint ✨

Cnidarian developmental mechanisms group@clytia-vlfr.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Introducing a Clytia planula cell atlas, and demonstrating broad-level relations with medusa cells via another updated atlas. By @annaferraioli.bsky.social with @juliarmateu.bsky.social and collaborators in a project led by @rcply.bsky.social @biodev-vlfr.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Thrilled to see our review article "The evolutionary origins of synaptic proteins" highlighted on the cover of Nature Reviews Neuroscience 🤩. www.nature.com/articles/s41... @msarscentre.bsky.social 🧠✨🧬🌊🪼🧽

Pawel Burkhardt@pawelburkhardt.bsky.social · 10mo ago

First neurons didn’t appear overnight. We trace their roots to ancient secretory cells - showing how lifestyle & behavior shaped the evolution of first synapses.🧠🌊 #Evolution #Neuroscience Our latest in @natrevneuro.nature.com Link: rdcu.be/eMX3E @jeffcolgren.bsky.social @msarscentre.bsky.social

💡How does nutrition regulate cell cycle in stem cells? Check out our new paper from @prhsteinmetz.bsky.social lab & @msarscentre.bsky.social, out now in @plosbiology.org (plos.io/48J2o6P) #SeaAnemone #Nematostella #StemCell #CellCycle #Quiescence #TORsignalling 1/12

Prolonged starvation deepens quiescence in Vasa2/Piwi1-expressing cells of a sea anemone

Animals with lifelong growth modulate cell proliferation in response to nutrient availability, but the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. This study shows that starvation induces a revers...

plos.io

Thrilled to share the preprint from my PhD! 🥳 Where I characterised epithelial cell extrusion in a sea anemone 🔗 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Big thanks to my supervisor @prhsteinmetz.bsky.social and coauthors @noahbruderer.bsky.social @lionlchristiaen.bsky.social at🇳🇴 @msarscentre.bsky.social ⬇️🧵

Some more shenanigans on the Ctenophora Porifera debate from @rcply.bsky.social academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...

Sponges, ctenophores and the statistical significance of syntenies

Abstract. Shared fusions between ancestral chromosomal linkage groups have previously been used to support phylogenetic groupings, notably sponges with cni

academic.oup.com

Our paper on the role of neurons in Nematostella head regeneration is now out at @currentbiology.bsky.social Big thank you to all collaborators, it was a pleasure! Ectopic head regeneration after nervous system ablation in a sea anemone: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...

Ectopic head regeneration after nervous system ablation in a sea anemone

Via genetic ablation of neurons, Mazloumi Gavgani et al. show that the nervous system is essential for defining axial polarity during whole-body regeneration in the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis.

cell.com

Drawing together findings from several projects over many years, we make a case that neural cell types in the Clytia larva have two embryological origins: i-cells and ectodermal. bioRxiv 2025.11.17.688882; doi: doi.org/10.1101/2025...

🚨Our collaboration with @centriolelab.bsky.social & @gautamdey.bsky.social is out today in @cp-cell.bsky.social We show that #Expansion #Microscopy is a broad-spectrum modality for Euks, enabling 3D phenotypic maps rooted to phylogeny. #ProtistsOnSky #SciComm #SciSky www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Very happy to see our paper published online natcomms.nature.com. Thank you to @wellcometrust.bsky.social for funding this work during my time with @robklose.bsky.social and David Booth! Thanks also to collaborators @garcialabms.bsky.social @alexdemendoza.bsky.social and the other authors!

Chromatin profiling identifies putative dual roles for H3K27me3 in regulating cell type-specific genes and transposable elements in choanoflagellates

Nature Communications - Here, the authors investigate chromatin-based gene regulation in the closest relative of animal, choanoflagellates. They uncover a putative dual role for the histone...

rdcu.be

First neurons didn’t appear overnight. We trace their roots to ancient secretory cells - showing how lifestyle & behavior shaped the evolution of first synapses.🧠🌊 #Evolution #Neuroscience Our latest in @natrevneuro.nature.com Link: rdcu.be/eMX3E @jeffcolgren.bsky.social @msarscentre.bsky.social

The evolutionary origins of synaptic proteins and their changing roles in different organisms across evolution

Nature Reviews Neuroscience - Recent studies have shed further light on the evolutionary origins of chemical synapses, In this Review, Colgren and Burkhardt explore how ancient proteins were...

rdcu.be

Happy Ctenophore Day! These glowing ocean drifters look like jellyfish but aren’t! They’re comb jellies, shimmering creatures that light up the sea with rows of beating cilia 💙🌈 Which species can you identify? 👀 Most are raised in @pawelburkhardt.bsky.social lab #CtenophoreDay #CombJelly #Ctenophore

New preprint from the @pawelburkhardt.bsky.social lab 🤩 @annaferraioli.bsky.social & colleagues created a 3D model of the ctenophore apical organ, revealing cell-type diversity and exciting new insights into the evolution of central nervous systems 🧠🧪 Congratulations to the team! 👏

Pawel Burkhardt@pawelburkhardt.bsky.social · last yr.

Ctenophores possess a unique aboral organ that acts as a multisensory center, controlling complex behaviors. We’ve now created a ctenophore model integrated with our 3D volume EM data. Puts it into perspective. Check out our recent work here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #ctenophores #volumeEM

Ctenophores possess a unique aboral organ that acts as a multisensory center, controlling complex behaviors. We’ve now created a ctenophore model integrated with our 3D volume EM data. Puts it into perspective. Check out our recent work here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #ctenophores #volumeEM

Marine biodiversity: Gone with the wind? Our dispatch out now in @currentbiology.bsky.social New research shows that wind and currents act as invisible barriers, reshaping our view of ocean connectivity. 🌊🪼 authors.elsevier.com/a/1lYLj3QW8S... @iramaegele.bsky.social @msarscentre.bsky.social