An other example of the value and beauty of fundamental biology research: we don’t always know what kind of future applications will be made possible by a basic discovery. This work in a single-celled alga open the doors to optigenetics 💡🧬

Nobel Prize@nobelprize.org · last wk.

Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel – awarded the 2026 medicine prize – discovered a remarkable protein, channelrhodopsin, in a single-celled alga. Hegemann wondered how Chlamydomonas, a single-celled alga, is able to swim towards a light source.

Are you trying to find a postdoc? Are you interested in the evolution of nervous systems and want to work on a cool worm? Here's your chance!

Vikram Chandra@vchandra.bsky.social · 2w ago

I’m hiring! I’m looking for postdocs to lead multiple systems neuroscience projects - to identify organising principles for Hofstenia’s distributed brain, and to understand how it computes and how it generates coherent behaviour. Deadline: Oct 11th crick.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/External/job...

I am excited to announce that I will start the Brain Origins Lab at the Crick in March 2027! Using acoels as a model system, the lab will study how animal brains evolve, and how innovations in brain organisation enable new computational abilities and the evolution of complex behaviour.

The Francis Crick Institute@crick.ac.uk · last mo.

We’re excited to announce five new group leaders will join the Crick in the coming months. Welcome to Katya Osipova, @joshuabull.bsky.social, @vchandra.bsky.social, @sami-c.bsky.social and James Cranley, whose specialties range from artificial intelligence to cell biology. https://bit.ly/3SPC6vJ

🧵 What if one reason fertility declines with age isn’t just genetic-but mechanical? Thrilled to share our new paper in @NatureCellBio : Elevated contractility drives implantation failure in mouse embryos from aged females… here’s what we found 👇 www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/11

Elevated contractility drives implantation failure in mouse embryos from aged females - Nature Cell Biology

Cavanaugh et al. show that embryos from aged mice have increased contractility and tissue viscosity on embryonic day 4.5, which leads to poor spreading and attachment. Similar age-associated mechanica...

nature.com

A new pharynx for #FluorescenceFriday. ✨ Hofstenia miamia are able to completely regenerate their pharynx after amputation, building new muscle (🟠, transgenic line) that surrounds an internal ciliated tube (🔵, b-tubulin).

Part 1 of my postdoc work is officially published! 🥳 Hofstenia miamia has emerged as a new model system because of its ability to accomplish whole-body regeneration - but that also means that animals must be able to heal any type of wound. How do they do this? 🧵 1/13 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

hiiii everyone! my department @zoology.ubc.ca is hiring an assistant professor in cell and developmental biology! deadline is october 1! academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/32408 // please share!!!!!

President of MIT not mincing words today in @statnews.com www.statnews.com/2026/05/27/s...

So excited to see this in its final form!

Michalis Averof@michalis-averof.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Finding molecular tags that localise fluorescent proteins to the cell membrane was the goal of our latest paper, now published in Development @dev-journal.bsky.social. The tags act as address labels, sending proteins to the cell membrane, where they highlight the shape and arrangement of cells. 2/9

Proud to share this work with @kevinchalut.bsky.social and Byron Mui. Why do some injuries scar while others regenerate? Using digit tip models, we show the ECM is a key driver. HA-rich ECM promotes regeneration, and boosting it can shift healing away from fibrosis. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Jane Coffin Childs Fellow Dr. Allison Kann @apkann.bsky.social is working at the forefront of regeneration research. We as humans aren’t great at regenerating, or healing our tissues and organs after major injuries. However, there are many amazing creatures in nature ... 1/

Excited to share my new preprint from the McKinley lab, where we explored regenerative mechanisms across menstruation and pregnancy! We thought specialized glands would regenerate everything. We were wrong. But the real mechanism turned out to be way cooler :) 🧪🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

New paper out in @bmc.springernature.com 🤩👏 A routine 5-ethynyl uridine (EU) RNA labeling experiment in a sea anemone turned into detective work for @malinkjosavik.bsky.social, @ktgarschall.bsky.social & @prhsteinmetz.bsky.social 🕵️‍♀️

A widely used RNA assay labels the wrong molecules in several model organisms

After a routine experiment raised suspicions, Steinmetz group researchers joined forces with collaborators to highlight the limitations of a commonly used RNA labeling product.

uib.no

On the importance of preprints, regardless of whether you are Team Sponge or Team Jelly: 'King says that she wishes she had posted the study as a preprint so that the errors could have been caught sooner.' www.nature.com/articles/d41...

What were the first animals? The fierce sponge–jelly battle that just won’t end

For almost two decades, scientists have debated whether sponges or comb jellies are the first animal lineage. Now some are calling for a more harmonious approach.

nature.com

Morphogenesis & Organogenesis! Part 1 (full) in the comments 👇 Comment if you'd like to be added (regardless of age or career stage!) Please post your own biology-related starter packs using #BioStarterPacks 🧬🔬🪰🐟🐁🌱

Felt a little festive at the microscope this morning for #FluorescenceFriday 🎄 Here’s the nervous system of a juvenile sea star ⭐️ Green = acetylated tubulin, red = nuclei Happy holidays!

Academics and technologists are sounding the alarm about a growing crisis in scholarship as we know it: AI-generated citations of nonexistent papers that have infested real journals. Despite being fake, the sources are widely assumed to be authentic the more they appear in published literature.

AI Is Inventing Academic Papers That Don't Exist -- And They're Being Cited in Real Journals

Academic articles from authors using large language model are creating an ecosystem of fake research that threatens human knowledge itself.

rollingstone.com

#ArtAdventCalendar Gel Electrophoresis in Green and Blue, watercolor, 2023 #sciart

My team are running the Peripheral Nerve Society's Instagram account this week: www.instagram.com/pnsociety1 If you like images of the nervous system, please check it out! #FluorescenceFriday @uclqsneuromuscular.bsky.social @uclqsion.bsky.social

From #amoeba to humans: new paper @natcomms.nature.com by the Grashoff group @sfb1348.bsky.social reveals evolutionary origin of animal cell adhesion and force transmission. Talin protein plays central role. See rdcu.be/eTFJR @uni-muenster.de

Can't believe my postdoc paper is finally out. Christmas came early this year, holy moly 🎄 Molecular basis for de novo thymus regeneration in a vertebrate, the axolotl | Science Immunology www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Molecular basis for de novo thymus regeneration in a vertebrate, the axolotl

The molecular, cellular, and functional restoration of the axolotl thymus after de novo regeneration is described.

science.org

Join us for next week’s exciting VGZT session! 🎉 🗓️ Thursday, November 20th ⏰ 9:30 PST / 12:30 EST / 17:30 UTC / 17:30 GMT / 18:30 CET Our speakers are 👉 Allison Kann (@apkann.bsky.social) 👉 Joana da Silva (on X: @joanamsilva14) See you there 👋

This image by MDI Bio Lab's Travis Carney is a #drosophila larval brain. Neural stem cells and neurons are marked, including axons that project into the brain. The flare in the center of each lobe is part of a learning and memory center in flies. ZEISS Microscopy #microscopymonday 🧪 🤝

PAPER OUT ✨ What if you could use your microscope as a 3D printer? Prototype microfluidics in-house, <5$ in material costs per chip. From idea to experiment within a day. Now published in Lab-on-a-Chip (open-access): doi.org/10.1039/D5LC...

Teach your microscope how to print: low-cost and rapid-iteration microfabrication for biology

The application of traditional microfabrication techniques to biological research is hindered by their reliance on clean rooms, expensive or toxic materials, and slow iteration cycles. We present an a...

doi.org

Lucien Hinderling@lhinderling.bsky.social · 2y ago

PREPRINT OUT ✨ "hack" your microscope to work as a 3D printer! print micrometer sized features at cm scale. a method for easy and cheap microfabrication, with a focus on biological applications. THREAD ↓ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

As spooky season is upon us 🎃, we have cells that look like spider webs for #FluorescenceFriday 🧪🔬

Happy to share that this work is now published in @biophysj.bsky.social! doi.org/10.1016/j.bp...

Rikki Garner@rikkigarner.bsky.social · last yr.

In developing embryos, cells move a lot! Plenty of that movement is random. Is random cell mixing a feature or bug for tissue patterning? Turns out, it’s both! Excited to share the 1st preprint from my postdoc w/ Sean Megason @seanemcgeary.bsky.social and Allon Klein. 1/20 doi.org/10.1101/2025...

How can we see the cells that make up a living organism? Membrane-localising tags can drive fluorescent proteins to the cell's outer membrane, making their outlines visible. But the tags don't work well in all organisms. How do you find one for your species of interest? 🧵 Check our latest preprint

A toolkit for testing membrane-localising tags across species

Transgenic markers and tools have revolutionised how we study cells and developing organisms. Some of the elements needed to construct those tools are universally applicable (e.g. fluorescent proteins...

biorxiv.org

One of the coolest projects I've seen in years - huge congrats to Çağrı and the McKinley team!

Çağrı Çevrim@cagricevrim.bsky.social · last yr.

I’m thrilled to share my postdoc work and the first paper from the McKinley Lab! 🎉 @karalmckinley.bsky.social We built the first transgenic model of menstruation in mice. We used it to uncover how the endometrium organizes and sheds during menstruation. 🧪 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 🧵

🚨 My lab is hiring at all levels! Interested in animal origins & evolutionary cell biology? I'm recruiting a postdoc, PhD students & a research assistant to study the molecular evolution of cell adhesion using marine invertebrates + comparative genomics. 🔗: clarkelab.com/join/ Please repost!

For #FluorescenceFriday, RhoA (blue) and the actin cytoskeleton (magenta) are shown in a set of primary microglia 🔬 #Neuroscience #Microscopy