Delighted to see our book on Stem Cell-Based Human Embryo Models published in Methods in Molecular Biology. link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

Stem Cell-Based Human Embryo Models

This book covers diverse aspects of stem cell research and exemplifies some of the developments and improvements in the field.

link.springer.com

With @rocha-lab.bsky.social we are organizing a workshop on developmental robustness and it is now open for applications for early career participants! These are fantastic interactive meetings and we have a great speaker lineup - if you have any questions don’t hesitate to get in touch!

The Company of Biologists@biologists.bsky.social · 4w ago

Funded places are available for early-career researchers at our Workshop on Bridging Scales and Disciplines to Understand Robust Development, 18-21 April 2027, organised by Mauricio Rocha Martins and Giulia Paci @giuliapaci.bsky.social Find out more and apply at www.biologists.com/workshops/ap...

Exciting VGZT session this week! 🎉 🗓️ Thursday, July 2nd ⏰ 9:30 PDT / 12:30 EDT / 17:30 BST / 18:30 CEST Our speakers are: 👉 Silvia Santos (@santoslab.bsky.social) 👉 Diana Pinheiro (@dianapinheiro.bsky.social) See you there! 👋

Join @davidbalchin.bsky.social, group leader here at the Crick, as he describes the fascinating ways our cells ensure that proteins fold correctly, and what happens when this goes awry in disease. youtu.be/gEgK1JDNlZ8

How Are We So Good at Folding Proteins? - With David Balchin

YouTube video by The Francis Crick Institute

youtu.be

Great publication by our former Postdoc Nick (Chun) So, now PI at NIBS. Congratulations to So Lab and the team! 👏🎉 🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Two distinct causes contribute to the low efficiency of human pre-implantation development

∼50% of fertilized eggs arrest during human pre-implantation development, representing a major bottleneck for assisted reproductive technology. The un…

sciencedirect.com

An amazing list of speakers and lots of opportunity to give selected talks! Save the date and join us in Amsterdam next year!

Stefano Di Talia@ditalialab.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Be on the lookout for an exciting meeting that Matilde @matildegalli.bsky.social , Silvia @santoslab.bsky.social and I are organizing next year in Amsterdam. It will be a lot of fun. coming-soon.embo.org/w27-24

New from our lab @crick.ac.uk. Nascent proteins emerge from the human ribosome into a cytosol packed with hundreds of different molecular chaperones. Which chaperones recognise specific nascent chains, and what dictates their binding preferences? www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Crick evolutionary biologist @margaridamcm.bsky.social is working with conservation charity ZSL to investigate an enduring mystery: how the placenta has evolved with incredible variation across species. Read the full story: www.crick.ac.uk/news/2026-03...

The Crick magazine spring edition is here, with our latest discoveries and science stories. Read about John Diffley’s mission to crack DNA replication and how a giraffe is helping scientists understand placenta evolution ➡️ www.crick.ac.uk/news-and-fea...

The Crick Magazine | Issue 2

The Crick Magazine, Spring 2026

crick.ac.uk

Join #EMBOOmics which aims to showcase new technologies and formulate questions to move the systems biology field forward 👉 s.embl.org/omx26-01-bl 📥 Abstract deadline 11 September

How do electrostatic forces impact TF search ? In joint effort with @beatfierz.bsky.social , tour-de-force from @simsakong.bsky.social who single-handedly combined in vitro SPT on DNA & chromatin, in cellulo SPT, ChIP-seq and ATAC-seq www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Electrostatic properties of disordered regions control transcription factor search and pioneer activity - Nature Communications

This work describes how positive charge in the peptide chain flanking the DNA-binding domain of transcription factors speeds up their search on free and chromatinized DNA, helping to explain why some ...

nature.com

I am delighted to share that registration for the next @embo.org EMBO Cell cycle meeting is now open! meetings.embo.org/event/26-cel... . We have an outstanding lineup of speakers and several selected talks from submitted abstracts. Look forward to welcoming you in Portugal from 5–7 October 2026!

Two Crick group leaders are joining Cancer Grand Challenges teams to tackle big questions in cancer research. Leanne Li leads a team studying how tumours interact with the nervous system, and Vivian Li joins a @ucl.ac.uk-led team working to rewire cancer cells. 🔗 www.crick.ac.uk/news/2026-03...

Timely review on an important support tissue in development. Thank you for highlighting our work! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Amniogenesis in embryos and stem cell models - Nature Cell Biology

This Review discusses the mechanisms underlying both cavitation and folding amniogenesis and provides an overview of the various recent stem cell-based human embryo models that have been developed to ...

nature.com

Development builds... But it also breaks! Planarians split to reproduce. Hydra tears open a mouth. Embryos fracture to make cavities. Failure? No. Fracture is essential to development. Our new review on fracture physics and its uses in development: journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...

Break to build: fracture as a unifying morphogenetic strategy

Summary: This Review presents mechanical fracture as a unifying morphogenetic strategy and describes how developmental systems actively exploit mechanical fracture to drive morphogenesis, reproduction...

journals.biologists.com

Rashmi Priya@rashmi-priya.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Our latest with @torres-sanchez.bsky.social journals.biologists.com/dev/article-... Breaking isn’t always a bad thing! Think of birth, seed release... We highlight how living tissue not only tolerates fractures but actively fracture to grow, shape, reproduce, or adapt – across species and scales.

We wrote a protocol article detailing induction of dormancy in stem cells, embryos, and blastoids. We hope that it is useful to the community. As usual fun to work with @nicolasrivron.bsky.social, Heidar and Dhanur.

This is such hard news to process. Such an amazing scientist and inspiration for so many of us. www.embl.org/news/embl-an...

In remembrance of Peer Bork  | EMBL

EMBL and its community are deeply saddened by the death of Peer Bork, the organisation’s Interim Director General.

embl.org

Lovely little pre-Christmas present to see this out @natcellbio.nature.com! Some 🔥 new results in here since the biorvix incl (1) a new RARE-GFP reporter ✳️🙌, (2) additional NMP quantification 🔢, (3) no neural tube patterning on RA inhibition 🙅 etc. Enjoy! 😍 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Modelling co-development between the somites and neural tube in human trunk-like structures - Nature Cell Biology

Makwana, Tilley et al. generate human stem cell-based trunk-like structures approximating Carnegie stage 13–14 of development. They use them to model and study the development of the thoracic and lumbar trunk.

nature.com

Good to see the peer reviewed version of this published A chemo-optogenetic system for spatiotemporal control of gene expression We use it to: - Reconstruct SHH mediated neural tube patterning in vitro - Measure extracellular half-life of Shh www.cell.com/developmenta...

Investigating morphogen and patterning dynamics with optogenetic control of morphogen production

Benzinger et al. develop a chemo-optogenetic system for precise spatiotemporal control of morphogen production in vitro. Using light-controlled Sonic hedgehog expression, they recapitulate neural tube...

cell.com

What is psychosis and how can we treat it? Crick group leader @kathaschmack.bsky.social explains how her lab is working to uncover new ways to treat psychosis by finding its biological roots. youtu.be/EUb3_5ecatU

A Crash Course in Psychosis – with Katharina Schmack

YouTube video by The Francis Crick Institute

youtu.be

We are hiring for a web developer position, ideally with some experience in bioinformatics. This position is aimed at helping us turn our research in human genetics into useful tools. A background in either bioinformatics or web development is required. jobs.ethz.ch/job/view/JOP...

Full Stack Web Developer for Life Science Research

jobs.ethz.ch

Great to see this published: Fitting dynamical landscape models to single-cell data, creating interpretable maps of cell decision making & developmental logic Applied to neural tube patterning, we show how morphogen signals reshape landscapes and drive fate decisions www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Reconstructing Waddington’s landscape from data | PNAS

The development of a zygote into a functional organism requires that this single progenitor cell gives rise to numerous distinct cell types. Attemp...

pnas.org

📣 We are moving to Barcelona to join the amazing @crg.eu and explore how centrosomes & cilia work, evolve & respond to the environment. We are looking for PhD students www.crg.eu/en/content/t... Postdocs gimm.pt/jobs/postdoc... Other calls to open, also for an experienced lab manager. Get in touch!

Applications are open for @dev-journal.bsky.social 2026 Pathway to Independence (PI) programme, supporting postdocs applying for group leader positions: Mentoring Profile raising Leadership training Network building Spread the word... www.biologists.com/grants/devel...

Development's Pathway to Independence Programme

Our grants support and encourage the sharing of knowledge throughout the community by facilitating international collaboration, event attendance and the organisation of scientific meetings, conference...

biologists.com

So exciting to see this in print! Ever wondered how embryonic cells know what (fate) to become during early development? In particular when they might see different signaling cues? We investigated this! And a lovely cover from Zoe Ruiz and @oliveringe.bsky.social! www.cell.com/developmenta...

Combinatorial BMP4 and activin direct the choice between alternate routes to endoderm in a stem cell model of human gastrulation

Inge et al. show that human endoderm originates from two converging developmental routes with distinct dynamics and efficiencies yet similar developmental potential. Combinatorial activin and BMP4 sig...

cell.com

The new issue @cp-devcell.bsky.social brings the final form of our opossum heterochrony work www.cell.com/developmenta... And it also brings two great papers from @oliveringe.bsky.social @santoslab.bsky.social and @tobyandrews.bsky.social @rashmi-priya.bsky.social 🙌 great #DevBio from @crick.ac.uk

Emergence and Self-organisation across biological scales! I hope you are ready for next year conference! It will be an incredible event April 20-22 2026. The first of many #LakeConference organised by @ehannezo.bsky.social @alleninstitute.org and James Sharpe @embl.org

allen institute@alleninstitute.org · 9mo ago

#CellBio community, this one is for you! Applications are open for the #LakeConference on Modeling Life from Cells to Tissues – co-hosted with Circuit Neuroscience Basel! 📆 April 20-22, 2026 📍 Seattle, USA 🔬 All career stages welcomed. Apply to attend by 12/12: alleninstitute.org/events/aics-...

Check out that spindle 🤩🔥 At 63C, most eukaryotic cells would be busy exploding noisily, forget even trying to divide. The microbial universe never ceases to astound 😍 Thanks for letting us be a tiny part of this! #ExpandThemAll

H. B. Beryl Rappaport@hbrappap.bsky.social · 9mo ago

While 𝘝. 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘴 max temp is around 45°C, we found 𝘐. 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘴 grows up to 63°C with optimal growth at 55-57°C🥵. We showed cellular replication via Ultrastructure Expansion Microscopy at 63°C. The previous limit for euks is 60°C!

Ten days left to apply to be a @crick.ac.uk Early Career Group Leader Closing date 27th November www.crick.ac.uk/careers-stud...

Early career group leaders

We appoint researchers from across biology and biomedicine to set up their first groups at the Crick.

crick.ac.uk

James Briscoe@jamesbriscoe.bsky.social · 10mo ago

The @crick.ac.uk is recruiting Early Career Group Leaders - Lab set-up, research costs, salaries for up to 5 researchers - Support for up to 12 years - Access to our core facilities - Competitive salary - Fantastic colleagues - All areas of biology Deadline 27 Nov www.crick.ac.uk/careers-stud...

Crosstalk between tissue mechanics and BMP4 signaling regulates symmetry breaking in human gastrula models

Crosstalk between tissue mechanics and BMP4 signaling regulates symmetry breaking in human gastrula models

Brivanlou and colleagues used optogenetics to spatially control BMP4 expression in human stem cell models across different mechanical regimes. By combining these experiments with mathematical modeling, they dissected how biochemical signals and mechanical forces integrate to initiate symmetry breaking at the onset of gastrulation.

dlvr.it