Michael Bok
@mikebok.bsky.social
Biologist at Lund University, Sweden. Interested in the evolution and function of vision in invertebrates. Middling photographer.
youtu.be/joosKZ3HygE?... @jtroscianko.bsky.social Has edited together this video of us explaining our butterfly research. I must admit I didn't quite realise how under the weather I was at the time. So forgive my slightly zombified appearance!
Butterfly wing patterns create powerful motion illusions
YouTube video by Jolyon Troscianko
youtu.be
After giving us a beautiful overview on π evolution, Mike Bok talks about the visual adaptations of Polyphemus pediculus (water fleas) living in variable light conditions. @mikebok.bsky.social #ICN2026
The formatted paper is now out in MBE - describing OPTICS software to predict color sensitivy based on opsin sequence alone: academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
Validate User
academic.oup.com
Todd Oakley@ostratodd.bsky.social Β· 4mo ago𧡠New paper! Weβre excited to release OPTICS: software that immediately predicts color sensitivity from any opsin protein sequence. In other words: give OPTICS any opsin sequence, and it predicts the wavelength of light the pigment is most sensitive to πποΈ academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...
I am hiring a PhD student to join our group in Lund, Sweden working on an ERC-funded project to untangle color and polarization vision in some amazing crustaceans β minute water fleas and pugnacious mantis shrimp! Please forward this to promising students. Apply here: lu.varbi.com/en/what:job/...
I am hiring a postdoc for scRNA-seq research in Lund, Sweden on the visual systems of non-model inverts as part of an ERC project on the evolution and ecology of advanced color and polarization vision. Apply here or share the link with someone who may be interested! π§ͺ lu.varbi.com/en/what:job/...
So excited to have received an #HFSPResearchGrant to study trilobite eyes with Luke Parry @oxuniearthsci.bsky.social and Gil Ju Lee (Pusan National University)!π₯³ I'll be recruiting a postdoc @bristolbiosci.bsky.social - if 3D data, optical modelling, and fossils tickle your interest, stay tuned!
Human Frontier Science Program@hfspo.bsky.social Β· 7mo agoAttention scientists from all over the worldπ The 2026 #HFSPResearchGrants are out! π₯³ 117 scientists from 31 countries will pursue bold, interdisciplinary research, from #neuroscience to #ecology and beyond! π§ͺ Are you one of the new #HFSPAwardees? πhttps://bit.ly/4uGmMQ3 #sts #HFSP
Thank you all! Also big thanks to @russellgarwood.co.uk and experienced HFSP-ers @mikebok.bsky.social, Dan Speiser, and Carsten LΓΌter for their advice on the proposal π
From our new paper out now in @currentbiology.bsky.social: www.cell.com/current-biol... w/ @neurofishh.bsky.social @gkafetzis.bsky.social @denilsson.bsky.social Looking across animals, the vertebrate eye is an obvious outlier. Why is it so different that other highly visual animals?
Out now in @currentbiology.bsky.social! A dive into the deep history of vertebrate vision, together with @mikebok.bsky.social, @neurofishh.bsky.social and @denilsson.bsky.social Photo credit : Vasilis Karkalas
George Kafetzis@gkafetzis.bsky.social Β· last yr.ποΈThe retina β strikingly conserved across vertebrates, but an oddity among bilaterians! So how did it evolve? With @mikebok.bsky.social, @neurofishh.bsky.social and @denilsson.bsky.social, we argue that retinal complexity may ππππππ‘π π‘βπ ππ¦π ππ‘π πππ. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 1/n
My collaborator at University of Copenhagen, Anders Garm, is looking for a 3 year postdoc to work on bioluminescence, neurobiology and ecology of ctenophores. More information here: candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationI...
Ever wanted to know how the visual system of a long distance migratory moth looks like? Then you'll find your answers in our new paper. Finally out, after about a decade of collecting data by a group af amazing co-authors. Find it here, open access: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Thanks so much to ASAB and the #ASABwinter2025 organisers for a cracking conference. Not sure why Iβm so excited here, I guess the yoghurt and granola had just been servedβ¦
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
Big congratulations to our biology researchers @cnilsson.science and @mikebok.bsky.social β who get @erc.europa.eu Consolidator grants! Well deserved! πππ Read the full story: www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/thre...
Listening and #gazing at the first keynote talk from @mikebok.bsky.social from Lund University at the #biophdday_ku at @ucph.bsky.social. So interesting to hear and see the diversity of visual sensory organs from different invertebrates!
Congrats Staffan Bensch, @mikebok.bsky.social, Yedra Garcia Garcia, Dennis Hasselquist, Prof. Anders HedenstrΓΆm, Lina Herbertsson, Sebastian Marquardt, Erik Selander, ErnΓΆ Vinzce, Prof. Eric Warrant, Dan-Dan Zhang and @kruthsatz.bsky.social β all awarded grants from @vetenskapsradet.bsky.social!
..with a huge payoff, in gradual steps: β Choice of right depth β Body Posture β Visually - guided locomotion, eventually 7/n
Extremely grateful to @wellcometrust.bsky.social @vetenskapsradet.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu @hfspo.bsky.social @ukri.org @leverhulme.ac.uk @thelisterinstitute.bsky.social for their generous support of our eye evolution endeavours ποΈπ¦π
Very excited about our new preprint, led by @gkafetzis.bsky.social /w @mikebok.bsky.social & @denilsson.bsky.social. We suggest that the vertebrate 'duplex' retina emerged from interconnecting two ancient median-eye microcircuits. Say goodbye to the 'simplex' retina - it probably never existed!
George Kafetzis@gkafetzis.bsky.social Β· last yr.ποΈThe retina β strikingly conserved across vertebrates, but an oddity among bilaterians! So how did it evolve? With @mikebok.bsky.social, @neurofishh.bsky.social and @denilsson.bsky.social, we argue that retinal complexity may ππππππ‘π π‘βπ ππ¦π ππ‘π πππ. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 1/n
Most bilaterians keep photoreceptor types separate. But vertebrate eyes are a mash-up: πͺ‘Ciliary (rods & cones) and πRhabdomeric (ganglion, amacrine, horizontal) β¦all packed into a multilayered circuit. 2/n
ποΈThe retina β strikingly conserved across vertebrates, but an oddity among bilaterians! So how did it evolve? With @mikebok.bsky.social, @neurofishh.bsky.social and @denilsson.bsky.social, we argue that retinal complexity may ππππππ‘π π‘βπ ππ¦π ππ‘π πππ. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 1/n
a black and white dog is sitting on a couch with its tongue sticking out .
ALT: a black and white dog is sitting on a couch with its tongue sticking out .
media.tenor.com
Fresh(ish) from the week at BESSY II @helmholtz.de looking at the changes associated with eye loss in spiders! Not pictured: our valiant night shifters, @mikebok.bsky.social, Karla Lopez Reyes, and Constance Coubris πͺπΌπ
Very excited and proud to finally share this story! π We discovered surprising roles for dopamine and acetylcholine in the Octopus visual systemβ¦ doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Novel dopaminergic neurotransmission in the Octopus visual system
Coleoid cephalopods such as the common octopus have a complex visual system, with a camera-type eye and a large optic lobe, that evolved independently from its counterpart in vertebrates. However, the...
doi.org
I know there's a πππ going on right now, but I couldnβt be prouder to share this long-incubated labor of love: the complete connectome of the male π·πππ ππβπππ optic lobe π§ πͺ° π www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Connectome-driven neural inventory of a complete visual system - Nature
A connectome of the right optic lobe from a male fruitfly is presented together with an extensive collection of genetic drivers matched to a comprehensive neuron-type catalogue.
nature.com
Super excited to have received a @hfspo.bsky.social grant with with @neurofishh.bsky.social for our proposal: Eyes inside out: Visual coding without a multilayered retina in squid and worms.
oh INTERESTING! So apparently this FOUR EYED thing is a consistent anomaly cross different strombid taxa ?!?#molluscmonday www.inaturalist.org/observations...
bubble conch (Euprotomus bulla)
bubble conch from Mabini, Batangas, Philippines on May 8, 2019 at 01:50 PM by Albert Kang. This was a special find of a Euprotomus bulla as they normally have only 2 eyes whereas this one ...
inaturalist.org
βWe are losing sight of the academic mission: to think, to enquire, to design and perform new research, to innovate, to teach and communicate our findings for the purpose of societal improvementβ academic.oup.com/brain/articl...
On the responsibilities of intellectuals and the rise of bullshit jobs in universities
You may never have considered yourself to be one. Why would you? But if youβre reading this, there is more than a likelihood that you are one. If youβre a
academic.oup.com
A fun case of usual-unusual: Most luminescence in the sea is blue-green, but Tomopteris worms emit yellow light. With Warren Francis, we found a species that emits blue light β unusual but usual. π¦π§ͺ link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00227-016-3028-2 doi.org/10.1002/bio.2671
A polychaete worm with tiny googly eyes, drifting in the great blue.
New issue of Ecology chose one of my pictures as cover image. Amazing to see hunting broadclub on the cover!! @drmartinjhow.bsky.social @bristolbiosci.bsky.social @ecologyofvision.bsky.social
Cover Image
COVER PHOTO: A broadclub cuttlefish (Sepia latimanus) passes dark stripes downward over its head while approaching prey in the waters off Kri Island (Raja Ampat, Indonesia). By observing this species...
esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com