Excited to share the final published version of our work on the evolution of dorsal-ventral patterning in fins and limbs, now up on @currentbiology.bsky.social In review we added new single LARM element deletions to assess their impact on dorsality. Take a look! 🔬🧪🐟🐁 www.cell.com/current-biol...

M. Brent Hawkins@homeobox.bsky.social · last yr.

We take for granted that our hands have two sides and can articulate in an endless number of ways. But what about a fish’s fin? Can a fish know something “like the back of its fin,” or have its future told with a fin palm reading? Check out this bluetorial to find out 👇🧪🧬🐟 doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Some more of my PhD work is out on preprint! Exciting to share more about the truncate fin phenotype!!

Sarah McMenamin@mcmenaminlab.bsky.social · 3mo ago

New preprint! We found that distinct positional identity patterns the central features of the zebrafish caudal fin. But, to quote WB Yeats, "The centre cannot hold:" when central identity is disrupted, the center "collapses" and the fin develops with a novel shape. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Distinct positional identity at the center of the caudal fin establishes forked shape https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.16.725681v1

Notch-mediated thyroid hormone regulation of skin development in the zebrafish caudal fin https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.20.713269v1

Increased diameter of arteries and veins in the caudal fins of Danio rerio longfint2 fish is accompanied by fin overgrowth #micropublication #biology #data #caltechlibrary #Zebrafish #PhenotypeData #G https://micropublication.org/journals/biology/micropub-biology-002008

It’s out! 🐟 We compared three regeneration superstars—axolotl, zebrafish, and Polypterus—to ask how animals regrow limbs and fins. We find shared core processes, and other programs fine-tuned by evolution in surprising, lineage-specific ways. tinyurl.com/mpftkn7y

Last Friday I successfully defended my PhD thesis! Thank you to all who attended, in person and virtually! Thanks to my partner, family and friends for their endless support, and a thank you especially to my mentor Sarah McMenamin for her guidance and encouragement all these years.

New preprint up with collaborators Jianguo Lu, @mpodobnik.bsky.social, Uwe Irion, Braedan McCluskey, John Postlethwait and others. New Danio genomes, evolution and pigment pattern variation. Long time in the making www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

transport yourself to the late 90s with this really cool paper on digit number regulation by Shh and BMP, ZPA and AER. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Dual Bmp-negative feedback loops modulate function of both AER and ZPA to buffer and constrain postaxial digit number | PNAS

Several lines of evidence indicate that posterior (postaxial) digit number in tetrapod vertebrates is constrained to the pentadactyl state by inter...

pnas.org

Are digits modified fins, or evolutionary innovations? Read how we tackled this old question from a new angle🧪 A story with @chasebolt.bsky.social, @homeobox.bsky.social and myself, coordinated by @denisduboule.bsky.social from @college-de-france.fr and published in @nature.com today! #InHoxWeTrust

What guides fibroblast precursors' migration from the #sclerotome during vertebrate development? @penghuang031.bsky.social &co show that this is driven by #PDGF -mediated chemoattraction, enabling their differentiation into specialized #fibroblast subtypes @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/3HTZ92Y

We take for granted that our hands have two sides and can articulate in an endless number of ways. But what about a fish’s fin? Can a fish know something “like the back of its fin,” or have its future told with a fin palm reading? Check out this bluetorial to find out 👇🧪🧬🐟 doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Hello Bluesky: Long time listener, first time poster! Excited to share the first publication of my Ph.D. work studying the development of appendage shapes in @plosbiology.org! The zebrafish caudal fin is quite distinctive, and we examine the timing and mechanisms of how its shape might come to be!

PLOS Biology@plosbiology.org · 12mo ago

Caudal fins show great variation in shape between diverse fish species. New research reveals that #developmental cues in embryonic tissues involving the Sonic hedgehog pathway imprint fin #morphology, highlighting a critical window for modulating appendage morphology. 🧪 plos.io/4mydLnA