Peer-mentoring and one-on-one mentoring are open to graduate students, postdocs, and faculty at any career stage. For one-on-one mentoring, an incredible 174 mentors have volunteered! Explore the list of mentors here. We can also help match you with someone who isn’t on the list. 3/n

Mentors2026.xlsx

docs.google.com

Mentee sign-ups are open for the 2026-2027 C. elegans Community Mentor Match Program! Choose: - One-to-one mentoring with an experienced mentor - A peer-mentoring group with people at your career stage Or sign up for both, it takes just 2-5 minutes. And please spread the word! 🧵

Mentee sign-up for the C. elegans Community Mentor Match program

The 2026 cycle of the C. elegans Community Mentor Match is open to graduate students, postdocs, and faculty at any career stage. ⏱️ This form takes only 2–5 minutes to complete depending on your choic...

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We need your help spreading the word about the C. elegans Community Mentor Match Program! Please talk about the program in your next lab meeting and share this slide with your lab: docs.google.com/presentation...

Mentor match QR codes 2026

Join the C. elegans Community Mentor Match Program! sign up for mentors sign up for mentees and to join peer-mentoring groups https://forms.gle/nfNWQRnpymu6tCYC9 https://forms.gle/pZdwor7wERmQ4oMG8

docs.google.com

RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) often bind numerous transcripts - but do they act through a network effect? Our new paper in @plosbiology.org shows that the highly conserved LIN28 RBP controls developmental timing in C. elegans larvae through only two targets. doi.org/10.1371/jour... 1/n

👀 Midbody remnants are the SUVs of EVs! Extra-Large extracellular vesicles that carry RNAs and are translation competent. Great review by @ahnaskop.bsky.social

Dr. Ahna Skop@ahnaskop.bsky.social · yesterday

Super excited my new review on midbody remnants (MBRs) is out: "Condensates on the Move: Midbody Remnants as Large, Translation‐Competent Extracellular Vesicles" #extracellularvesicles #midbody #mitosis #condensates #translation #proteinsynthesis onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

1st genome sequenced (Sanger 1977), 1st genome synthesised (Venter 2003), 1st genome + proteome fully mutated (Huijin Xiangua 2026!) @crg.eu @sangerinstitute.bsky.social Complete Mutagenesis of the Genome and Proteome of ΦX174 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Complete Mutagenesis of the Genome and Proteome of ΦX174

The bacteriophage ΦX174 was the first genome to be sequenced and the first to be chemically synthesised. Here we present a complete map of the consequences of changing every nucleotide in the ΦX174 ge...

biorxiv.org

New research just dropped today that makes octopuses even weirder than they already are… let me explain🧵🧪🐙🐡🦑

Our latest publication is on bioRχiv! — a study of the meiotic double-strand break machinery, focused on C. elegans but using the extensive genomic resources available for the whole genus to learn more about how SPO-11 and its cofactors work together to break DNA www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Multifaceted and evolutionarily dynamic interactions between Caenorhabditis elegans SPO-11 and its cofactors ensure proper formation of meiotic DNA double-strand breaks

DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) generated during meiotic prophase by the topoisomerase-like protein SPO11 are essential to create crossovers between homologous chromosomes. Since crossovers are requir...

biorxiv.org

A study published in Translational Neurodegeneration explores the role of understudied genes linked to late-onset Alzheimer’s disease using C. elegans. The research highlights how these genes influence aging-related neurodegenerative processes. 🧪#alzheimers #alzsky

Functional analysis of late-onset Alzheimer’s disease risk genes in Caenorhabditis elegans identifies regulators of neuronal aging

Translational Neurodegeneration -

bit.ly

Can benefits echo across generations? In C. elegans, starvation boosts offspring fitness but carries hidden costs for great-grand offspring, revealing evolutionary trade-offs across generations. doi.org/10.1093/evle... @alexeimaklakov.bsky.social

Evolutionary trade-offs between intergenerational and transgenerational fitness effects

Abstract. Intergenerational and transgenerational fitness effects can shape evolutionary processes. Theoretically, however, intergenerational and transgene

doi.org

How can a tiny worm shape a scientific career? Join 2026 GSA Mentorship Award recipient @irinakitop.bsky.social of @fredhutch.org on August 20 at 1:00 p.m. EDT as she shares how C. elegans has guided discoveries, collaborations, and approaches to mentorship. 🔗https://buff.ly/iUmQCCQ

On August 1, 1931, Harriet Creighton and Barbara McClintock published the first experimental proof that genes are physically located on chromosomes—a discovery that transformed genetics. 1/3🧵

This reflects a pathological conservatism of the glam journals, terrified of any potential blemish on reputation/prestige. But if we have journals for anything, surely it is as a venue to air these discussions. Anyway here's the link: doi.org/10.1038/s443...

Limitations of the p16-3MR mouse model for detecting and eliminating senescent cells - EMBO Reports

The p16-3MR mouse model, designed to express Renilla luciferase, mRFP, and herpes simplex virus 1 thymidine kinase (HSV-TK) under the p16INK4a promoter, has been widely used to visualize and ablate senescent cells in vivo, but our analyses revealed critical limitations. Bioluminescence signals in p16-3MR mice were extremely weak and virtually indistinguishable from those of wild-type mice injected with coelenterazine-h, indicating that previously reported signals largely reflected substrate background rather than authentic reporter expression. Signal intensity remained unchanged with aging, doxorubicin treatment, or cutaneous wound healing, failing to replicate earlier observations. Furthermore, RFP signals were undetectable in senescent fibroblasts from p16-3MR mice, and senescent cells were not eliminated by ganciclovir treatment, suggesting poor expression and lack of functional activity of the mRFP and HSV-TK transgenes. These results demonstrate functional deficiencies in all three transgenes, highlighting the importance of using wild-type controls and calling for careful reevaluation of studies employing this system.

doi.org

Weekend reading: this back and forth about a p16 reporter mouse for senescence and aging research. Read here in @emboreports.org and many more comments PubPeer. It seems to me that many journals are quite reluctant to publish these correspondences, to their great detriment.

For me this paper is a career highlight..truly astonishing biology! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A queen odour mediates reproductive suppression in a eusocial mammal - Nature

Naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber) queens produce isopropyl myristate, a low-volatility ester that high-ranking animals detect and avoid, which alters prolactin and progesterone in other females t...

nature.com

Our new paper is out in @nature.com! We uncovered how a naked mole-rat queen 👑 controls an entire colony: a natural contraceptive scent that suppresses reproduction in other females! A remarkable mammalian parallel to bees and ants! 🐝🐜 @garyrlewin.bsky.social youtu.be/enfv3zJrWKM?...

Naked mole-rats are ruled by a queen: this chemical puts her in power

YouTube video by nature video

youtu.be

The HSP-90 co-chaperone CDC-37 regulates oomycete immunity in C. elegans through a membrane-associated pseudokinase https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.31.741986v1

New Online! Exchange dynamics and kinetic control of gene regulation complexes

Exchange dynamics and kinetic control of gene regulation complexes

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, Published online: 30 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41580-026-00991-zRecent evidence reveals how gene expression complexes form transient assemblies that continually exchange their subunits under kinetic control. This Perspective proposes that these dynamics form the basis of RNA processing and gene regulation.

dlvr.it

If you’re not an expert and your uninformed personal opinion disagrees with expert consensus on a technical topic: Please consider that “the experts who’ve spent years studying this know something I don’t” is far more likely than “I alone discovered something that all the world’s experts missed.”

Bees, don't be bamboozled by this floral smell! European oil #beetle larvae synthesize floral scents to trick solitary #bees into becoming unwitting Uber drivers back to their nests - where the tiny hitchhikers then feast on bee eggs😱Fascinating study by @oconnorlab.bsky.social @mpi-ce.bsky.social

Oil beetle larvae smell like flowers to manipulate bees

The European oil beetle's parasitic larvae emit a floral scent that attracts wild bees. This allows the larvae to sneak into the bees' nests

mpg.de

Our latest research is published in @plosbiology.org Development is not just about keeping time—it is also about correcting timing errors. (1/6) journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

A desynchrony mechanism between events triggers a compensatory delay during Caenorhabditis elegans development

Development requires precise temporal coordination of parallel cellular programs, such as molting and cell division in C elegans larvae. This study shows reduced insulin signaling delays both of proce...

journals.plos.org

Fertility reversibly modulates C. elegans behavior via gonad-nervous system signaling https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.23.740032v1

It's not often single author primary research papers are published in our field & it's even rarer when the author is a Nobel Prize winner Check out the new work by Eric Wieschaus in @dev-journal.bsky.social Flattening maternal gradients in Drosophila embryo journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...

Maternal patterning in early Drosophila embryos: how much information can single maternal gradients supply?

Highlighted Article: Comparison of the patterning capacity of Drosophila embryos that have only one of the three maternal gradients known to control anterior posterior patterning.

journals.biologists.com

Crossover: hanging by a COSA-2 thread @ethanewe.bsky.social highlights work from @celjauebel.bsky.social & colleagues demonstrating the complex molecular machinery required to maintain the fidelity of meiotic recombination. #preprint #DevBio #preLight ⬇️ prelights.biologists.com/highlights/d...

Disordered protein COSA-2 maintains crossover-specific repair compartments to ensure meiotic crossover maturation - preLights

Crossover: hanging by a COSA-2 thread

prelights.biologists.com

Toxin-antidote systems are a type of selfish genetic element. This study by Liu and Zheng describes an ancient such system in C. elegans; the maternal toxin induces a rod-like larval arrest phenotype in progeny that do not carry the antidote. 🧪#AcademicSky #genetics #evolution plos.io/4fBW4kY

Researchers have discovered a contagious cancer in catfish – just the fourth example of tumour cells that spread naturally from one animal to another go.nature.com/4buKZ43

Rare contagious cancer discovered in wild catfish

Nature - Transmissible tumours have been found in only a few types of animal, but there might be many more out there.

go.nature.com

We are very excited to present our latest work on bioarxiv: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Where we reveals the hidden depth of scRNA-seq.

Organising a meeting, workshop or conference? Don't miss 31 July 2026 deadline to apply for a Scientific Meeting grant and/or a grant from our Fund for Innovations in Sustainable Conferencing. Find out more and apply at

About our grants

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

biologists.com

Preach!!!!!

Max Farnworth@maxfarnworth.bsky.social · 2w ago

HEY EVERYONE!! GIVE HIM MONEY

Hot take: making schematics/abstract is an art form aims to highlight important points of a paper with color, shape, text etc. It requires judgments of the AUTHORS! If you can’t make it understandable using the most basic tools (PowerPoint/Paint/inkscape), you have no business using AI!

Thiago Carvalho@cyrilpedia.bsky.social · 2w ago

'Gewaltig says that he has three rules when it comes to using AI tools for image generation. First, “if you don’t understand what a tool is doing to your data or what it is doing to your image, don’t use it”. Second, the burden of proof and validation sits with the author. And 3rd, be transparent.'