🚨 Job Alert - Please share 🙏 Interested in 3D gene regulation in development & evolution? 🤓🧬 💥 Our lab at @cabd-upo-csic.bsky.social is expanding! ✅ 4 years fully funded PhD position 💻🧪 Experimental or computational backgrounds welcome 👇 Details below #PhDPosition #PhDOpportunity #AcademicJobs
Fany M. Real
@fany-real.bsky.social
Group leader at CABD (Seville). Previous at Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics (Berlin). Interested in evolutionary genomics of moles and in any other living creature! Email: fmarrea@upo.es Web: https://fmreallab.github.io/website/
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
🚨 Early Bird registration and abstract submission deadline for #SEBD2026 extended!! 📅 Early registration and abstract submission deadline: 10th July 📅 Scholarship application deadline: 29th June www.sebd2026.com #SEBD #DevBio @sebioldev.bsky.social 👇👇👇
Applications are open for the international course “Developmental Biology” organized by the Institut Curie in partnership with @sorbonne-universite.fr 📅 Oct. 19–28, 2026 (Paris) ⏳ Jul. 19 & Sept. 18 🔗 training.institut-curie.org/courses/developmental-biology-2026
Have you enrolled to join us at #SEBD2026 yet? Don’t forget to do it now for the best prices and to be eligible for an oral communication!
Registration for the 19th meeting of the #SEBD is now open! Please join us at El Rompido for 3 days full of excellent #DevBio and plenty of opportunities to present your work at #SEBD2026 share.google/2llY3VlS5fQA...
Evolution and mechanism of MEIS2-mediated forelimb specialization in bats https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.03.729816v1
Outstanding talk last Friday at #CABDseminars by @margaridamcm.bsky.social about the evolution of new cell types and organs! Margarida was hosted by @fany-real.bsky.social Thanks for coming Margarida! @crick.ac.uk
Cool study showing how alternative cell types can synthesize hormones in the vertebrate gonad! A previously unrecognized role for this relatively new cell type. Congrats to the authors 🥂🥂
🚨Preprint🚨 An unexpected source of sex hormones in mammalian gonads: Supporting-like cells (SLCs) 🐇 SLCs have latent steroidogenic potential and may be an ancestral lineage conserved beyond mammals Led by @ivan-barbera-aura.bsky.social & V Chung Bluetorial 1/15👇 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
#CABDseminars "The evolution of new cell types and organs" by @margaridamcm.bsky.social, @crick.ac.uk, London (UK) 🗓️ May 29th ⏰12 pm 📍Rosalind Franklin Auditorium, CABD Hosted by @fany-real.bsky.social
Now accompanied by a lovely write-up from our communications office @unibas.ch - thanks @angelikajacobs.bsky.social 🙏 ! : www.unibas.ch/en/News-Even...
You are what you eat: how diet drives evolution
A University of Basel study shows how different diets shape the evolution of intestinal cells in cichlid fishes.
unibas.ch
One of my dream projects, ever since joining here in Basel, out now in @nature.com : single-cells 🤝 eco-morphological proxies rdcu.be/fiyso How cells and tissues adapt to dietary niches... Thanks and congrats to Antoine, Walter, and all the other co-authors for this great collaboration!! 🙏🥳
Hello all, our lab is recruiting a PhD candidate to study how 3D genome folding impacts gene regulation in development. We're located at the Center for Integrative Genomics department of the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. Please email me if interested. #PhDPosition, #PhDOpportunity
Amazing couple of days enjoying & discussing science in the best possible company during the Barcelona meeting of the 'EvoDevOmics Network', funded by @ageinves.bsky.social. Really happy to see how the EvoDevo community in Spain is thriving & fostering a fantastic new generation of PhDs & Postdocs.
Exhausted but extremely happy for the two past days of very exciting Science! The EvoDevOmics Spanish Network gathered together in BCN to discuss about evodevo & omics, lots of great talks, discussions and future collaborations. 🤩 #evodevo
The groups of @fany-real.bsky.social @bpernaute.bsky.social @malmuedocas.bsky.social & @obog.bsky.social were present in this scientific meeting with amazing talks…(2/3)
What should Europe do when demand for #ERC funding keeps rising? Restrict access or invest in excellence? Please read our open letter calling for reconsideration of the ERC 2027 resubmission restrictions & for constructive alternatives that preserve openness Consider to share & sign - see below 🧪
#erc | Johanna Joyce
What should Europe do when demand for its most successful frontier research programme keeps rising? Restrict access, or invest in the excellence it has created? A new open letter, spearheaded by Sara...
linkedin.com
Thrilled to present our comparative study on the evolution of zygotic genome activation (ZGA)!! 🥚🧬 Amazing PhD work of @campobes.bsky.social together with @fedemantica.bsky.social and many collaborators! @melisupf.bsky.social @crg.eu. Thread below 1/15 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
I had fun writing this JC on the butterfly eyespots, one of my favorite examples of co-option! 🦋🦋👁️ Always nice to revisit the papers and people behind concepts we use all the time nowdays! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
More than meets the eye(spot): evolution through co-option of developmental programmes - Nature Reviews Genetics
In this Journal Club, Francisca Real recalls a 1999 paper by Keys et al. that dissected the mechanistic underpinnings of butterfly wing spot development, which ultimately provided one of the earliest ...
nature.com
🧵 CTCF is essential for embryonic development, but why has remained unclear. By combining gastruloids with a temporal degron system, we uncovered a surprising dual function — and it changes how we think about CTCF's role in development. 1/8 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
A dual role for CTCF in development
CTCF is an essential DNA binding protein whose absence leads to embryonic lethality. CTCF is primarily known for its role in 3D genome organization where its N-terminal domain interacts with cohesin to anchor chromatin loops. How CTCF facilitates proper embryonic development remains unclear, necessitating temporal control to resolve its stage-specific functions. By combining gastruloids, an in vitro model of embryonic development, with a degron system to rapidly deplete CTCF at defined timepoints, we show that early CTCF depletion impairs early gastruloid morphogenesis. Surprisingly, ATAC-seq and time-resolved RNA-seq revealed that differentiation was unaffected. CTCF binding is strongly enriched at promoters of downregulated genes. Re-expression of a CTCF variant with an N-terminal truncation, incapable of looping, was sufficient to rescue the expression of CTCF-promoter bound genes and the defects in morphogenesis. However, extended culture (up to 168 hours) of gastruloids reconstituted with N-terminal truncated CTCF led to their collapse. Our work shows that CTCF has a dual function in early mammalian development: at early stages CTCF regulates developmentally important genes through promoter binding, while at later stages its looping function is required for correct development. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. European Research Council, https://ror.org/0472cxd90, 637587, 865459 Dutch Research Council, https://ror.org/04jsz6e67, 016.161.316, VI.C.222.049 Dutch Cancer Society, https://ror.org/0368jnd28, N/A
biorxiv.org
🚨 Job Alert - Please share! 🙏 Interested in 3D gene regulation in development & evolution? 🤓🧬 💥 Our lab at @cabd-upo-csic.bsky.social is expanding! We’re recruiting: ✅ PhD students ✅ Postdocs 💻🧪 Experimental or computational backgrounds welcome 👇 Details below
Happy to share that our work with Ekaterina Osipova, @maggiemcko.bsky.social, Tim Sackton, Maude Baldwin & fantastic collaborators on convergent and lineage-specific genomic adaptations in sugar-feeding birds is published in Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/.... While high sugar intake ...
Convergent and lineage-specific genomic changes shape adaptations in sugar-consuming birds
High-sugar diets cause human metabolic diseases, yet several bird lineages convergently adapted to feeding on sugar-rich nectar or fruits. We investigated the underlying molecular mechanisms in hummin...
science.org
Our internal organs are evolutionary marvels. New technologies are transforming our understanding of the evolution of vertebrate organs. You can find more by reading here: rdcu.be/e5EgU #EvoBio #EvoDevo 🐟🦎🐢🦇🐊🦜
The molecular evolution of vertebrate organs
Nature Ecology & Evolution - This Review discusses recent advances in the molecular evolution of vertebrate organs, including rates of evolution of organs and cell types, molecular mechanisms...
rdcu.be
We wrote a perspective "How to build the regulatory genome: a constructionist guide to the cis-regulatory code", out in Development yesterday. Title says it all. Find it here: journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
🤩💪 Out now! 3D regulatory hubs in sex determination With @mamartirenom.bsky.social & Capel labs, led by @imotagom.bsky.social & @jrotwitguez.bsky.social 1️⃣ METALoci – explore #3DGenome 🧬 2️⃣ Non-coding region controlling Fgf9 🧩 3️⃣ Meis genes = new key players 🌟 👉 rdcu.be/e5sm2 1/n Bluetorial 👇
Chromatin spatial analysis by METALoci unveils sex-determining 3D regulatory hubs
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology - METALoci, a new three-dimensional genome computational tool, reveals a major rewiring of regulatory interactions during sex determination. By combining...
rdcu.be
I am very excited to host @dariloops.bsky.social today for this talk on “Evolution of 3D chromatin organization in metazoan species” in our @enhancedgenomics.bsky.social seminar series ‘The 3D Regulatory Genome’. 📅 12 Feb 2026 (today!) ⏰ 4 pm GMT Please join us: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: The 3D Regulatory Genome: Evolution of 3D of 3D chromatin organization in metazoan species. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about j...
Join our guest speaker, Dr. Darío Lupianez, in this exciting seminar on the 3D Regulatory Genome, sponsored by Enhanced Genomics.
us02web.zoom.us
Beautiful work showing how useful are the comparative single cell analyses to understand cell type evolution and functional diversity! Congrats 🥂🥂
🚨 1/ Preprint Alert! Sex determination outcome is conserved across vertebrates (i.e. generating 2 compatible sexes) ♀️♂️ But are the cell types and gene programs behind them conserved too? 🧬 Spoiler: not really 👀 Find out in our new preprint ⬇️ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
1st #EvoDevOmics meeting🍊 What a terrific team @isabelalmudi.bsky.social @mirimiam.bsky.social @anariesgo.bsky.social @patrialvarezcam.bsky.social @jpascualanaya.bsky.social @phylobrain.bsky.social @fany-real.bsky.social Núria🔥 Nacho and more. What great hosts🥘 @hector-escriva.bsky.social & Steph
Our work on the evolution of the regulatory genome of echinoderms is now out in @natecoevo.nature.com. Led by my former PhD Marta Magri, Danila Voronov & Saoirse Foley. Great collaboration of Arnone, Hinman & Maeso labs, started long time ago with our missed José Luis Gomez-Skarmeta: rdcu.be/eXX8l
Deep conservation of cis-regulatory elements and chromatin organization in echinoderms uncover ancestral regulatory features of animal genomes
Nature Ecology & Evolution - Analysis of the 3D chromatin architecture and cis-regulatory elements in a sea urchin and a sea star reveals mechanisms of 3D chromatin organization in echinoderms...
rdcu.be
Nature research paper: An expanded registry of candidate cis-regulatory elements go.nature.com/4pAbARf
An expanded registry of candidate cis-regulatory elements - Nature
The existing ENCODE registry of candidate human and mouse cis-regulatory elements is expanded with the addition of new ENCODE data, integrating new functional data as well as new cell and tissue types.
go.nature.com