🧬 Preprint! 🧵 Our goal is to genetically manipulate every embryonic germ layer to enable high throughput in vivo studies. We previously showed mouse ectoderm can be targeted by amniotic injection, enabling cell-specific manipulation, lineage tracing, and knockouts. But how to reach mesoderm?

4D Nucleome special issue of Science, featuring our paper "Dose-dependent sensitivity of human three-dimensional chromatin to a heart disease–linked transcription factor", led by Zoe Grant in my lab and Zhuzhen Kuang in Katie Pollard's lab @gladstoneinst.bsky.social www.science.org/toc/science/...

New from @vmetzis.bsky.social & co Vagal & trunk neural crest cells share transient epiblast origin, but temporal regionalisation preconfigures their identity before crest induction Cdx1 acts before Cdx2, setting distinct chromatin and HOX state in the epiblast www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Temporally distinct CDX programmes preconfigure vagal and trunk neural crest

Neural crest cells (NCCs) are progenitor cells vital in establishing the head, heart, gut and peripheral nervous system of vertebrate embryos. Disruptions to NCC development underlie neurocristopathie...

biorxiv.org

Also last week: our first review led by @jackpcw.bsky.social Cis-regulatory strategies in developmental patterning We discuss how cells choose their fate either changing their regulatory landscape or using the same elements without accessibility changes. authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...

Very excited to share the first preprint from the lab: www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/... We investigated neural crest migration all the way from head to tail of the Zebrafish embryo and we found their nuclei suffer dramatic deformations. Want to know of they cope with feeling squeezed? 🐟🐠🐟

Research from Professor Francesca Spagnoli reveals how different cell types develop, assemble, and communicate to build a functioning pancreas.🧬 www.kcl.ac.uk/news/researc... Image credit: Alejo Torres-Cano et al. Sci. Adv. 11,eadx5791(2025). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adx5791

Research reveals how cells organise to build the pancreas | King's College London

New research from King’s College London shows how different cell types develop, assemble and interact to build a functioning pancreas.

kcl.ac.uk

v sad to hear Antonio García-Bellido's passing. his work on mitotic clones led to fundamental insights such as compartment boundaries, enabled post-embryonic analysis of lethals, and revealed autonomous vs non-autonomous effects of mutants. and founding father of Spanish DB and Drosophila schools.🪰

European Drosophila Society@fly-eds.bsky.social · 11mo ago

The European Drosophila Society #flyEDS extends the condolences on the passing of Antonio García-Bellido, considered the founder of the Spanish school of #Drosophila genetics and an influential figure in developmental biology research worldwide. May he rest in peace.

Thrilled to share my main postdoc work with @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social We used genomic barcoding + scRNAseq in chick & human embryos to reveal a lineage architecture that reshapes how we understand neural tube development & cell fate decisions 🧵👇 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Hierarchical lineage architecture of human and avian spinal cord revealed by single-cell genomic barcoding

The formation of neural circuits depends on the precise spatial and temporal organisation of neuronal populations during development. In the vertebrate spinal cord, progenitors are patterned into mole...

biorxiv.org

Out @natcomms.nature.com: our work on how the ❤️-supporting pericardium forms & acts in pediatric heart conditions.🎈🫀 Expanding our preprint & with our first HCR (thx to @thelovelylab.bsky.social!). Congrats all! #devbio #zebrafish #CHD @cupediatrics.bsky.social @cudevbio.bsky.social rdcu.be/eIJm5

The pericardium forms as a distinct structure during heart formation - Nature Communications

The developing heart integrates several progenitor cell types. Here they show that the pericardium enveloping the heart develops among cells that form the mesothelium around inner organs and body cavities, distinct from the classic heart field.

nature.com

Christian Mosimann@chrmosimann.bsky.social · 2y ago

New preprint - unravelling the origins of the mesothelium around the❤️: the pericardium! 🎈 SPIM, scRNA-seq, AFM, #CHD, rats & #zebrafish, all rolled into one. Led by our grad student Hannah Moran, a collab with the Sucharov & Peña labs, CU Anschutz - congrats all! #devbio biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

🧵1/14 Preprint thread! Can we predict a cell’s fate based on its dynamics? 🔮 Our new study unveils a framework for watching development unfold in real-time, revealing how a cell's shape and movement encode info about its future fate. 🔬📄 Preprint: tinyurl.com/4shf8v4x

Thrilled to share the first story from my postdoc! 🎉 A wonderful experiment + simulations collaboration. In the Drosophila wing, we find that 3D cell shapes affect signalling range and fine-tune developmental patterning www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Thread below ⬇️

Excited to share our latest work with @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social . A global #cis-regulatory temporal program guides how spatial cues are interpreted in neural progenitors. We show how #space and #time can be integrated to generate cell type diversity in the #spinalcord. Congrats to all authors.

UCL Faculty of Life Sciences@ucllifesciences.bsky.social · last yr.

A study from @crick.ac.uk and @ucllifesciences.bsky.social reveals how timing mechanisms, not just spatial cues, shape cell identity during spinal cord development. The findings open up new avenues for both basic developmental biology and clinical applications. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

This isn't a coincidence, IMO. The fly community is generally super rigorous - because there are so many tools and techniques available, people expect you to really nail things in order to get published (and keep getting funded)

W. Brent Derry@wbderry.bsky.social · last yr.

Model organism communities are fantastic. Good work, "Drosophilists"! www.nature.com/articles/d41...

[0/8] Stoked to share our work with @arjunraj.bsky.social on tissue organization in the gastruloid. We use lineage tracing and spatial transcriptomics to show that diversity among stem cell clones promotes, rather than hinders, gastruloid development: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Gastruloid patterning reflects division of labor among biased stem cell clones

Embryonic development typically requires precise coordination among cells to achieve reproducible outcomes, leading to the assumption that cellular heterogeneity must be minimized or buffered against....

biorxiv.org

Interested in developmental epigenetics? So are we! Apply now to join us for your postdoc! Multiple positions across multiple groups @mrc-lms.bsky.social Projects spanning germline demethylation, gene regulation, genome architecture in development & disease 👇👇 lms.mrc.ac.uk/work/vacanci...

MRC Postdoctoral Research Scientists x 5 - MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences

Applications are now open for up to five postdoctoral positions in the area of developmental epigenetics.

lms.mrc.ac.uk

We've just been awarded a grant to study the cellular basis of regeneration – to track the progenitors of sensory organs in the context of leg regeneration, in our favourite crustacean tinyurl.com/parhyale, based on live imaging and cell tracking. The project involves some cool collaborations... 1/3

Want to hear more about bioimaging and image analysis at UCL? Follow @biig-ucl.bsky.social This is a wonderful community for those bioimaging enthusiasts!

Embryonic CX3CR1+ cells constitute a multipotent epiblast-derived progenitor population that contributes not only to the formation of tissue-resident macrophages, but also of cardiomyocytes and heart endothelial cells Young-sup Yoon and coworkers www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

Issue 12: Commentary: in vivo metabolomics in the cancer clinic Review: oxygen-sulfur interdependence ADP-ribosylation in M.tuberculosis Microprotein promoting BAT thermogenesis Cover by @kenzoivanovitch.bsky.social and colleagues www.embopress.org/toc/14602075...

Save the date! March 23-26 will be the dates for our 2026 @bsdb.bsky.social annual meeting: Molecules to Morphogenesis! Excited to reveal more details soon! Want to attend with a reduced rate, and have access to conference/travel grants for other meetings too? Don't forget to join the BSDB :)

Very happy to share I've written a review on placental vascular formation in mice and humans, now published in @dev-journal.bsky.social. journals.biologists.com/dev/article/... @idrm.ox.ac.uk Funded by the @thebhf.bsky.social

Feto-placental blood vessel development

Summary: This Review contains an overview of placental vascular development and pathologies in mice and humans and highlights key remaining questions in the field.

journals.biologists.com

Beautiful work from @sagnera.bsky.social & co on how spinal neurons diversify A temporal TF clock in spinal neurons, sequentially specifying different motor and sensory neuron subtypes during development A shared molecular timer driving cellular diversity www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

congratulations! @shayma-a.bsky.social @yen-network.bsky.social

Joaquina Delas@joadelas.bsky.social · last yr.

And to top this @shayma-a.bsky.social, first author on this work from @kenzoivanovitch.bsky.social ‘s lab won the Best Poster Prize today @yen-network.bsky.social 2025

Not first time thank you: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36736300/

Graded mesoderm assembly governs cell fate and morphogenesis of the early mammalian heart - PubMed

Using four-dimensional whole-embryo light sheet imaging with improved and accessible computational tools, we longitudinally reconstruct early murine cardiac development at single-cell resolution. Nasc...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Researchers @uclpophealthsci.bsky.social and @crick.ac.uk, led by Dr @kenzoivanovitch.bsky.social & Shayma Abukar, have, for the first time, identified the origin of cardiac cells using 3D images of a heart forming in real-time, inside a living mouse embryo www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/ma...

We’re excited to share the first publication from our lab, now out in @EMBOPress! @shayma-a.bsky.social @ucl.ac.uk Using live imaging in the mouse embryo, we tracked how heart progenitors migrate and assemble into the heart tube.

The EMBO Journal@embojournal.org · last yr.

Early coordination of cell migration and cardiac fate determination during mammalian gastrulation, revealed by light-sheet microscopy tracking of individual mesodermal cells #RefereedPreprint c/o @reviewcommons.org by @kenzoivanovitch.bsky.social and colleagues www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

Fresh from the press! @lankylaste.bsky.social, @guijacquemet.bsky.social and I put together a practical guide on how to develop software for life science applications.

Practical recommendations for developing software for life science applications

ABSTRACT. Developing user-friendly image analysis software is essential for advancing biological and life science research. However, the interdisciplinary gap between software developers and life scie...

doi.org

We’re hiring a new research fellow. Come join us in London to study glial cells in the ageing retina using killifish as a model. www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

UCL – University College London

UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).

ucl.ac.uk

In Praise of Peer Review As an Editor of the journal Development, I often hear complaints about peer review. We all know the problems - from lengthy review times to requests for seemingly unnecessary experiments. I agree with many of these complaints. Katherine Brown (Executive Editor of…

New @dev-journal.bsky.social editorial We know we have high standards - but we're committed to making publishing with us constructive From clear revision guidance to limitations sections & transparent peer review, we're here to help you share your science journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...

Constructive Critics: Development's approach to peer review

We're all familiar with complaints about peer review. Some think it's biased – editors (especially from ‘those’ journals) seem to have too much power to decide what gets published. It can be opaque – ...

journals.biologists.com