Kevin Thiessen, PhD
@kevinthiessen.bsky.social
Researcher at University of Bristol & Science Communicator. Creator of @zebrafishrock.bsky.social 🐟🎸 & @ctenophoresrock.bsky.social 🪼🥁 Creighton Alumnus 🇺🇸✈️🇩🇪🚘🇬🇧
At the moment, this is the only way I know that they're alive after I handle them 😅
Ctenophores Rock!@ctenophoresrock.bsky.social · last wk.Happy #CtenophoreCtuesday! Have you ever wondered how a comb jelly propels itself in the water? They utilize a metachronal rhythm of beating cilia (located on comb plates), which appear like a moving wave! Credit to @kei-jokura.bsky.social. Read more in this original paper: doi.org/10.1016/j.cu... 🦑
Our review paper on nerve nets has just been published!! @jekely.biologists.social.ap.brid.gy
The EMBO Journal@embojournal.org · 2w agoLooking for weekend reading? New review by @kei-jokura.bsky.social and @jekely.biologists.social.ap.brid.gy revisits nerve nets, their functional organization, and evolutionary implications link.springer.com/article/10.1...
This isn’t getting enough attention: @amjeve.uk is pairing each talk at #2026SDB with Pokémon that highlight the topic! So creative and fun 🤩 #scicomm
Alex Eve@amjeve.uk · 2w agoGareth also asks about the evolutionary origin of teeth, studying tooth-clad head clubs (tenaculum) in chimaeras: ghost sharks, fossil evidence and elephant sharks, which are distantly related to sharks. This #2026SDB talk's #PokemonPartner is Gibble the Land Shark Pokemon.
Watching Bob grow over the last few weeks has definitely been giving me ‘first time seeing zebrafish embryos down a scope’ vibes 🤩 Although I think the wild Mnemiopsis I saw in Woods Hole is false advertising. Those things were massive in comparison to lab-raised 😂
Kevin Thiessen, PhD@kevinthiessen.bsky.social · 3w agoBeen taking care of Bob the comb jelly for the past couple weeks. I can’t get enough of how amazing these little things are. Bob was recently stressed and reverted back from a lobate (adult) to a cydippid (larva). It even regrew their tentacles! Now they are getting bigger again. Can you spot them?
Been taking care of Bob the comb jelly for the past couple weeks. I can’t get enough of how amazing these little things are. Bob was recently stressed and reverted back from a lobate (adult) to a cydippid (larva). It even regrew their tentacles! Now they are getting bigger again. Can you spot them?
Kevin Thiessen, PhD@kevinthiessen.bsky.social · 4w agoHere’s some help in case you don’t believe me ⬇️
I’m particularly proud of my growing ALT text skills 🤭
Ctenophores Rock!@ctenophoresrock.bsky.social · 3w agoHappy #CtenophoreCtuesday! For your moment of zen, enjoy this majestic comb jelly (Aulacoctena sp.), discovered 1.4 miles below the ocean's surface during the #NazcaHighSeas Expedition off the coast of Chile (2024) 🔊🪼 #ctenophore #scicomm #MarineLife #MarineBiodiversity 📽️: @schmidtocean.bsky.social
*Kid scrolling through my phone* Him: “Why do you have so many pictures of fish?” Me: 😅
Happy #CtenophoreCtuesday! For your moment of zen, enjoy these cydippid comb jellies feeding on some tasty copepods 🔊🪼😋🪳 Their sticky tentacles contract with a spinning motion to bring the prey to their mouths. #ctenophore #scicomm 🌊 🦑 Credit 📽️ to Dr. Richard Kirby (@PlanktonPundit/X) 🎵: Megisss
Hoping for a CRISPR/Cas9 level discovery 🤞 Expecting a STAP cell level controversy 💯
Carl Zimmer@carlzimmer.com · last mo.Meet SpudCell, a synthetic cell made from lifeless ingredients that feeds, grows, divides, and experiences selection. If it doesn't have all the hallmarks of life, it has a lot! Here's my story. Gift link: nyti.ms/4vCbTih
I've officially started in the Sachkova Group at @bristolbiosci.bsky.social, which means it's full flow ahead with @ctenophoresrock.bsky.social 🪼🥁 Ctime to brush up on my tenta-cool comb jelly puns! #SciComm #ctenophore
Ctenophores Rock!@ctenophoresrock.bsky.social · last mo.Welcome to Ctenophores Rock! 🪼🥁 We comb thru the internet looking for all things #ctenophore & other cool emerging model organisms; while celebrating all those that are part of our community! #RockOn Helpful Hashtags Weekly: #CtenophoreCtuesday Trivia: #CtenophoreFunFacts Questions: #AskCtenophores
Slowly figuring out this new community with the help of @ctenophoresrock.bsky.social. Finding lots of cool stuff like my current background noise, courtesy of @mbarinews.bsky.social. I've already learned so much and I haven't even officially started yet (That starts tomorrow!) 😲
Ctenophores Rock!@ctenophoresrock.bsky.social · last mo.Happy #CtenophoreCtuesday! For your moment of zen, take a deep (sea) breath and enjoy 12 hours(!) of relaxing vibes, starring some colorful bloody-belly comb jellies (Lampocteis cruentiventer) 🔊🩸🪼🌈 Credit video and ambient music to @mbarinews.bsky.social 🦑 #ctenophore 🔗: youtu.be/uhJoXRgVd_8?...
People are going to miss my fish jokes 😘 I'll need to come up with some #ctenophore puns to start the new job next week. I know you're jelly! 😉
Zebrafish Rock!@zebrafishrock.bsky.social · last mo.We're experts at reading a room so we thought everyone could enjoy some #ZebrafishJokes! 😏 What is a zebrafish's favorite band? Stickelback 🖼️ What does a cavefish say when someone scores at the World Cup? SHOOOOOOOOOOAL! 🐟⚽ Why are fish so good at weighing objects? They have their own scales ⚖️🐟 🧪
I’ll be new to this community as of next week but to call a colleague’s work “extremely dodgy” in a formal setting is beyond me. Especially when this could shape the careers of more-junior researchers. 😳
@genikhovich.bsky.social · 2mo agoI was surprized that Prof. Martindale described our results as "dodgy" in his comment to Nature www.nature.com/articles/d41.... In our paper, Dr. Kremnyov has demonstrated induction of an ectopic pharynx consisting of a mixture of donor and recipient cells, which forms upon transplantation...
Has anyone studied this form of extreme biology? #EvoDevo @bertaverd.bsky.social @aliseleit.bsky.social 🦴 🐍
My brain crashed trying to remember how to pronounce "petri dish" 🧫 So I said both "PET-ree" and "PEE-tree" and left even more confused. Almost as bad as me trying to pronounce "macrophage" (as "MACK-roh-fayj" and MACK-ruh-fayj"). 🤷
What started as an outlet to share fun facts about #zebrafish, turned into a community resource. There’s been ups and downs but there’s been one constant throughout all of this: I’m still considered a trainee 😭
MadScientist@mads100tist.bsky.social · 2mo agoZebrafishRock @zebrafishrock.bsky.social over ten years and going strong 🧪🐟
Do you know an outstanding aquarist? We're hiring a Senior Aquarist to help run our cephalopod facility at Columbia University. Our team maintains a colony of 250+ cuttlefish, develops new husbandry techniques (inc transgenics) & studies cuttlefish camouflage and social behavior. 1/3 [Pls repost!]
The thing I like best about this series is that they have a wide range of career stages amongst the speakers - from Graduate Students to Postdocs to Group Leaders. Do try to attend these if you are free this week. And check out the rest of the series, if keen: www.zdmsociety.org/2026-zdms-ri... 🐟
Zebrafish Disease Models Society (ZDMS)@zdmsociety.bsky.social · 2mo agoOn the #ZDMS itinerary for this week: Infection & Inflammation RIG Meet Up on Wednesday (3rd) 🦠🐟 and Skeletal Disease RIG Meet Up on Thursday (4th) 🦴🐟 Both webinars start at 7AM PST | 10AM ET | 3PM BST | 4PM CEST | 7:30 IST. More details about these FREE events & how to register below ⬇️
The free half-term activity at our local library was make your own jellyfish! 🪼 My 4.5yo made some for me 🥰 (see angriest ones). I didn’t have the heart to tell him (or any of my family tbh) that jellyfish and comb jellies are completely different. These will eventually be going in my new office 😊
I really want to go to this just to get a Ctenopalooza t-shirt 😝
Ctenophores Rock!@ctenophoresrock.bsky.social · 3mo agoTen years after the first gathering, #Ctenopalooza returns for Round Ctwo! Join #ctenophore enthusiasts & researchers from around the world at @mbarinews.bsky.social in Moss Landing, California, on August 24-25, 2026 🌊 For more details and how to register, visit: www.mbari.org/event/ctenop... 🦑 🧪
My kid really has a sixth sense for when I’m stressed/overwhelmed that he proceeds to climb my head like it’s Mount Everest. 😩
Cute Panda Cubs Stacked to Climb Tree
ALT: Cute Panda Cubs Stacked to Climb Tree
static.klipy.com
I’m not convinced Bluesky is the right home for this. I think it’s time to shelve it for a couple months 🤷♂️
Ctenophores Rock!@ctenophoresrock.bsky.social · 3mo ago🥳 Happy 100th Birthday to Sir David Attenborough! Over the years, he's had countless species named in his honour from butterflies (Euptychia attenboroughi) 🦋 to dinosaurs (Attenborosaurus conybeari) 🦕 You can even find a comb jelly with his namesake: Attenboroughctena bicornis! 😍 #CtenophoreFunFacts
Looking to schedule an online event for an international audience but confused over the different time zones? I prefer to use www.worldtimebuddy.com. You can input a date & compare local times at several locations to better communicate with your potential audience. h/t @katwrog.bsky.social #scicomm
If you know who the one on the left is, I share your commiserations as a parent and stand in solidarity 😂 😭
🚨 One week left to submit abstracts for #ZDM19! With plenty of talks available (to be selected based on abstracts), don't miss your chance to present in front of the cordial #ZDMS community 😊 For more details, visit: www.zdmsociety.org/zdm19-abstra.... Please share with your colleagues & labmates!
I've been staring at these images too long as they are starting to look like random objects 😵💫 Anyone else see the red planet? 😜 #zebrafish #SciArt
Interested in miRNAs, early animal evolution, and RNA biology? We’re recruiting a BBSRC-funded Postdoctoral Research Associate @bristolbiosci.bsky.social #Postdoc #microRNA #RNAbiology Apply by 14 May 2026. 👉 www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find-in...
Excited to share a new review by @kocherlab.bsky.social and me: Nature-inspired neuroscience We discuss diverse sensory systems and behaviors across the animal kingdom and argue for their integration into neuroscience. New tools in diverse systems are making this possible ✨ tinyurl.com/y5y9du27
Today is #WorldLiverDay! Did you know #zebrafish have livers that function & develop hepatocellular carcinomas similarly to human livers? Researchers leverage the zebrafish model to understand & develop novel treatments for liver disease. Learn more: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC... #KnowYourZDM
