Thrilled about this! @blockintheback.bsky.social has a rare gift for building communities, lifting others, and making science better in the process. A truly fitting appointment!

BWJones@bwjones.bsky.social · 5d ago

It is official: The @moraneyecenter.bsky.social has named @blockintheback.bsky.social as the Vice Chair for Vision Research and Research Director. I could not be more happy for my former institution as they are in the best hands with Kristen. healthcare.utah.edu/moran/news/2...

My Department is HIRING! If you're excited about building an innovative research program and joining a collaborative community of scientists, we'd love to hear from you. Come be my colleague! #AcademicJobs #BasicScience #FacultySearch#AcademicJobs More details here: recruit.ucdavis.edu/JPF07708

Assistant/Associate Professor- Cell Biology & Human Anatomy

University of California, Davis is hiring. Apply now!

recruit.ucdavis.edu

Lassen Peak has a giant eye-shaped rock formation! #VulcansEye #LassenNationalPark

We're very proud of our (very soon to be) graduates! Congratulations, Miranda, Joseph, and Olivia! #UCDavisCommencement

A career highlight: being voted "Mentor of the Year" by our graduate students. I'm genuinely touched by this recognition and grateful to work with such an exceptional group of trainees every day ❤️

and we got the cover!!

Excited to share our new paper! This work explores how Sonic hedgehog signaling helps coordinate retinal patterning and neurogenesis, including regulation of both cell cycle exit and progenitor competence during mammalian eye development journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...

Roles of sonic hedgehog signaling in retinal patterning and neurogenesis during mammalian eye development

Summary: Temporal disruption of sonic hedgehog signaling reveals stage-specific roles in eye cup patterning and in regulating proliferation, progenitor competence and fate specification during retinal...

journals.biologists.com

Did you know that @intlsocdiff.bsky.social is offering travel awards up to $1000 for non ISD meetings in 2026? Membership fee for students is $0 and only $50 for regular members! If you have an accepted abstract to present at a meeting- please apply! www.isdifferentiation.org/Membership/P...

Eric Cartman Says One Thousand Dollars

Alt: Eric Cartman Says One Thousand Dollars

static.klipy.com

#ARVO2026 was fantastic! I’m really honored to have been elected to the AMPC and STOKED to serve alongside one of my favorite scientist (and human), @blockintheback.bsky.social

@ucd-cbha.bsky.social was very well represented at #ARVO2026!

For me, this signals the start of fun science at #ARVO ❤️

Happy #SantJordi to everyone! In Catalonia, today is a day for roses and books, but it's more than that, it's a stubborn, beautiful way of keeping our culture alive. Feliç Sant Jordi!

Our new paper is out! 🎉 Let-7 doesn’t act through a single pathway: it controls neocortical neuron fate and migration via distinct downstream mechanisms, with RBX2 dedicated to migration. A new layer of post-transcriptional control shaping cortical development www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Happy #PicnicDay! @ucdavis.bsky.social

It's #FluorescenceFriday and these retinal astrocytes understood the assignment: branching, glowing, and casually laying down the blueprint for the retinal vasculature #Retina #ConfocalMicroscopy

Today on the animals with fascinating eyes news of the day: Anableps anableps, a four-eyed fish (they really have 2 eyes, but still): www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6....

Damn it. NIH ends continuous submission policy for reviewers on study sections. Can still use 2 week late submission deadline but continuous submission was one of the only good things about being on regular study sections. Reviews are a huge amount of work. It will be harder to get reviewers. BAD

This is a fantastic meeting for all the neurogenesis aficionados! Happening July 13-16 in Toronto, don’t miss it!! event.fourwaves.com/neurogenesis...

Neurogenesis and Repair 2026

Join Neurogenesis and Repair 2026, July 13-16, 2026. Learn more on Fourwaves.

event.fourwaves.com

Two Scientists walk into a bar and they meet with Deepak Lamba!! www.gene.com/stories/the-...

The Wild World of Eyeballs

Featuring Deepak Lamba, Director and Distinguished Scientist, Ophthalmology, and Susie Crowell, Senior Director, Project Team Leader.

gene.com

Looking through old photos and found this beauty. Frog rods, labelled with GFP under a XOP promoter (inner segment, orange) and wheat germ agglutinin (outer segments, cyan). I love how you can see the holes where the mitochondria are packed near the top of the inner segment (the ellipsoid zone). 🧪🐸

New paper out! 🚨 We show that Ndufs4 loss triggers retinal neurodegeneration through a phased process. A new window into neuroimmune mechanisms in mitochondrial disease: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Cell-intrinsic vulnerability and immune activation cooperate to drive degeneration in a mitochondrial complex I deficiency model of optic neuropathy - Journal of Neuroinflammation

Journal of Neuroinflammation - Mitochondrial dysfunction is a central hallmark of many optic neuropathies, yet the mechanisms linking intrinsic metabolic stress to retinal ganglion cell (RGC)...

link.springer.com

Love eyes? Love awesome science? Love fantastic colleagues? Join us in Maine on August 9-14 for the GRC Visual System Development Conference! It's one of the best!

I am very excited to share the first Accorsi lab publication: a collection of detailed protocols to maintain an apple snail 🐌 colony and generate stable mutant lines. The video is coming soon @ JoVE! We hope this will be a valuable resource for the community. app.jove.com/t/69267/the-...

I'm excited to share our PNAS paper from 1st author Kasia Hussey. We study how the foveola, the high acuity region of the retina, is patterned by RA and TH. We were surprised to find that cone subtypes appear to convert fates. Our studies are important for AMD sufferers. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

A cell fate specification and transition mechanism for human foveolar cone subtype patterning | PNAS

In the central region of the human retina, the high-acuity foveola is notable for its dense packing of green (M) and red (L) cones and absence of b...

pnas.org

🚨 We are recruiting postdocs! If you're interested in reproductive, stem cell/developmental biology, and/or women's health, please apply! 📝 Please repost! 🚩 More info here: hhmi.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Extern...

Postdoctoral Scientist - Zhang Lab

Primary Work Address: One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA, 95616 Current HHMI Employees, click here to apply via your Workday account. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) advances the discovery and s...

hhmi.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com

I love it when cool science reaches the mainstream media. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/23/s....

The Rise of Eyes Began With Just One

nytimes.com

Check out this beautiful new story from @michelcayouette.bsky.social lab!!! We got to play a small part along the way. So thrilled to see this out in the world!

Michel Cayouette@michelcayouette.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Happy to announce that our latest paper is now out! Have you ever wondered how neural tissues control their size? In this paper, we show that cell division orientation is critical in both the cortex and retina. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Please check out these amazing women! They are fantastic scientists, committed mentors, supportive friends and honestly super stars! 🤩@bradylabs.bsky.social @mydennis.bsky.social @ucdavis.bsky.social www.ucdavis.edu/news/podcast...

2 First-Gen Scientists on Curiosity, Community and Discovery

Megan Dennis, associate professor in Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, and Siobhan Brady, professor in the Department of Plant Biology and the Genome Center, are more than an just office neighbors ...

ucdavis.edu

Birds have a thick retina devoid of blood vessels - so how do they ensure sufficient oxygen availability? They don't - neurons rely on glycolysis, metabolizing glucose released from the pecten. Insane new study that includes comparative data on lizards and crocs.🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Oxygen-free metabolism in the bird inner retina supported by the pecten - Nature

While the photoreceptor outer segments in the bird outer retina have access to oxygen, the inner retina operates under chronic anoxia, supported by anaerobic glycolysis in the retinal neurons.

nature.com

Congratulations to @xinduan.bsky.social on another beautiful story! I'm very lucky to collaborate with you! pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41532830/