New preprint! We investigated the role of the transcription factor Meis2 in amacrine cell development. Previous studies have shown Meis2 is selectively expressed within GABAergic amacrine cells of the postnatal retina. Here, we want to address the function of Meis2. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Meis2 is required for GABAergic amacrine cell survival in the developing retina.

Amacrine cells (ACs) are the most diverse neuron in the retina, with more than sixty different subtypes, each contributing to the detection of specific visual features. Despite their importance in vis...

biorxiv.org

Thrilled to have the latest work from the lab live on BioRxiv! This is @yessicasantana.bsky.social dissertation work, examining the role that the transcription factor Isl1 plays in starburst amacrine cell development. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... A brief explainer.... 1/10

ISL1 is required for the terminal differentiation and maintenance of Starburst Amacrine Cells

During mammalian nervous system development, multipotent progenitor cells differentiate into hundreds of distinct neuronal subtypes. Neuronal subtype terminal differentiation is regulated by transcrip...

biorxiv.org

Thank you to Prof. Patrick Kerstein for joining us as the keynote speaker for the Midwest Retina Neurobiology Workshop! We’re grateful for his engaging presentation and for making the trip. 🦡🔬 Thank you, Patrick, for helping make the workshop such a success! @patrickkerstein.bsky.social

A new paper came out this week from our lab in @devbiol.bsky.social. This was work I started as a post-doc with @kevinmawright.bsky.social. Here, we investigated the role of Gbx2 and Robo receptors in dendrite stratification of amacrine cells in the retina. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Our lab is recruiting! If you are interested in learning about retinal ganglion cell resilience and regeneration please see the Research Assistant I position listing below. We are looking for a candidate with experience in either mouse research or stem cell culture. jobs.bcm.edu/job/Research...

“Without notifying Congress or the American people, DoD has signed an interagency agreement that could give the Department access to billions of dollars that Congress provided to NIH for critical biomedical research.” Seriously?

Colette Delawalla, PhD@cdelawalla.bsky.social · 2mo ago

For the one millionth time: THIS IS FASCISM. IT'S MORE THAN JUST GRANT FUNDING. SCIENCE IS A CRITICAL PILLAR OF DEMOCRACY. democrats-appropriations.house.gov/news/press-r...

First paper entirely from our lab is out in the wild! We tested if reprogramming still works in the aged CNS and found the aged retina blocks neurogenesis both intrinsically in Müller glia and through exacerbated inflammation. Then point at some ways to overcome this. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Excited to share our new paper on the evolution of inhibitory neurons in the retina 👀 now out in Science Advances! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Please see my previous post for a brief summary: bsky.app/profile/dari...

The extreme diversity of retinal amacrine cells has deep evolutionary roots

Amacrine cells (ACs) comprise a heterogeneous class of inhibitory neurons in the vertebrate retina, exhibiting morphological and functional complexity rivaling that of cortical interneurons. Here, we ...

science.org

Dario Tommasini@dariotommasini.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Inhibitory neurons are among the most transcriptomically diverse class of neurons in the CNS, with some brain regions having 60+ distinct cell types. Do humans share the same repertoire as rodents? Birds? Fish? 1/13

Excited to release the newest preprint from the lab into the wild. Super proud of @ninaluong.bsky.social, who did 99% of the experiments in this beast of a paper. Want to know more about some novel RGC subtypes? Buckle up! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 1/9

A pooled genetic approach provides multimodal access to uncharacterized retinal ganglion cell subtypes

Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are the sole output neurons of the retina, responsible for transmitting visual information to the brain. Recent transcriptomic studies have revealed extensive molecular d...

biorxiv.org

Meet Eyewire II: a new connectomic resource for the mouse retina. ~1 mm² of retina at nanometer resolution, with synapses and circuits of ca. 100,000 neurons, plus visual responses from the ~400 neurons shown in the video! Preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202... Data: eyewire.ai 🧠📈 🧠💻🧪 #VisionScience

NIH is not okay. @nytimes.com highlights how grant-making & ability to obligate funding is at risk from staff shortages and time consuming screening processes designed to censor research to align with the administration's political ideology. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/22/s... Some highlights:

Pace of N.I.H. Funding Slows Further in Trump’s Second Year

nytimes.com

Inhibitory neurons are among the most transcriptomically diverse class of neurons in the CNS, with some brain regions having 60+ distinct cell types. Do humans share the same repertoire as rodents? Birds? Fish? 1/13

The 2026 Visual System Development GRC and GRS are fast approaching. Jeremy Kay, Kristen Kwan, Robert Johnston, and I have built an exciting program that we hope you will enjoy. Looking forward to seeing everyone at the meeting this summer in beautiful Maine. Register and RT!

Here’s the deal with the FY26 NIH funding bill: One line in the 1000+ pg bill = significantly less science. The increase to ~40% of grants moving to MYF is estimated to result in a 35% decrease in the NUMBER of NIH grants funded annually—moving the paylines from 10% to around 4%. THIS IS BAD.

Absolute debasement of academic standards *student submits opinion in psych class *gets bad grade *instructor says she can make whatever arguments she wants but must draw on empirical sources *student & Turning Point says her religious freedom & first amendment rights violated *professor suspended

gwen howerton@kissphoria.bsky.social · 11mo ago

OU has put the professor here on administrative leave:

Our Biochemistry department at Purdue has an open tenure-track position as part of a cluster hire in advanced chemistry including drug discovery and biosynthetic pathways: careers.purdue.edu/job/Assistan...

"Humans aren’t very efficient movers—until you put us on a bicycle, when we become some of the most energy-efficient land travelers in the animal kingdom." www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-hu...

Dear funding agencies, I know we all want to discover the wonder drug that will cure the horrible diseases, but to do that, we need to invest in basic, unsexy, foundational research on how the systems work. Funding can’t all be drug development. Sincerely, Looking for basic research grants.

Our paper is out today! In @tiffmschmidt.bsky.social lab, we identified a single transcription factor, BRN3B, that shapes multiple, key features that define diverse ipRGC subtypes🧬👁️🐭

Genetic tuning of retinal ganglion cell subtype identity to drive visual behavior

Nature Communications - This study reveals that graded expression of the transcription factor BRN3B fine-tunes the identity and function of melanopsin-expressing ipRGC subtypes in the retina....

urldefense.com

That view is exceptionally naive. As @narosenblum.bsky.social and I wrote last fall, “basic scientific research [is] a long-term investment, one that only governments have the time horizon to make, and it brings enormous payoffs.” It can’t just be moonshots and looking for unicorn behemoths.

Basic Science Is The Foundation Of Future Cures

Injecting partisan politics into American basic science would be terrible for the US: for the economy, and for development of future treatments for diseases like schizophrenia and Alzheimer's.

infotimes.us

Come be my colleague! We are hiring for two tenure-track positions. www.reed.edu/dean_of_facu...

Paper submitted! Preprint to come.

Go, a college student, has a dependent visa (her mother, an Episcopal minister, is here on a religious worker visa), which doesn't expire until Dec. But when she tried to renew it early, ICE nabbed her and sent her halfway across the US to a detention center. www.wthr.com/article/news...

Purdue student detained by ICE and taken to troubled Louisiana holding facility

Yeonsoo Go, 20, was detained after her immigration hearing in Manhattan and taken away by ICE agents.

wthr.com

Miami is hiring a neurobiologist! I am excited to welcome a new colleague to our Neuroscience community! Please share! miamioh.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/miamio...

Reminder! Tenure track position in Genetics at Trinity College Dublin! Come join us, we're nice... 😊 Please repost! 🙏

Kevin Mitchell@wiringthebrain.bsky.social · last yr.

Very pleased to say we have an Assistant Professor job opening (tenure track) in the Department of Genetics at Trinity College Dublin! 😀 www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOA399/a... - deadline is August 19th! Please repost!

Mount Holyoke College in lovely western Massachusetts is hiring a tenure-track neuroscientist. Amazing students and fantastic faculty support - please share! mtholyoke.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Extern...

Hi all, we got a grant for a cool project that will follow up of our paper published a few months ago (see below). We will explore how light acts as a morphogen to instruct PCP. If you are looking for a postdoc position and interested in this topic, please reach out!

Michel Cayouette@michelcayouette.bsky.social · 2y ago

ICYMI our latest paper is now out officially in print (is there still such thing?). And since Dev Cell @cellpress.bsky.social did not select our submission for cover, I post it here. A really cool illustration from my son Zack. www.cell.com/developmenta...

Quality of scientific papers questioned as academics ‘overwhelmed’ by the millions published Widespread mockery of AI-generated rat with giant penis in one paper brings problem to public attention @iansample.bsky.social writes @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Quality of scientific papers questioned as academics ‘overwhelmed’ by the millions published

Widespread mockery of AI-generated rat with giant penis in one paper brings problem to public attention

theguardian.com

Got stunning fluorescence microscopy images? 🌈🔬 SDB wants to feature YOUR work for #FluorescenceFriday! We highlight images from SDB members with a short description and the image creators 📸. Fill out the form to be featured: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Society for Developmental Biology@socdevbio.bsky.social · last yr.

🧠✨ E14 mouse embryo lighting up with neural progenitors! Nestin (⚪️), p73 (🟢), and Tbr2 (🔴) mark distinct progenitor populations shaping the nervous system. Vishal Lolam is investigating how their balance is disrupted in neurodevelopmental disorders. #FluorescenceFriday