Very pleased to finally share the main story from my PhD, now published in @natcomms.nature.com ! 🎉 Using a sea anemone we discovered and characterised epithelial cell extrusion as the mechanism underlying starvation-induced cell loss. 🔗 Open-access article: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Epithelial cell extrusion underlies starvation-induced cell loss in a sea anemone - Nature Communications

Epithelial cell extrusion in a sea anemone shares key hallmarks with bilaterians and is dynamically regulated by nutritional status. During starvation-induced body shrinkage, extrusion likely contribu...

nature.com

Avocados come in 2 varieties - A-types start each day female and switch to male midday. B-types do the reverse. In work just published from the last chapter of my PhD, we show this system evolved 40+million yrs ago and is regulated by alleles of 1 transcription factor www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Balanced polymorphism in a floral transcription factor underlies the ancient rhythm of daily sex alternation in avocado | PNAS

In avocado and certain wild relatives in Lauraceae, a highly synchronized daily rhythm of floral sex timing promotes cross-pollination between two ...

pnas.org

A fully updated preprint is now live on @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social :) “Look and see” was a rather important line of thinking regarding freshwater sponge-microbe interactions, centering on the importance of spatial dynamics when evaluating animal microbiomes 🧽🦠🧪 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

In a new state-of-the-art laboratory, MCB's Phillip Cleves @pcleves.bsky.social and his team are discovering how the symbiotic relationship between algae and corals evolved. news.berkeley.edu/2026/07/01/s...

Scientists discover how algae colonized corals — a symbiosis that fueled the growth of the world’s reefs - Berkeley News

UC Berkeley biologists uncovered clues to how the symbiosis between algae and corals evolved using a new state-of-the-art lab devoted to year-round genetic experiments on spawning coral.

news.berkeley.edu

So excited to announce our search for 4 postdocs (funded by the Simons Foundation) who will use genomics to "test how ecological interactions, natural selection, natural enemies, hybridization & environmental gradients shape...tropical tree communities" in Panama: stri.si.edu/story/bci-ev... ...1

Our work on the symbiont-containing organelle that supports coral reefs is published today. Also, new genetic tools to study symbiosis in both corals and Aiptasia. Great work by Shumpei Maruyama, Cat Henderson, and the rest of the fantastic team. #SymbioSky www.cell.com/cell/abstrac...

Co-option of lysosomal machinery shapes the evolution of the intracellular photosymbiosis supporting coral reefs

Corals harbor intracellular algal symbionts in specialized organelles that enable them to build diverse reef ecosystems. Corals and other cnidarians have repeatedly evolved this symbiosis through the ...

cell.com

A step forward in discovering Buchnera's key to the aphid's heart, published today! Thanks to Jerry Maeda and other authors--a great team -- and to the helpful reviewers #SymbioSky doi: doi.org/10.1038/s415...

A secreted endosymbiont protein essential for colonizing host cells - Nature

SyeA was present in the Buchnera ancestor, is secreted into the host cytoplasm, is homologous to secreted effectors of bacterial pathogens and is essential for Buchnera transmission.

doi.org

I'm hiring! I have 2 open positions: 🔬 Postdoc 🧪 Research associate We study how animal multicellularity evolved by exploring the molecular logic of cell adhesion using cell biology, 'omics, and tool-building in non-model organisms. Come join us! Details and application links 👇 Please repost

Pleased to announce two new publications, in Current Biology and PNAS, from outstanding postdoc Delai (Dylan) Huang, just a week before he leaves to start his new faculty position at Zhejiang University.

Even more excited — our paper is featured on the cover of Science Advances! Huge thanks to @alexandrejan.bsky.social who took this incredible photo of a ctenophore (aka comb jelly) and the editors. Here’s the cover 👇 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

To increase the use of gene editing in corals, we have made a comprehensive methods paper describing the protocol. We hope this helps the field of functional genetics in corals. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Efficient genome editing using CRISPR–Cas9 in reef-building corals - Nature Protocols

In this protocol, the authors present straightforward and efficient methods to genetically modify corals and study gene function throughout various life-history stages using CRISPR–Cas9-based mutagene...

nature.com

🦋✂️🧬 🧪 New preprint! Led by @donyaniyaz.bsky.social CRISPR‑Cas9 knockouts of ABCG transporters across butterflies & moths reveal how pigment pathways shape color during development. #CRISPR #Lepidoptera #pigmentation Feedback welcome 👩‍🔬 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

It is happening again! Consider taking our course on the Molecular and Cell Biology of Symbiosis at @mblscience.bsky.social. Application deadline March 4th! www.mbl.edu/education/ad...

Molecular and Cell Biology of Symbiosis | Marine Biological Laboratory

This is an immersive research-based course designed to teach basic concepts, open research questions, and facilitate state-of-the-art experimental approaches in symbiosis research.

mbl.edu

Registration is OPEN for the 2026 Santa Cruz Meeting on Developmental Biology!!! Please spread the word! @mads100tist.bsky.social @socdevbio.bsky.social @bsdb.bsky.social @xenbase.bsky.social @isdb.bsky.social @devbiol.bsky.social @the-node.bsky.social scdb2026.sites.ucsc.edu

New preprint from our big collaborative evolution experiment in 9 whole lakes in Alaska, written by McGill grad student @lucaseckert.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... What happens if you put a mixture of multiple source populations together to complete & evolve in multiple new lakes?

New #GENETICS report from @pcleves.bsky.social et al. shows the use of a simple electroporation protocol to introduce various genetic constructs into Aiptasia zygotes, a small sea anemone and an emerging model to study coral biology. buff.ly/5aQpQ1S

The 2026 Santa Cruz Developmental Biology Meeting website is LIVE!!! Go see the incredible list of scientists who will be speaking at the meeting next summer! (...and check the site early next year for info on registration and abstract submission.) scdb2026.sites.ucsc.edu

Beautiful work. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Epithelial cell extrusion underlies starvation-induced cell loss in a sea anemone

Epithelia likely predate the last common animal ancestor, yet the evolutionary origin and environmental regulation of epithelial remodelling remain poorly understood. Here, we show that extensive, sta...

biorxiv.org

www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...

An endosymbiotic origin of the crimson pigment from the lac insect | PNAS

Symbioses with microorganisms expand the genetic and metabolic repertoire of many insects. The lac insect Kerria lacca (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha) ...

pnas.org

New paper from the lab. Molecular characterization of the symbiont-containing organelle with proteomics and reverse genetics in Aiptasia and coral.

Shumpei Maruyama@shumpeim.bsky.social · 10mo ago

We're excited to share with everyone a preprint of our manuscript that resolves the cellular origins of the symbiosome in cnidarian-algal symbiosis through proteomics of the symbiosome, RNAi, and CRISPR/Cas9 experiments. ⬇️ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Read on below! 1/12 🧵

Happy to share the Biodiversity Cell Atlas white paper, out today in @nature.com. We look at the possibilities, challenges, and potential impacts of molecularly mapping cells across the tree of life. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

How do microbes become permanent partners? 🌊🔬🦠 Check out our new study published in Current Biology showing how cyanobacterial genomes evolve step-by-step into endosymbionts of diatoms. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... @currentbiology.bsky.social @mehrshmali.bsky.social

Before today, I would have never known it was possible to run DNA extractions and PCR without a lab. Who knew that a molecular bio bento box could facilitate bringing the lab into the field? I’m very excited to see how our hornwort Cyanobacteria community sequencing turns out later this week.

We're Hiring! Assistant Professor of Immunology and Molecular Medicine in MCB. Learn more and apply online: aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05096

This surprisingly relaxing footage is from SIX MILES under the ocean – and it’s the deepest ecosystem yet discovered

A paper in Nature reports the discovery of fossilized claw prints thought to belong to an amniote on a slab of rock from Australia dated to about 356 million years ago, suggesting that the origin of amniotes is earlier than expected. go.nature.com/4jm5XTP #Paleosky 🧪

It is happening again! Consider taking our course on the Molecular and Cell Biology of Symbiosis at @MBLScience. We extended the deadline for applications to Apr 14, 2025. www.mbl.edu/education/ad...

Molecular and Cell Biology of Symbiosis | Marine Biological Laboratory

This is an immersive research-based course designed to teach basic concepts, open research questions, and facilitate state-of-the-art experimental approaches in symbiosis research.

mbl.edu

It’s live! Check out the Cleves Lab website and learn how the lab uses ecologically relevant cnidarian models to gain key insights into how microbial symbiosis and its breakdown impact animal biology and health, driving new coral conservation efforts. 🪸🎉 @pcleves.bsky.social www.cleveslab.org

The Cleves Lab

The Cleves Lab researches the molecular, cellular, and developmental basis of how intracellular beneficial microbes invade and persist in animal cells to form symbiosis. They use ecologically critical...

cleveslab.org

Save the date 📅: The PhD Summer School on Host-microbe Symbioses is taking place from 6-19 of July in Oeiras, Portugal. Registration is opening soon! Learn more 👉 gimm.idloom.events/phd-summer-s... @gimmfoundation.bsky.social @moorefound.bsky.social @crc1182.bsky.social #CIFAR #CBR

#protistsonsky

Corey Holt@coreyholt.bsky.social · 2y ago

Interested in protist parasites? Want to learn some fun bioinformatics? Think this apicomplexan looks cool? Great! Come and do some protist genomics at @uniofbath.bsky.social! We're advertising a fully-funded PhD studentship open to UK & International applicants! www.findaphd.com/phds/project...