Ivan Ferreira
@ptychodera.bsky.social
Biologist from 🇧🇷 jointly based at Stowers and the Hopkins Marine Station at Stanford | PhD from Oxford | genomics, embryos, worms, regeneration | USP and Butantan alumnus | my opinions
Incredible! Scientists receive a rare standing ovation after announcing that a new treatment can double the survival time for pancreatic cancer, the deadliest cancer which was once considered “undruggable.” When we fund and support science, we can achieve anything! (Video: Dr. Wish Dhillon)
things are getting weirdly cool in the echinox lab 🔥 looks like France is not only about croissants after all...
Laurent Formery@laurentformery.bsky.social · 2mo agoNew alien friend in the echinox lab: the basket star Astrospartus mediterraneus. A truly bizarre fractal body plan, but sooo beautiful 🤩🥹
For all undergrad/grad students and postdocs going to the #embo #regeneration meeting in Austria this year: highly recommend joining the trainee pre-meeting co-organized by Giulia, Carlos and Salome in beautiful Vienna! Honestly - just the chance to visit the Vienna BioCenter is worth it
Giulia Casal, PhD@giuliacasal.bsky.social · 2mo agoWe are organising a trainee pre-meeting ahead of the EMBO Workshop @embo.org @isrbio.bsky.social If you’re an undergrad/MSc/PhD or postdoc interested in regenerative biology, join us in Vienna for trainee talks, networking, and discussions with keynote speakers about their scientific journey.
This is awful to hear, describing how Sean Eddy (HMMER, infernal, pfam, rfam) has been defunded. The letter said his work "had been determined to be of absolutely no value to the US taxpayer, and therefore it was being specifically terminated," www.npr.org/2026/05/21/n...
Researchers say the Trump administration is finding new ways to punish science
Even with federal grants largely restored, scientists say the Trump administration is still preventing those funds from reaching them. The consequences, they say, are already becoming clear.
npr.org
This definitely forbidden gummy is in fact a moth larva of genus Olona (possibly Olona zolotuhini). It's *normal* to want to know what flavor it is, but the answer, unfortunately is "pain". Most species in this family are covered in tiny stinging spines connected to poison glands. (📷: Janice Ang)
1/8 🚨 New preprint from the @sternberglab.bsky.social & @martinjinek.bsky.social labs! CRISPR-associated transposases (CASTs) insert large DNA cargoes at precise genomic locations — no double-strand breaks needed.
A fossil nervous system meets modern neurobiology. We found that a living comb jelly preserves neural architecture remarkably similar to those inferred from Cambrian fossils over 500 million years old 🤩. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Bilaterian BMP signaling gradients suggest an ancestral anti-neural role. Study of #cnidarians shows that #BMP signalling promotes neurogenesis; its "anti-neural" function is a side effect of its role in the DV axis @paulknabl.bsky.social @genikhovich.bsky.social @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4dJHoiR
A phase 1 clinical trial of base editing to treat beta-thalassaemia looks promising. Wow, this genome-editing technique is moving fast! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Clinical application of base editing for treating β-thalassaemia - Nature
A clinical phase 1 trial of a single infusion of CS-101, CD34+ cells modified using a transformer base editor to reactivate fetal haemoglobin production, led to early and enduring transfusion independ...
nature.com
"Science is not simply a sequence of tasks that can be optimized....The scientific system thrives on inefficiency: redundant efforts, failed attempts, and divergent paths. These are not costs to be eliminated but sources of discovery." Excellent essay! ⬇️ www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Progression without progress
Progress in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to advance scientific discovery has made it increasingly realistic to envision automated “end-to-end science” (ETES) systems: integrated pipelines t...
science.org
The Skeleton Panda Sea Squirt (Clavelina Ossipandae) is a translucent reef-dwelling creature whose rib-like structures and panda-like markings give it a spooky look. Found in Southeast Asia, it filters seawater and helps keep coral ecosystems healthy. Original post
“…a past strong El Niño event wiped out 77 percent of the islands' penguins. In addition, the climate pattern destroyed 97 percent of shallow water coral.” If this El Niño turns out as predicted, it will have devastating effects on biodiversity across the globe. www.newsweek.com/super-el-nin...
Most Galapagos penguins could be killed this year, here's why
More than three-quarters of the penguins' population died during a separate strong El Niño event, fueling concerns for this year.
newsweek.com
Half of laboratory mice are not what scientists think they are go.nature.com/437pTDZ
Genetic survey exposes flaws in widely used mouse models
A survey of more than 300 mouse strains has found widespread discrepancies between how mutant mice are reported and their actual genetic make-up.
go.nature.com
Striped cuckoo (Tapera naevia) chicks utilize specialized, cryptic plumage that mimics the texture and color of pinecones for camouflage. #birds
How little we know of the amazing #biodiversity on this planet that we are fast trashing phys.org/news/2026-05...
Hairy new fish species discovered in the Great Barrier Reef
Swimming among the corals of the Great Barrier Reef is a fish that could be a doppelganger for the famous Sesame Street character Mr. Snuffleupagus. This bright orange-red, hairy, long-snouted ghost p...
phys.org
One of my dream projects, ever since joining here in Basel, out now in @nature.com : single-cells 🤝 eco-morphological proxies rdcu.be/fiyso How cells and tissues adapt to dietary niches... Thanks and congrats to Antoine, Walter, and all the other co-authors for this great collaboration!! 🙏🥳
Adaptive cellular evolution in the intestine of hyperdiverse cichlid fishes
Nature - Single-cell transcriptomics combined with morphological and ecological data show that the rapid evolutionary radiation of cichlid fishes in Lake Tanganyika was accompanied by dietary...
rdcu.be
While BioNtech & Moderna become household names because of their Covid vaccines, those emerged from different projects: finding ways to treat the most challenging cancers. They hypothesized that we could vaccinate patients against their own tumors, & evidence is mounting that they were right! 1/n 🧪
(2/2) Learn more about the new @cellpress.bsky.social study on Stowers.org: bit.ly/42t1Uik
Stowers Institute@stowersinstitute.bsky.social · 3mo ago(1/2) 🧵 What tells a cell what to become? New #research from @saukaspengler.bsky.social & @fabiantheis.bsky.social @helmholtzmunich.bsky.social @ox.ac.uk published in Cell explores how gene regulatory networks guide cell fate — using a new #AI framework the team developed called RegVelo.
(1/2) 🧵 What tells a cell what to become? New #research from @saukaspengler.bsky.social & @fabiantheis.bsky.social @helmholtzmunich.bsky.social @ox.ac.uk published in Cell explores how gene regulatory networks guide cell fate — using a new #AI framework the team developed called RegVelo.
Did you know that Pierre Chambon's laboratory was the first to use the term "nucleosome" in 1975 ? www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Truly historic & moving scenes from the inaugural session of the Hungarian Parliament. A children’s tambura band from a tiny village playing a folk song often described as the unofficial Roma anthem. MPs were tearing up & so were many more of us watching. After all those years of hate. 🎥 telex.hu
We @lowelab.bsky.social had a blast hosting @ostratodd.bsky.social at the Hopkins Marine Station! A fantastic day talking all things bioluminescence, ostracods, chitons, repeatability, contigency, phylogeny, courtship, mentoring, surfing, baseball, brewing and all The first of many visits I hope!
If you are a member of the scientific community wondering how to meet this moment, check out this excellent discussion between @holdenthorp.bsky.social and @timothysnyder.bsky.social. youtu.be/IWNDMwimUP0?...
Lessons in resistance for the scientific community
YouTube video by Science Magazine Podcasts
youtu.be
Iconic British naturalist David Attenborough, whose work has shaped science for decades, turns 100 today go.nature.com/4dbRFUB
A life in pictures: Celebrating Attenborough at 100
As the British naturalist celebrates a milestone birthday, we take a look at how his work has shaped science.
go.nature.com
#RIP Pierre Chambon (1931-2026) 1963 PARP 1970 RNA Pol II 1975 Nucleosome 1977 Split genes 1980 Promoter 1983 enhancer 1986 Nuclear receptor
In retrospect, forcing the entire campus to move from our locally hosted, open source LMS to a commercial, single point of failure LMS that also happens to be owned by a company that wants to turn all our labor into AI training data may not have been a good idea.
