AI & biomed research. @charlesswanton.bsky.social & I write for the @standard.co.uk.web.brid.gy about how AI can help us in @crick.ac.uk to understand how life works: what keeps us healthy, what sets disease in motion & why patients respond differently www.standard.co.uk/news/tech/ai...

If AI can learn how life works, it could help us live longer, healthier lives

The Francis Crick Institute’s expert scientists on how AI can help the healthcare industry

standard.co.uk

Excited to share that our latest story on #microtubule conformation controlling cell #signaling is now out in NCB! We show that microtubule expansion by taxane chemotherapeutics releases microtubule bound GEF-H1 which in turn activates RhoA/ROCK signaling. ✨ www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Two years since the 1st submission, our work on limb heterochrony is finally out! 🎉🎊 @cellcellpress.bsky.social Delayed hindlimb dev vs forelimb is a widely conserved trait in mammals. We show that maternal O2 regulates this phenotype 👉🏻 shorturl.at/MGrwl

Shifts in embryonic oxygen levels cue heterochrony in limb initiation

Mammalian embryos see a substantial increase in available oxygen once the placenta forms. This increase in oxygen exposure serves as a trigger for initiating the development of the hindlimb, thus cont...

shorturl.at

What a wonderful short film for @sarawickstrom.bsky.social Sara Wickström's Körber Prize for European Science 2026! Our director explains how cells sense physical forces and translate them into gene activity. Thanks, @koerber-stiftung.de and Wagnervision GmbH 🎥 koerber-stiftung.de/en/media/sar...

Sara Wickström – Körber Prize Winner 2026: The hidden senses of cells

Wickström discovered how cells sense the physical world around them. Her research showed that cells can “feel” forces such as pressure and stretching and relay these signals all the way to their DNA. ...

koerber-stiftung.de

We spoke to Kate @katemiro.bsky.social about her ‘random walk’ into cellular biophysics, how AI might uncover links between nuclear morphodynamics and cell fate hiding in plain sight, and fishing for crayfish as a child growing up in Kazakhstan. journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...

I am excited to announce that I will start the Brain Origins Lab at the Crick in March 2027! Using acoels as a model system, the lab will study how animal brains evolve, and how innovations in brain organisation enable new computational abilities and the evolution of complex behaviour.

The Francis Crick Institute@crick.ac.uk · 4w ago

We’re excited to announce five new group leaders will join the Crick in the coming months. Welcome to Katya Osipova, @joshuabull.bsky.social, @vchandra.bsky.social, @sami-c.bsky.social and James Cranley, whose specialties range from artificial intelligence to cell biology. https://bit.ly/3SPC6vJ

Pathway to Independence – an interview with Nikhil Mishra In this interview, @nikhil-mishra.bsky.social discusses the evolution of his research interests from subcellular beginnings to whole-organism questions, and the importance of scientific security. doi.org/10.1242/dev....

Pathway to Independence – an interview with Yamini Ravichandran In this interview, Yamini discusses her work focusing on understanding tissue-scale processes, regeneration and morphogenesis. doi.org/10.1242/dev....

...two days of Science and Sea with @nordenlab.bsky.social ...and this is just the first round 😀 many more to go!

Institut Curie, Paris, symposium: Where Form Takes Shape October 27-28th 2026 (after the yearly International Developmental Biology course) Registration before October 10th (for free !): docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... There will be short talks and posters selected from abstracts.

Grateful to @dev-journal.bsky.social for the opportunity to compile this special issue #DevSIextracellular ! It's been an absolute pleasure working with such an excellent editorial team...seamless from start to finish 🙏

Development@dev-journal.bsky.social · 4w ago

An(other) interview with Rashmi Priya Read our second interview with @rashmi-priya.bsky.social, a Guest Editor for our special issue #DevSIextracellular, discussing the importance of interdisciplinary research in #DevBio and her experience curating the special issue. doi.org/10.1242/dev....

That's a wrap on the 2026 Santa Cruz Developmental Biology Conference. Impressive talks from every career stage, packed poster sessions, a broad range of fields. Thanks to everyone who made it such a great meeting.

Meet Daniel Santos Olivan, physicist who studies questions related to embryonic development and geometry. As AI reshapes research, Daniel’s recommendation for young scientists is to let themselves be guided by what they think is important, not by trends. www.embl.org/news/people-...

Break to build: fracture as a unifying morphogenetic strategy Read this Review from our special issue #DevSIextracellular by Daniel Santos-Oliván, @rashmi-priya.bsky.social, @torres-sanchez.bsky.social & co. journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...

What a fantastic week of rich, top-notch developmental biology at the SCDB meeting....and the beautiful campus, and this incredible team @jbwallingford.bsky.social @lowelab.bsky.social and Shelbi! next one is going to be more fantastic with Tyler Huycke, Carrie Albertine @ondinecleaver.bsky.social

I'm excited to see @dev-journal.bsky.social's #DevSIextracellular take shape with articles like this one. The special issue will be completed soon. A big thanks to @hugheslabpenn.bsky.social & @rashmi-priya.bsky.social for their contributions as Guest Editors. Browse the Table of Contents so far:

Volume 153 Issue 16 | Development | The Company of Biologists

Development is the leading community journal in developmental biology, publishing research and reviews across the spectrum of animal and plant developmental biology.

journals.biologists.com

Raphaël Clément@raphclement.bsky.social · last mo.

A developmental biologist's guide to mechanics, just out in Development! In which we learn about the three pillars of any mechanical model: forces, mechanical properties, and boundary conditions. @pflenne.bsky.social @alessandrochppr.bsky.social @caojialing1002.bsky.social @dev-journal.bsky.social

Laminin α5 and integrins α3 and α6 coordinately regulate collective cell migration in vivo Read this Article from our special issue #DevSIextracellular by Anna Mertens, Virginie Lecaudey @vlecaudey.bsky.social and colleagues from @goetheuni.bsky.social. journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...

New paper @natcellbio.nature.com! We propose to understand embryo implantation as active wetting. Embryos from older mothers spread less because they are too contractile and viscous. Experiments by @katecavanaugh.bsky.social and theory by MJ Franco-Oñate in my group. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Elevated contractility drives implantation failure in mouse embryos from aged females - Nature Cell Biology

Cavanaugh et al. show that embryos from aged mice have increased contractility and tissue viscosity on embryonic day 4.5, which leads to poor spreading and attachment. Similar age-associated mechanica...

nature.com

Kate Cavanaugh@katecavanaugh.bsky.social · last mo.

🧵 What if one reason fertility declines with age isn’t just genetic-but mechanical? Thrilled to share our new paper in @NatureCellBio : Elevated contractility drives implantation failure in mouse embryos from aged females… here’s what we found 👇 www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/11

A perspective in @natmethods.nature.com on Why forces are fundamental to understanding how life comes into being - by us, @campaslab.bsky.social @yanlanmao.bsky.social @sarawickstrom.bsky.social Miguel Concha, Alba Diz-Muñoz and @streichan.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The physics of sculpting a living creature - Nature Methods

Cell biologists have long known that mechanical forces, such as tension and compression, influence tissue differentiation. Now, advanced methods are letting them observe and manipulate these forces in...

nature.com

Axonal defasciculation is restricted to specific branching points during regeneration of the lateral line nerve in zebrafish Read the first #OA article in #DevSIextracellular by Rohan S. Roy and A. J. Hudspeh (@rockefeller.edu) in our Stem Cells and Regeneration section: doi.org/10.1242/dev....

This epic paper, which has been a heroic 10 year journey for the lead author, Ricardo Barrientos, is finally out in Cell today! Many thanks to all co-authors, especially Billie Meadowcroft and Andela Saric for their beautiful MD simulations www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Basement membrane turnover controls cell shape

Basement membranes are scaffolds of proteins, like collagen, that give organs shape. During development, basement membranes must adapt to the growing organ. We infer how fast the basement membrane ada...

cell.com

Nice technology feature in @natmethods.nature.com on how physical measurements in embryos are changing how we understand development and morphogenesis www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The physics of sculpting a living creature - Nature Methods

Cell biologists have long known that mechanical forces, such as tension and compression, influence tissue differentiation. Now, advanced methods are letting them observe and manipulate these forces in...

nature.com

Happy to see Ashley's paper out @natphys.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Decaying and expanding Erk gradients process memory of skeletal size during zebrafish fin regeneration

Nature Physics - Zebrafish can regenerate amputated fins back to their original size. It is now shown that gradients in extracellular signal-regulated kinase activity act as rulers during fin bone...

nature.com

Truly honored to recieve this recognition-a testament to the dedication, hard work and creativity of past and current lab members, I am grateful to be able to do science with them. Also want to thank all our wonderful collaborators that facilitate interdisciplinary work essential for new discoveries

Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine@mpi-muenster.bsky.social · 3mo ago

🌟 Congratulations to Sara Wickström! 🌟 Our Director Sara Wickström @sarawickstrom.bsky.social receives the Körber Prize for her groundbreaking research on how cells sense physical forces, influencing genes and potentially leading to new disease treatments. s.academiccloud.de/ouQdRQ

New paper from the lab! authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S... We find that protein degradation is broadly slower in human segmentation clock cells than in mouse cells, regardless of the degradation pathway or protein category! 1/

Systematic differences in protein stability underlie species-specific developmental tempo

Human embryonic development proceeds more slowly than in mice. The segmentation clock offers a tractable model for studying species-specific developme…

authors.elsevier.com

Happy to share our new eLife paper on tissue dynamics during anterior-posterior axis formation. elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...

New preprint alert!!! Super proud to finally share an authentic 'tour-de-force' from the amazing PhD students Shivani Gunnan @shivanigunnan.bsky.social, Max Kotz and Lucas Ribas, in collaboration with @friedrich-group.bsky.social 👇a small thread www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Developmental growth rates adapt to enable self-correction of organ morphology after injury.

Proportional organ growth requires tissue-level control of cell behavior. Yet the cues that adapt growth rates, especially after organ injury, remain unclear. Here, we uncover that developing organs a...

biorxiv.org

check out the fantastic list of speakers on the final program for the 2026 Santa Cruz Dev Biol meeting! Click below, then click the "Conference Program" Link! @lowelab.bsky.social @rashmi-priya.bsky.social @socdevbio.bsky.social scdb2026.sites.ucsc.edu

Excited to share our latest! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... This was a highly collaborative endeavor– the best way to do science. We asked how a developing tissue achieves the right shape despite all the variability along the way. Short answer: Hydrostatic pressure. Read on for the long answer!

See this? This = implanting mouse embryo. Usually this happens inside its mother and is invisible to us, but we can actually watch implantation ex vivo with the hope of understanding why implantation goes awry in embryos of older women. A 🧵...