If you are interested in nervous system evolution you may want to read our review with Kei Jokura on nerve nets: "Revisiting nerve nets: functional organization and evolutionary implication" https://link.springer.com/article/10.1038/s44318-026-00879-w […] [Original post on biologists.social]

Sailing in @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social ready for summer, our study on the iconic Portuguese man o' war 🪼 is out: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6.... We use (epi)genomics to understand a critter that fascinates me since childhood. Massive team effort with @obog.bsky.social, Cummins and Neely groups. 🧵

Thrilled to post thread re: new single-cell lineage of mouse embryo reconstructed w/ DNA Typewriter. One animal, zygote to late organogenesis (E13.5). Tree has 1,340,794 transcriptionally profiled, annotated tips (cells), 1,142,588 dated internal nodes, rooted at zygote 1/n

We're hiring 4 postdocs at @unibo.it to study nervous system evolution. Seeking expertise in single-cell genomics, molecular or developmental biology in ctenophores, cnidarians, echinoderms, flies or human stem cells. 2+2 yrs contract. Deadline: 26 Aug. Please share! bandi.unibo.it/s/apos7/proc...

Procedura di valutazione comparativa per titoli e colloquio per il conferimento di n. 4 contratti di ricerca presso il Dipartimento di Scienze Biologiche, Geologiche e Ambientali - SSD BIOS-04/A - GSD...

bandi.unibo.it

The formatted paper is now out in MBE - describing OPTICS software to predict color sensitivy based on opsin sequence alone: academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...

Todd Oakley@ostratodd.bsky.social · 2mo ago

🧵 New paper! We’re excited to release OPTICS: software that immediately predicts color sensitivity from any opsin protein sequence. In other words: give OPTICS any opsin sequence, and it predicts the wavelength of light the pigment is most sensitive to 🌈👁️ academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...

Spatiotemporal transcriptome atlas of human embryos after gastrulation. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Spatiotemporal transcriptome atlas of human embryos after gastrulation - Nature

A spatiotemporal transcriptome atlas of whole-human embryos after gastrulation and previously transcriptionally undescribed stages of human development are reported.

nature.com

Does anyone have experience with the Gilson PipetMax 268 or 278, or any liquid handling robot, for combinatorial barcoding sci-RNA-seq/SPLiT-seq style workflows? We are interested in buying one for library prep automation. Any feedback welcome! #singlecell #labautomation ➡️ Reply or DM me!

Capolavoro 🎨 alert 🚨! What is the role of gene body methylation in invertebrates? Despite extensive speculation linking it to plasticity and environmental responses, its mechanistic effects and heritability remain unclear. Our take out in @natecoevo.nature.com: www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/

Gene body methylation suppresses intragenic transcription and permits epigenetic inheritance in a cnidarian - Nature Ecology & Evolution

Experiments in the cnidarian Nematostella vectensis show a role of gene body methylation in transposable element suppression and that epigenetic inheritance is constrained by chromatin context and tra...

nature.com

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...

🚨 We discovered a new mode of Hox gene regulation in annelids! 🪱 A distal enhancer acts as a "global control region", lifting Hox genes from Polycomb repression. This is reminiscent of Hox gene control in vertebrates, but the two modes likely evolved convergently. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

We are recruiting 2 PhD students @ the University of Bologna to study neuron evolution in mosquitoes and non-bilaterian animals using single-cell genomics, evo-devo and computational biology. Plus, Bologna is hard to beat scientifically and gastronomically. More info: www.unibo.it/en/study/phd...

Earth, Life and Environmental Sciences - University of Bologna

unibo.it

🚨Job claxon🚨 4-year #Postdoc available in our lab in @camzoology.bsky.social developing molecular and anatomical approaches to mapping evolutionary changes in the brain, using #Heliconiini butterflies. Come join us, we are nice. 🧪 www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...

We launched a new Group Leader vacancy in our Center for AI & Computational Biology - VIB.AI @vibai.bsky.social - with a Professorship at Ghent University. Join us with your most creative AI+Biology research plan! Apply before 31st May vib.ai/en/group-lea...

Very nice and timely paper on phylogenomic model choice. Strong evidence that mixture models outperform homogeneous and partitioned approaches, with CAT-GTR showing robust performance across conditions. Highly relevant for difficult phylogenetic problems. academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...

Phylogenomic mixture models outperform homogeneous and partitioned models

Abstract. Significant advances have been made in resolving the tree of life, but many nodes remain debated. The last two decades saw the emergence of mixtu

academic.oup.com

Gene regulatory networks: from correlative models to causal explanations www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Gene regulatory networks: from correlative models to causal explanations - Nature Reviews Genetics

In this Perspective, Maizels and Briscoe discuss the limitations of current models of gene regulatory networks and outline solutions to harness data abundance without compromising explanatory power.

nature.com

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/...

Final version @nature.com of our paper describing unconventional multicellular development in a choanoflagellate inhabiting an extreme environment. A ton of new data since the first @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social preprint (which we've kept updating). A brief 🧵 (carried over from the old place)

Nature Portfolio@natureportfolio.nature.com · 5mo ago

A study in Nature shows that the single-celled form of a tiny, aquatic organism can turn into a multicellular version by three different routes. The discovery adds insight to the possible origins of multicellular life, suggesting a previously unrecognized degree of flexibility. 🧪

Nel caso vi interessi: 90 minuti su occhi, origine ed evoluzione… e altre cose. Sì, solo 90 minuti 😊 In case you are interested: 90 minutes on eyes, origin and evolution… and other things. Yes, just 90 minutes.. 😊 (yes it is in italian e grazie a A Brain Pod per l'invito) lnkd.in/dMc3V2qP

New from @chemamd.bsky.social lab @qmulsbbs.bsky.social Collab with Elaine Seaver, @baxevanislab.bsky.social @neva-meyer.bsky.social @abhinavsur.bsky.social New chromosome-level assembly for Capitella teleta 🪱 academic.oup.com/gbe/advance-... #DevBio #WormWednesday @genomebiolevol.bsky.social

Our internal organs are evolutionary marvels. New technologies are transforming our understanding of the evolution of vertebrate organs. You can find more by reading here: rdcu.be/e5EgU #EvoBio #EvoDevo 🐟🦎🐢🦇🐊🦜

The molecular evolution of vertebrate organs

Nature Ecology & Evolution - This Review discusses recent advances in the molecular evolution of vertebrate organs, including rates of evolution of organs and cell types, molecular mechanisms...

rdcu.be

Salinity tunes mode of multicellularity in a tidepool choanoflagellate www.nature.com/articles/s41... - paper in @nature.com

Clonal-aggregative multicellularity tuned by salinity in a choanoflagellate - Nature

The choanoflagellate Choanoeca flexa forms motile and contractile cell monolayers purely clonally, purely aggregatively or through a combination of both processes depending on environmental condi...

nature.com

Postdoc Opening! 🚨 Thrilled to (belatedly!) share that I’ve received @hfspo.bsky.social grant in collaboration with @KatherinaPetrou "Plant-like solar tracking in a photosymbiotic animal." We are hiring a Postdoc to join the team @bristolbiosci.bsky.social! Apply👇 www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQO766/r...

Why do some worms graze on bacteria while others hunt and kill? Our study, published today in Nature, reveals how predatory aggression evolved in nematodes. Led by @gunizgozeeren.bsky.social and @leoboeger.bsky.social across the @jameslightfoot.bsky.social and @monikakscholz.bsky.social labs.

Predatory aggression evolved through adaptations to noradrenergic circuits - Nature

Noradrenergic circuits support and balance aggressive behavioural states in predatory nematodes, distinguish predatory from non-predatory nematode species and are associated with the evolution of comp...

nature.com

New findings on genomic regulation mechanisms throughout evolution | EurekAlert! www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

New findings on genomic regulation mechanisms throughout evolution

The conservation of genome regulatory elements over long periods of evolution is not limited to vertebrates, as previously thought, but also in echinoderms (invertebrates). This is one of the most not...

eurekalert.org

There's still time to apply to be a 2026 @dev-journal.bsky.social Pathway to Independence fellow For those about to apply for their first independent academic position, the programme offers - mentoring - leadership training - profile rising - networking journals.biologists.com/dev/pages/pi...

Thrilled to share that I’ve been awarded a FIS-3 Advanced Grant (ERC-inspired) to study the evolution of neurogenic GRNs. Recruiting soon: 4 postdocs + 3 PhDs Press release in Italian — to decolonise scientific language 😄 magazine.unibo.it/it/articoli/... Email me if interested in joining the lab

Un viaggio all’origine dei sistemi nervosi

Il nuovo progetto GRNevo, finanziato con un grant FIS-3 Advanced da 1,9 milioni di euro, studierà come si formano i neuroni durante lo sviluppo in specie animali molto distanti tra loro: dal moscerino...

magazine.unibo.it

Sponges are notoriously difficult to understand in evolutionary biology terms. I think this paper is a big step forward : www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Independent origins of spicules reconcile paleontological and molecular evidence of sponge evolutionary history

Sponges have a cryptic Ediacaran history because ancestral sponges were soft-bodied and had low fossilization potential.

science.org

Our work on the evolution of the regulatory genome of echinoderms is now out in @natecoevo.nature.com. Led by my former PhD Marta Magri, Danila Voronov & Saoirse Foley. Great collaboration of Arnone, Hinman & Maeso labs, started long time ago with our missed José Luis Gomez-Skarmeta: rdcu.be/eXX8l

Deep conservation of cis-regulatory elements and chromatin organization in echinoderms uncover ancestral regulatory features of animal genomes

Nature Ecology & Evolution - Analysis of the 3D chromatin architecture and cis-regulatory elements in a sea urchin and a sea star reveals mechanisms of 3D chromatin organization in echinoderms...

rdcu.be

Check out our new paper! @imperialsci.bsky.social

Development@dev-journal.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Saving face: SALL4 is required for early specification of craniofacial precursors This Research Highlight showcases work by Martina Demurtas, Marco Trizzino (@marcotrizzino.bsky.social) and colleagues: journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...

Excited to share the final version of our study on Nematostella cell type regulatory programs. Part of our @erc.europa.eu StG project, this was a challenging 5-year effort extraodinarily led by @aelek.bsky.social and @martaig.bsky.social. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Decoding cnidarian cell type gene regulation - Nature Ecology & Evolution

This study reconstructs the gene regulatory networks that define cell types in the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis, providing a valuable resource for comparative regulatory genomics and the evoluti...

nature.com