Sean Coakley
@seancoakley.bsky.social
Lab head and neuroscientist at the School of Biomedical Sciences at The University of Queensland 🇦🇺🧠🔬 www.coakleylab.com
Thanks to The University of Queensland for highlighting our discovery of a nanoscale scaffold, in the tissue that surrounds the axon, that protects sensory axons from degenerating. news.uq.edu.au/2026-01-plea... @hilliardlab.bsky.social
Pleasure and pain: tiny worm reveals secret to protecting skin sensations
A tiny roundworm has helped UQ scientists uncover miniscule structures in skin tissue that may protect the body’s ability to feel temperature, touch and pain.
news.uq.edu.au
The MPS visits the axon's neighbors! Interesting results from @hilliardlab.bsky.social & @coakleylab.bsky.social in C. elegans where the epidermis forms a submembrane axon-imprinted periodic spectrin skeleton that restrict the endocytosis of cell surface proteins: doi.org/10.1126/scia...
Excellent work from @coakleylab.bsky.social and @hilliardlab.bsky.social 👏 Turns out, neurons protect themselves by literally becoming thick-skinned.
Coakley Lab@coakleylab.bsky.social · 7mo agoLatest paper is now out and features on the cover of Science Advances 👉 tinyurl.com/vea5862x Very grateful Igor Bonacossa Pereira, Dat Le & Massimo Hilliard @hilliardlab.bsky.social for their creativity & passion. Read more about it 👉 tinyurl.com/56awjda5 & 👉 tinyurl.com/2vp8p8uk
Latest paper is now out and features on the cover of Science Advances 👉 tinyurl.com/vea5862x Very grateful Igor Bonacossa Pereira, Dat Le & Massimo Hilliard @hilliardlab.bsky.social for their creativity & passion. Read more about it 👉 tinyurl.com/56awjda5 & 👉 tinyurl.com/2vp8p8uk
An epidermal membrane-associated periodic skeleton restricts endocytosis to stabilize neuron-epidermal attachment and preserve axons
An epidermal membrane periodic scaffold protects axons from damage.
tinyurl.com
#NHMRC responses at #Estimates were deeply inadequate, uninformed and are not going to #SaveOzScience. #NHMRC has NOT requested more funding to save the majority of excellent science. Our science, our scientists and the public deserve better. Thankyou #DavidPocock and #DrMoniqueRyan.
🚨 Deadline for Abstracts closes 17:00 AEST, Monday 7 July 2025 🚨 🔬🧬🧠Abstract submission for the #ANS2025 Annual Scientific Meeting in Hobart, Tasmania close soon!🔬🧬🧠 Submit your abstract Here: tas.currinda2.com/register/eve... We look forward to seeing you in Hobart!
tas.currinda2.com
A watched manuscript never gets reviewed
a pot of boiling water is sitting on a stove .
ALT: a pot of boiling water is sitting on a stove .
media.tenor.com
Daily reminder that life's a rollercoaster 🎢 #celegans #dadjokes and coaster by @mehershadw.bsky.social
What a fantastic gift from Red, our undergrad rotation student this semester. A needle felt C. elegans! Thank you Red 🙏#worm #celegans #scienceart #science
Alright, Aus Neuro fam! 👋 We've just dropped a new ANS starter pack over at go.bsky.app/B8viKca and it's feeling a little... empty. 🤔 Hit that link and drop your suggestions – let's make this pack legendary! ✨ #bluesky #starterpack #suggestions #ANS #AusNeuro 🇦🇺🧠
A little piece I wrote for the conversation on the role of curiosity in medical breakthroughs 👇 theconversation.com/curiosity-dr...
‘Curiosity-driven research’ led to a recent major medical breakthrough. But it’s under threat
Curiosity-driven research is exactly what it sounds like: research driven by the goal of understanding nature without regard for application.
theconversation.com
They... used the force
a close up of a statue of yoda from star wars smoking a cigar .
ALT: a close up of a statue of yoda from star wars smoking a cigar .
media.tenor.com
Oded Rechavi@odedrechavi.bsky.social · last yr.That's dramatic (and cool): "archaea species can also form multicellular tissue–like structures when compressive forces are applied... ... These results establish multicellularity as a feature of all three domains of life" www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
A little piece I wrote for the conversation on the role of curiosity in medical breakthroughs 👇 theconversation.com/curiosity-dr...
‘Curiosity-driven research’ led to a recent major medical breakthrough. But it’s under threat
Curiosity-driven research is exactly what it sounds like: research driven by the goal of understanding nature without regard for application.
theconversation.com
The ARC have tweeted that they will released Discovery Projects Expression of Interest outcomes tomorrow.
This looks like a fabulous meeting! Abstract submission and registration close soon so don't miss out. Cell biology ✔️ nervous system ✔️ Greece ✔️ 🔬🤓🧠🇬🇷
Fantastic first day of #SMP2025 Bill Shorten's masterclass on civics was a highlight. Great to have the opportunity to chat with Minister Ed Husic at the gala dinner about the benefits of basic science and the culture of curiosity to drive innovation and economic benefits for all Australians 🧠🔬🤓
This paper is now featured by @naturecomms.bsky.social on their Editors' Highlights page Check it out 👇 www.nature.com/collections/...
From molecules and cells to organisms
This page highlights recent articles advancing our knowledge in molecular, cell and developmental biology, including disciplines as diverse as cell division, ...
nature.com
@evakaulich.bsky.social · 2y agoLeveraging the genetic power of the nematode C. elegans and the optogenetic tool KillerRed, the Hilliard Lab discovered osp-1, a novel gene that protects neurons from oxidative damage via cell-autonomous mechanisms 🧠 doi.org/10.1038/s414...
Our paper is now featured in the Editors' highlights at @naturecomms.bsky.social 👇 www.nature.com/collections/...
Mehershad Wadia@mehershadw.bsky.social · 2y agoNEW Paper: If you're a fan of Rachel from 'Friends', you would love OSP-1, as it is also protective of ROS Donato et al. found a novel gene OSP-1 (oxidative stress protective 1) that protects neurons from damage caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS), by modulating autophagy.👇
NEW Paper: If you're a fan of Rachel from 'Friends', you would love OSP-1, as it is also protective of ROS Donato et al. found a novel gene OSP-1 (oxidative stress protective 1) that protects neurons from damage caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS), by modulating autophagy.👇
Nice way to start the year. An enormous effort on this one from Alessandra. Congratulations! 🎉
@evakaulich.bsky.social · 2y agoLeveraging the genetic power of the nematode C. elegans and the optogenetic tool KillerRed, the Hilliard Lab discovered osp-1, a novel gene that protects neurons from oxidative damage via cell-autonomous mechanisms 🧠 doi.org/10.1038/s414...
Leveraging the genetic power of the nematode C. elegans and the optogenetic tool KillerRed, the Hilliard Lab discovered osp-1, a novel gene that protects neurons from oxidative damage via cell-autonomous mechanisms 🧠 doi.org/10.1038/s414...
OSP-1 protects neurons from autophagic cell death induced by acute oxidative stress - Nature Communications
How oxidative stress impacts neurons is poorly understood. Here the authors reveal that overactivation of autophagy following oxidative stress contributes to neuronal death and discover a protective f...
doi.org
What happens if I only eat tacos for 5 days? Asking for a friend... #CellBio2024
I'll be presenting our work from @coakleylab.bsky.social #CellBio2024 where we discovered a periodic spectrin skeleton in the skin of C. elegans that protects neurons from damage. Come say hi 👋 P1427 Sunday 15th 11:15am-12:45pm @ascbiology.bsky.social
Very happy and proud about this week's success. Very grateful to all my colleagues and my lab for their hard work and support getting this over the line 🍾🙏🥳
Coakley Lab@coakleylab.bsky.social · 2y agoIt was a good week this week 👇 🥂 www.coakleylab.com/news/arc-discovery-project-success
Science takes time - a lot of time. Time that is more and more difficult to make available because of increased workloads. Time that exceeds the temporary contracts of postdocs and PhDs. I'll illustrate this using our paper published in Nature yesterday. 🧵 (1/x) www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Soil microbiomes show consistent and predictable responses to extreme events - Nature
Soils from 30 grasslands across Europe were subjected to 4 contrasting extreme climatic events under drought, flood, freezing and heat conditions, with the results suggesting that soil microbiomes fro...
nature.com
Thinking of everyone who feels like they have a LOT riding on these. The sun will rise on Wednesday 🌞 #ARCDP25
ARC Tracker@arc-tracker.bsky.social · 2y agoARC says they’ll release the Discovery Projects 2025 outcomes tomorrow. Recently, outcomes announcements have tended to happen at/around 11am Canberra time. My bot will pick up the announcement in RMS’s database and post immediately. Good luck!
ARC says they’ll release the Discovery Projects 2025 outcomes tomorrow. Recently, outcomes announcements have tended to happen at/around 11am Canberra time. My bot will pick up the announcement in RMS’s database and post immediately. Good luck!
This is 🐎 💩. "Planning" to run a "system" in such a way is abusive behaviour. It's unacceptable, and entirely unsurprising.
ARC Tracker@arc-tracker.bsky.social · 2y agoTo those prepping 2026 Discovery Projects EOIs while still waiting on 2025 outcomes: I don't know when they'll be released. I'm sorry. Remember, ARC *planned* this. Planned outcomes for 20–29Nov & 13Dec EOI deadline. They knew ~500 teams would now be wasting time prepping EOIs.
