Humbled and incredibly grateful to have been elected to the @embo.org Membership. Many thanks to everyone who has supported me throughout this journey, Mentors, Collaborators and Trainees alike. Special thanks to @odedrechavi.bsky.social for proposing my nomination. It is a tremendous honor. 🙏

EMBO Press@embopress.org · 2mo ago

🏅Thrilled to see @yehumoran.bsky.social elected to the membership of @embo.org! Yehu was instrumental in forming an #ecology & #evolution advisory board for our journals while serving as Academic Editor, where he now continues as an advisor. #EMBOMembers2026 www.embo.org/press-releas...

1/3 I'm so happy to see this one finally out! Ton Sharoni's years-long quest to characterize the antiviral role of a novel protein, CARDIB, is out in @natecoevo.nature.com The link appears in the following post. This protein is conserved in all anthozoans (sea anemones and 🪸) -->

Cardi B's Playful Dance Mood

ALT: Cardi B's Playful Dance Mood

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A very nice piece about our latest paper published in Open Biology by @royalsocietypublishing.org It's about how venom-producing stinging cells use chromatic modifications to determine their biochemical identity: royalsociety.org/blog/2026/04...

The secret life of stinging cells: chromatin regulation in sea anemones | Royal Society

This Open Biology study uncovers how specialised stinging cells used for prey capture and defence, are regulated at a deeper level than ever before.

royalsociety.org

Today the EMBO Journal special issue on molecular ecology and evolution is finally published. It was a pleasure coordinating this collection together with @berndpulverer.bsky.social and many outstanding authors. Editorial: link.springer.com/article/10.1... Cover art by @munafomarzia.bsky.social

EMBO Press co-evolves with molecular ecology and evolutionary biology - The EMBO Journal

The EMBO Journal - Molecular ecology and evolution are central to understanding how biological systems function, interact, and diversify. A special issue of this journal reflects the growing...

link.springer.com

The EMBO Journal@embojournal.org · 5mo ago

Our SPECIAL ISSUE on MOLECULAR EVOLUTION & ECOLOGY is out! Editorial: @yehumoran.bsky.social, @berndpulverer.bsky.social et al Reviews on Asgard archaea, epimutations, giant-virus/host dynamics, smartphone analogy for animal origins… …& many related primary articles link.springer.com/journal/4431...

Read how @embopress.org is expanding its focus on molecular ecology and evolution as central underpinnings of functions/interactions/diversification of biological systems – by @yehumoran.bsky.social, @berndpulverer.bsky.social, and our new team of Editorial Advisors link.springer.com/article/10.1...

EMBO Press co-evolves with molecular ecology and evolutionary biology - The EMBO Journal

The EMBO Journal - Molecular ecology and evolution are central to understanding how biological systems function, interact, and diversify. A special issue of this journal reflects the growing...

link.springer.com

Editor perspective: finding 2–3 reviewers often means sending >20 invites. The peer-review system doesn’t run on magic. Worth remembering before clicking “decline” and later complaining about extremely slow reviews.

a man holding a cell phone with the word decline on his shirt

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media.tenor.com

#Tel_Aviv still has a few things going for it in February.

1/3 🚨New paper from our lab!🔥 Most textbooks will tell you that invertebrates employ #RNAi as antiviral mechanism. Yet, do 🪸🪼 actually do it? Well, the answer is complicated. We show that in #Nematostella dsRNA induces RNAi 🧵 journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Characterization of RNA interference in the cnidarian Nematostella vectensis reveals partial target silencing but lack of small RNA amplification

RNA interference is an ancestral antiviral mechanism that degrades viral RNA through siRNAs, but its role in cnidarians has been unclear. This study shows that Nematostella vectensis likely possesses ...

journals.plos.org

1/5 🚨🚨 preprint alert! 🚨🚨 I wish to introduce CARDIB, not the singer, but the protein. CARDIB=CARD Inhibitory Binding protein. In our new work we discover this antiviral protein that is found in all Anthozoa (sea anemones and corals 🪸) but not in other animals. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

An ancient anthozoan protein reveals an alternative evolutionary path of antiviral signaling

How antiviral immunity first arose in animals is a central question in evolutionary biology. Using the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis, we identify CARDIB, a previously uncharacterized gene located...

biorxiv.org

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

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media.tenor.com

Very happy and honored for being invited to give a keynote lecture at the 5th ISFSI conference in beautiful Tainan (and no, sea anemones are not fish or shellfish, but they are certainly marine invertebrates and have a fascinating immune system).

1/3 🔥🚨 We have a new @biorxiv-evobio.bsky.social #preprint from our lab! Itamar Kozlovski, an excellent PhD student, established CUT&TAG in #Nematostella. He used this technique to map the transcriptional activation mark H3K27ac in two stinging cell populations www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

Epigenomic and transcriptomic analyses reveal cnidocyte specialization in a sea anemone

Cnidarians, including corals, hydras, jellyfish, and sea anemones, possess specialized stinging cells called cnidocytes that function in prey capture and defense. These cells represent a striking evol...

biorxiv.org

My first ever non-peer reviewed science-related piece. Together with Howard Wolinsky and Holger Breithaupt @embopress.org It's about how scientists critical of de-extinction are targeted by dark PR tactics: www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

Scientists targeted by dark PR tactics: Several academic scientists critical of de-extinction projects have become the targets of anonymous smear articles and weaponized copyright infringement claims:...

EMBO Press is an editorially independent publishing platform for the development of EMBO scientific publications.

embopress.org

There’s a reason no one remembers philosophers from Sparta: they had none. Athens valued ideas, Sparta only force. A 21st-century leader dreaming of a “super-Sparta” isn’t being visionary, he’s showing deeply flawed judgement. Oh, my country, what a train wreck you’ve become.

I'm super proud of this guy!!! 👇

Vengamanaidu Modepalli@venky-vnm.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Exciting news to share! I have started my new role as a Lecturer in Evolutionary Biology / Director of MSc Bioinformatics program at the School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol @bristolbiosci.bsky.social

Our paper about the interplay between heat stress, viral and antiviral response in sea anemones and #corals 🪸 is finally out! #OpenAccess Collaboration between my lab, Maoz Fine and @reefgenomics.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Heat Stress Drives Rapid Viral and Antiviral Innate Immunity Activation in Hexacorallia

The class Hexacorallia, encompassing stony corals and sea anemones, plays a critical role in marine ecosystems. Coral bleaching, the disruption of the symbiosis between stony corals and zooxanthellat...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Very interesting results and a technical breakthrough in gene silencing in Trichoplax: Dissecting a peptidergic signaling pathway in Trichoplax adhaerens by gene silencing: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...

Dissecting a peptidergic signaling pathway in Trichoplax adhaerens by gene silencing

The simple marine animal Trichoplax adhaerens provides a unique window into early metazoan evolution. Li et al. develop an efficient RNAi-based gene knockdown method and uncover how neuropeptide-recep...

cell.com

A journal drags our review process for months over months. Even the final round after "accepted in principle" with some light text editing drags for weeks. Then the proofs come in, in the least convenient time possible, "we expect you to return your comments within 48 hours" 😖

two men are standing next to each other with blood on their faces . one of the men is wearing a plaid shirt .

ALT: two men are standing next to each other with blood on their faces . one of the men is wearing a plaid shirt .

media.tenor.com

Our work on the function of miR-51/miR-100 is out! miR-100 is widely conserved across eumetazoans but its function has been mysterious. Emilio Santillán found in worms it regulates signaling and extracellular matrix genes, some of which seem to be conserved targets! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

An ancient and essential miRNA family controls cellular interaction pathways in C. elegans

A microRNA that arose at the origin of eumetazoans regulates cell adhesion and signaling in C. elegans through conserved targets.

science.org

We sent a paper to a "posh" journal. Waited for more than a month, Finally today the editor rejects the paper without external review. The logic is as follows: "I wanted 🍕, but you sent me a 🍔, and despite my expectations, there was no 🍕! I admit it's a fine 🍔, but where is the 🍕 I was expecting?"

Achievement unlocked! Now, I can finally rest 🤪

Hello, old friend. Didn't expect to meet you here... #Berlin #aquarium #Anemonia

1/2 The new impact factor numbers are out. No sane person should use them as a proxy for anything, multiple organizations and institutes signed DORA, and still many people rely on them: I'll make it short and sweet: everything that carries "Nature" in its title went up. Sometimes crazily so -->

a man with a mustache says nature is amazing in a store

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media.tenor.com

#TCTeAC ... what's more than organizing one conference? Two conferences! This one is more Day Science on biology of Argonaute proteins from prokaryotes to Metazoa. Great line up of invited speakers. Some special fun included!

Petr Svoboda@svobodalab.bsky.social · last yr.

#Argonautes2025 - argonautes.img.cas.cz Join us in Prague 27-30/8/2025 for the next edition of the Argonaute meeting #miRNA #siRNA #piRNA & #PIWI Abstract submission for talk selection deadline is 30/6! Please, spread the word @rnasociety.bsky.social @rti-umasschan.bsky.social

The fascinating work spearheaded by Kirsten Senti on the diversification and adaptation of endogenous retroviruses in the host gonad 'ecosystem'' is officially published.

Institute of Molecular Biotechnology@imbavienna.bsky.social · last yr.

🚨📢 New paper alert! A study led by Kirsten Senti and Julius Brennecke offers new insights into how ancient endogenous retroviruses diversified to exploit different cell “niches” in the fruit fly ovary, and how the host’s defenses adapted in return. https://imba.science/Brennecke_EMBOJ

After more than 11 years, a long-due "postdocs reunion" with @xxxmichixxx.bsky.social at the @fmiscience.bsky.social Many thanks for the invitation, Michi! It was great meeting you and your colleagues and catching up on some cool science!

Our new paper is online in Genome Biology: "Plasmids, prophages, and defense systems are depleted from plant microbiota genomes" genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

Plasmids, prophages, and defense systems are depleted from plant microbiota genomes - Genome Biology

Plant-associated bacteria significantly impact plant growth and health. Understanding how bacterial genomes adapt to plants can provide insights into their growth promotion and virulence functions. He...

genomebiology.biomedcentral.com

Peer Review can be of great value when done properly and awful when done badly. We waited 3.5 months for the decision, Reviewer #2: "Looking on the figures, I get the feeling their antibody is not specific". That's so insightful & informative! It was worth waiting just for this!!! 🙏🤪🤦😱

I’m very excited to share our work on the early evolution of animal regulatory genome architecture - the main project of my postdoc, carried out across two wonderful and inspirational labs of @arnausebe.bsky.social and @mamartirenom.bsky.social. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Chromatin loops are an ancestral hallmark of the animal regulatory genome - Nature

The physical organization of the genome in non-bilaterian animals and their closest unicellular relatives is characterized; comparative analysis shows chromatin looping is a conserved feature of ...

nature.com

I'm starting a short sabattical of 4 months at @embopress.org today! I hope we can achieve some good things for the molecular eco-evo community and science publishing during this time! #heidelberg