Fantastic, they saw a Stygiomedusa on descent!! @schmidtocean.bsky.social dive 884 #argentiniandeepseeps #MarineLife #CONICET

Mesmerizing light microscopy image from a skeleton of a diatom algae 32 to 40 million years old. Diatoms are photosynthesizing algae at the base of the marine food chain, found in almost every aquatic environment. They are single celled organisms that produce an external wall composed of silica.

As the exam period comes to a close, a well-earned break begins. Wishing our students a restful holiday. ✨

Reposting b/c I had the incorrect ID the 1st time. This jelly is Crosotta. @schmidtocean.bsky.social dive 883 #argentiniandeepseeps #MarineLife #CONICET

McGill is recruiting talents from abroad through the Canada Impact+ Research Chairs program. The deadline is tight (Late Jan). Learn more about it at: www.mcgill.ca/research/res...

A Tunicate #Salp’s Last Supper. A swimming smorgasbord wrapped in glassy flesh #photography #UnderwaterPhotography Link for more #photos and information: mossandfog.com/a-salps-last...

We’ve highlighted some wonderful images and researchers in our ‘Featured image’ series in 2025. To celebrate, we’re inviting you to vote for your favourite in our image competition! #FluorescenceFriday Check them out here: focalplane.biologists.com/2025/12/19/v...

In a new paper, Rashid & Roy characterize a novel RNA-binding helicase, HZL-1. The protein regulates reproductive developmental quiescence in C. elegans through inhibition of key mRNAs, and sits on the axis between conserved AMPK & TOR metabolic signaling pathways. journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Continuing the entries from our annual Photo Competition 📸 👨‍🔬 🔬©️ This #microscopy image was captured by Arthur Boutillon from the Campàs lab @campaslab.bsky.social 🔍 Caption: Rhodamine dextran diffusing between cells, labelling extracellular space, in embryonic zebrafish.

Checkout the DFOMarbled crayfish synopsis that was recently published and authored by yours truly!

There are so many nematodes in my lab tank! #marineplankton 🦑

New in @biolinvasions.bsky.social: I argue that accelerating invasion rates threaten ecosystem stability & sustainable management. Thus there is an urgent need for progress toward Target 6 of the Kunming-Montreal GBF, which calls for a substantive reduction in global invasion rates. -> rdcu.be/eVlNk

Our Biology grad students and their guests had a wonderful time at the Gala-pagos this past Saturday at Thomson House! There was delicious food, fun awards, and good times had. Thanks to the McGill BGSA for organizing this elegant evening! Photo credits: Vic Van Mierlo and Taylor Shirtliff-Hinds

Some fiery prefrontal cortical neurons projecting to the locus coeruleus that are labeled in the mouse brain #FluorescenceFriday 🧠🔬🔥 Image credit to @rehg-j.bsky.social and the @lieberinstitute.bsky.social Circuits Team

Elegant orange sunburst #lichen, Rusavskia elegans. This photo was taken at around -40C/F…amazing how they thrive in pretty extreme environments. Northwest Territories, Canada. #fungi #fungifriends.

Felt a little festive at the microscope this morning for #FluorescenceFriday 🎄 Here’s the nervous system of a juvenile sea star ⭐️ Green = acetylated tubulin, red = nuclei Happy holidays!

McGill is recruiting top-tier researchers working abroad through the federally funded Canada Impact+ Research Chairs program, addressing global and national challenges. The first round is due in early 2026. Learn more and submit your candidacy: https://mcgill.ca/x/5Zh

Oh to be a little Tardigrade walking across a microscopic slide. 🫧🐻🧪

“A process which led from the amoeba to man appeared to the philosophers to be obviously a progress - though whether the amoeba would agree with this opinion is not known" - Bertrand Russell, 1976. Time-lapse video of Vampyrella lateritia eating Spirogyra algae from Science Source/Oliver Skibbe. 🦠

Explore the McGill Biodiversity Atlas, which catalogues the diverse species across McGill University's properties and green spaces: arcgis.mcgill.ca/portal/apps/...

Chocolate tube slime mold on a sprig..of moss. Stemonitis sp. NWT, Canada. Slime mold is about 2cm wide. #slime #myxo #fungifriends

Yay! Christmas stars in the plankton! This is a silicoflagellate called Octactis speculum, and I don’t see them very often. I got to see 2 in this week’s plankton sample! #marineplankton 🦑

In case you missed it from earlier this year: a study led by @janaserrano.bsky.social (Pollock Lab, McGill) explored how extinction risk assessments for birds are shaped not only by biological traits & human-caused threats but also by species popularity. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

Presenting Macrostemum zebratum, a Christmas caddisfly (note the festive green & reddish colors of the larva)! The larvae construct houses of tiny stones supporting fine silk nets attached to rocks in running water. They are abundant in the St Lawrence River.

Protoparmeliopsis muralis and friends. Northwest Territories, Canada. #lichen #fungi #fungifriends

Recently, @sebtheis.bsky.social (Gonzalez Lab) led a systematic review of Essential Ecosystem Service Variables (EESVs), which revealed the potential of EESVs to monitor ecosystem services across socio-ecological & socio-economic contexts. See their paper: www.sciencedirect.com:5037/science/arti...

A study led by the Cristescu Lab at McGill showed that environmental RNA (eRNA) can be a powerful monitoring tool of biodiversity change in response to environmental stress in aquatic ecosystems. Read the paper here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

An Asgard Archaeon (Lokiarchaeum ossiferum) growing and retracting its arms

Stentor is a single cell with a complex cortical pattern showing anterior/posterior polarization In poster 410 at CellBio2025 Monday Dec 8, Yina Hudnall shows a role for posterior-enriched mRNA that encoding DNA binding proteins.

Meet the veliger larva - a tiny ocean drifter with a delicate shell and two ciliated “velums” that look like fluttering ears. These velums help it swim through plankton and capture food. 🎥 Video by @elizabethbeston.bsky.social #MarineBiology

Meet our new (2025-26) cohort of grad students: www.mcgill.ca/biology/grad...

One-day-old transgenic zebrafish embryo. Credit to Dr. Kazuhide Shaun Okuda. #ZebrafishZunday 🧪

Periphylla. @schmidtocean.bsky.social dive 874 #asgardarchaea #MarineLife

Spectacular strawberry squid! Histioteuthis squid w/massively asymmetrical eyes: 1 larger for viewing the silhouettes of predators & prey above, & 1 smaller eye for capturing glimmers of bioluminescent snacks below. #AsgardArchea - 730m - ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute

Three Biology profs among McGill's top-24 most cited: @Jennsunday.bsky.social @ecoevoevoeco.bsky.social @bio-diverse.bsky.social

Congratulations to the Reyes Lab (McGill Biology) on their PNAS paper (www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...)! Using single-molecule microscopy in live bacteria they show that rapid recycling of the DNA polymerase keeps DNA replication running & prevents genome instability—reshaping our view of this process.

We held a panel discussion on Demystifying Graduate School, exploring how to choose between a Master's & a PhD, how to get involved in undergraduate research, and what to ask your prospective supervisor. Check out the slides: www.mcgill.ca/biology/file... and video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTwG...

For this week #FluorescenceFriday, we'll be treated with one of our favourite animal models 🐸 . Here is a Xenopus laevis embryo imaged with a Lightsheet microscope showing macrophage migration. Purple🟣 = ectoderm nuclei, Red🔴 = macrophages. 📹: Hoang Anh Le, postdoc in the Mayor lab, UCL.

An adorable Platyhelminthes! I see that the classification has changed, so this is now subphylum Rhabditophora? Anyhoo, a real cutie! #marineplankton 🦑

ROV SuBastian pilots need raises because CAN YOU SEE IT?! ROV SuBastian in the eye of this Taningia! @schmidtocean.bsky.social dive 871 #asgardarchaea #MarineLife

The remarkable wings of a 0.3mm long Alaptus minimus wasp of the Mymaridae. If you look closely toward the left end of the pair you can see the hamuli (hooks) that link the hindwing to the forewing. #wasps #entomology

On Thursday, November 13, over 150 students, alumni, staff and faculty members gathered to celebrate the 20th anniversary of McGill's Bachelor of Arts and Science (B.A. & Sc.) program. Read more about the event and this unique program ➡️ mcgill.ca/x/iyP 📸 by Alex Tran @mcgillarts.bsky.social

COP30: Quebec universities more united than ever for the climate 🌎 As the conference unfolds in Belém, Brazil, eighteen institutions are reaffirming the climate emergency and the need to combine their efforts and expertise to meet this global challenge. https://mcgill.ca/x/iCn

We had a great time at the McGill BGSA Retreat at Gault Nature Reserve this past weekend! 🌲❄️ @picard-m.bsky.social @vanmierlo.bsky.social @biomcgill.bsky.social

Never seen the death of a ciliate like this-- usually it's too much pressure from the coverslip or too much osmotic pressure. But this gradual posterior-to-anterior "unzipping" effect amazed me ! Motic BA310e - 40x Objective - sped up 2X #microscopy #Paramecium #Iteachbiology #edusky

Axonal pathfinding of zebrafish retinal ganglion cells forms the optic nerve. Credit to Dr. Matthew Bostock @houartlab.bsky.social. #ZebrafishZunday 🧪

The rare & beautiful violet sea snail - a predator of Portuguese Man O’War & by-the-wind sailors. It lives its whole life at the surface of the open ocean, using a bubble raft to stay afloat. It’s normally more common in warmer waters but occasionally seen here #marinebiology #marinelife #oceanlife

This week's #FluorescenceFriday, we'll be treated with one of the classical models of #devbio, the neural crest cells. Here is a beautiful video of neural crest cells with GFP-tagged focal adhesion kinase (🔵) and LifeAct-RFP (🟣) migrating on a Fibronectin matrix. 📹: Adam Shellard