The GSA gave me the opportunity to write an article in GENETICS reflecting on my journey as an immigrant in the USA and how those experiences have shaped my life and career. Thank you to all of my mentees, friends, and family who have supported me along the way 🙏 academic.oup.com/genetics/adv...

Interested in sea anemone embryos and building skills in molecular biology, biochemistry, imaging and bioinformatics? We are at Amherst College and work within a welcoming and supportive environment. Feel free to share and dm for additional details. amherst.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Amhers...

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...

An abundant membrane protein in the NCAM superfamily is required for epithelial organization in sea anemone embryos | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

How do animals with lifelong growth modulate cell #proliferation? @eudaldpascual.bsky.social @ktgarschall.bsky.social @prhsteinmetz.bsky.social show that starvation induces G1/G0 #CellCycle arrest in Vasa2+/Piwi1+ #SeaAnemone cells; cycle re-entry is TOR-dependent @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/48J2o6P

We can now properly credit to @swinburnelab.bsky.social 🤩 Welcome to Bluesky! 🧪

"10/10 would morph-a-gen" the motto for this year's Dev Bio class at Amherst College. for the love of #development and #embryology @socdevbio.bsky.social

Our paper on the role of neurons in Nematostella head regeneration is now out at @currentbiology.bsky.social Big thank you to all collaborators, it was a pleasure! Ectopic head regeneration after nervous system ablation in a sea anemone: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...

Had the pleasure of working with @mohannad-dardiry.bsky.social to rethink what it means to develop for life. Many thanks to @dev-journal.bsky.social! @embl.org #LifelongDevSI

First neurons didn’t appear overnight. We trace their roots to ancient secretory cells - showing how lifestyle & behavior shaped the evolution of first synapses.🧠🌊 #Evolution #Neuroscience Our latest in @natrevneuro.nature.com Link: rdcu.be/eMX3E @jeffcolgren.bsky.social @msarscentre.bsky.social

Our most recent study shows that stem cells in Schmidtea mediterranea do not rely on physical contacts or fixed structures to maintain their identity and regenerative potential. @stowersinstitute.bsky.social @cp-cellreports.bsky.social @vilcekfoundation.bsky.social www.cell.com/cell-reports...

How can we see the cells that make up a living organism? Membrane-localising tags can drive fluorescent proteins to the cell's outer membrane, making their outlines visible. But the tags don't work well in all organisms. How do you find one for your species of interest? 🧵 Check our latest preprint

🚨 Late preprint alert! Why do biological process rates scale nonlinearly with temperature, deviating from the straight line on an Arrhenius plot? The key may lie in their inherent complexity! More in thread and here: doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Enhanced RNA quality control maintains long-term regenerative ability in planarians. Read this #LifelongDevSI #OA Research Article by Michael Zelko, Josien C. van Wolfswinkel and colleagues: journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...

Latest from ours: www.cell.com/cell-reports... This is two stories in one: a case study/cautionary tale on developing genetic tools in new organisms, and the first hint at a gene regulatory network for choanoflagellate multicellular development (which turn out to involve a Hippo/YAP/ECM loop!) A 🧵

Hydra body axis balance: a fight between two transcription factors This Research Highlight showcases the work from Jaroslav Ferenc, Marylène Bonvin, Panagiotis Papasaikas, Jacqueline Ferralli, Clara Nuninger and Charisios D. Tsiairis: journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...

We knew that cnidarians have stunning regenerative capacities. But the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the self-organization of gastruloids of Nematostella surprised us. A story of cell sorting and Notch signaling. Please check out the work of Sanjay's PhD work: doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Finally, the excellent postdoc work of Emmanuel Haillot is out, where he dissected the integration of Wnt, MAPK and Notch signaling in defining mesoderm and endoderm identities in the diploblast Nematostella. Strikingly similar to sea urchins. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Congratulations Dr. Fournon Berodia @inesfournon.bsky.social 🎉🤩 We are very proud of Inés for successfully defending her PhD thesis conducted in the @prhsteinmetz.bsky.social lab. Thank you to opponents @ragkousik.bsky.social & @levayerr.bsky.social for insightful discussions 👏

our unexpected results on the importance of a neural cell adhesion molecule in sea anemone epithelialization and gastrulation are just posted in the following preprint. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A host organelle integrates stolen chloroplasts for animal photosynthesis: Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Mark your calendars for May 18-22, 2026- in Roscoff, Brittany, for the next iteration of the Developmental Biology Conference Jacques Monod!

We thought we were just studying mesoglea biogenesis…Turns out Nematostella has been hiding a sophisticated backup pressure valve! Work driven by the talented PhD student Soham Basu! @embl.org‬ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The last part of @paulknabl.bsky.social 's PhD is now available at www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Paul showed that BMP signaling is active in the diffuse nervous system of the sea anemone Nematostella and the box jellyfish Tripedalia. Moreover, suppression of BMP signaling in Nematostella leads...

It's #MicroscopyMonday, so let's take a peek into the 🔬 This movie was taken by Shinya Inuoe, who built the polarizing microscope that allowed scientists to see mitotic spindle fibers live for the first time. Dr. Inuoe premiered his research at MBL.

Intriguing findings from our Sendai collaborators Ruka Kitsui and Ryusaku Deguchi. While C. hemispherica spawns at dawn, Clytia IZ-D species spawns at dusk. This is not triggered by dark but, unexpectedly, by light-mediated extension of an autonomously-running 20h cycle. doi.org/10.1101/2025...

How many cells do you need to establish PCP? The magic number is 3! Beautiful work by Lena Basta in Danelle Devenport's lab. Happy to have contributed. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Happy to announce our latest paper! A fresh look at the sponge Aggregation Factor, a glycoprotein complex involved in self-recognition and adhesion. Previously thought to be sponge-specific, we report compelling structural links with proteins found in all animals! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Tanya's @tclebedeva.bsky.social paper on endomesoderm specification in the beta-catenin-negative area of the Nematostella embryo is out! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🧬 February's most-read Genetics paper looks at how #RNA travels between cells to control genes across generations #epigenetics: buff.ly/ulMGsBH Have a paper people should see? See what our Editors look for: buff.ly/HmuOWDp

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Thrilled to see #choanoflagellates on the cover of Science Advances🤩. Our latest work "Electrical signaling and coordinated behavior in the closest relative of animals" out now. Link: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... 👏 @jeffcolgren.bsky.social @msarscentre.bsky.social

by Jeyanathan et al from the Ulrich Tepass lab. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

"Lateral cell polarization drives organization of epithelia in sea anemone embryos and embryonic cell aggregates" www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...