I defended my PhD 10 years ago today. That was the least remarkable thing that happened that day. Sharing something I wrote about it last year. Since then "the horrors persist but so do we." And with dignity.

Read about it here

Amazing new work from the Hurd lab:Sperm keep their mitochondria but lose their mitochondrial genomes. This new preprint identifies the nuclease responsible — and shows it reads DNA structure, not sequence. tinyurl.com/3npwwk37

Well some of us are. Many top neuro journals straight up desk reject model organism papers nowadays. And if you want to get fast, detailed and precise mechanistic answers - some of these are still the best systems.

Love eyes? Love awesome science? Love fantastic colleagues? Join us in Maine on August 9-14 for the GRC Visual System Development Conference! It's one of the best!

Excited to share our new manuscript from the Yoshimatsu and MacDonald labs. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6.... We found that my favourite glial cells can regulate local retinoic acid signalling to specialise cone photoreceptors for high acuity visual function.

Proud to have been part of this work.

Congrats on a nice paper !! Watch out for our Commentary coming out soon!

JHU wrote a nice story summarizing our recent studies of human foveola patterning using human retinal organoids. Come for the science, stay for the super closeup of me looking through a petri dish. hub.jhu.edu/2026/02/18/r...

I'm excited to share our PNAS paper from 1st author Kasia Hussey. We study how the foveola, the high acuity region of the retina, is patterned by RA and TH. We were surprised to find that cone subtypes appear to convert fates. Our studies are important for AMD sufferers. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Vision Science makes the front page of NYT!! featuring work from @neurofishh.bsky.social and @denilsson.bsky.social with comments from Berkeley's own @karthikshekhar.bsky.social #visionscience www.nytimes.com/2026/02/23/s...

From our new paper out now in @currentbiology.bsky.social: www.cell.com/current-biol... w/ @neurofishh.bsky.social @gkafetzis.bsky.social @denilsson.bsky.social Looking across animals, the vertebrate eye is an obvious outlier. Why is it so different that other highly visual animals?

New preprint in collab with Capelson & Schindler labs): Nuclear pore complexes are developmentally removed and rebuilt during oocyte specification. Blocking turnover prevents gene silencing and meiotic entry. Nuclear architecture renewal is required for cell fate. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

🌟 Meet the Scientific Committee: @blockintheback.bsky.social🌟 Kristen Kwan is a member of the Scientific Committee of #EZM2026, and we are thrilled to have her join us in Vienna! Stay tuned as we continue to introduce the outstanding scientists of EZM2026! 🐟🧬

Very interesting study from the Schweisguth lab - Pulsatile dynamics propagate crystalline order in the developing Drosophila eye: Developmental Cell www.cell.com/developmenta...

Great news!

My department, Duke Neurobiology, is searching for a new chair. Ad below. Come work with me, @jmgrohneuro.bsky.social @ennatsew.bsky.social @jorggrandl.bsky.social @jnklab.bsky.social @sbilbo.bsky.social @neurocircuits.bsky.social and many other amazing folks! @dukemedschool.bsky.social

Check out this story! Atlantic writer Alexandra Petri visited my lab and played with some fruit flies and human organoids as she wrote about experiencing things that were affected by government cuts. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

Here you go! www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

Check out this story! Atlantic writer Alexandra Petri visited my lab and played with some fruit flies and human organoids as she wrote about experiencing things that were affected by government cuts. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

Nice summary on our paper on mechanisms controlling development and evolution of the cone-dominant ground squirrel retina, which is now in final form at eLife. www.lifescienceeditors.com/2026/01/06/h...

G+D together with JHU worked to put together this cool video describing our latest work! Check it out!

I'm so excited that @christ3na.bsky.social 's paper describing temporal control of photoreceptor development in human organoids is out at Genes and Dev and we got the cover! genesdev.cshlp.org/content/40/1... genesdev.cshlp.org/content/40/1...

Nothing like a paper acceptance right before New Years! The Johnston lab will be sharing some of our best work ever in 2026! Next update coming on Jan 1!

🧬👁️ Our Science Advances paper is published! snATAC-seq analysis across lamprey to human retina uncovers deeply conserved cis-regulatory codes in all six retinal cell types — even with extensive enhancer turnover. Immensely grateful to my coauthors and collaborators. 🙏 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Recent Hopkins Hub article highlighting our work on optic nerve regeneration in axolotl. Congratulations to Ted! hub.jhu.edu/2025/12/11/s...

Mosquitoes, a photo gallery:

Excited to announce that the newest paper from my lab on the Drosophila visual system is out today! Modulating the levels and activity of the retinal determination network is sufficient to induce the specification of distinct tissue fates in Drosophila url: journals.biologists.com/dev/article-...

It was an honor being interviewed about our new color vision project by the 'Eye on Vision' WYPL Memphis radio show! 🪰👀🧪 @umassboston.bsky.social eyeonvision.blogspot.com/2025/11/hmx-...

Just a heads up: I just got a phishing attempt pretending to be from the #VisualSystemDevelopment #GRC. It looked pretty convincing at first glance, so be careful!

No more paylines at the NIH grants.nih.gov/news-events/...

My department at Dartmouth Medical School is hiring a tenure-track Assistant Professor. We are looking broadly for a biochemist or cell biologist. Please share this add! apply.interfolio.com/171438 @dartmouthbcb.bsky.social @futurepislack.bsky.social

Now out in Cell! Congratulations to all involved, especially @chiarafornetto.bsky.social For a breakdown, see the bluetorial from when we posted the preprint: bsky.app/profile/neur... Funding: @erc.europa.eu @wellcometrust.bsky.social @ukri.org @leverhulme.ac.uk @thelisterinstitute.bsky.social

Today’s speaker in our DRN external seminar series is Dr Ryan MacDonald @macdonaldlab.bsky.social (University College London) Sponsored by the Physiological Society @physoc.bsky.social Host: Emily Noël @noelresearchlab.bsky.social All welcome!

Chd4 remodels chromatin to control retinal cell type specification and lineage termination Read this #LifelongDevSI #OA Research Article by Sujay Shah, Pierre Mattar and colleagues doi.org/10.1242/dev....

Fantastic new paper from @pierre-mattar.bsky.social lab!

TT faculty job opening in #Neuroscience! We are looking for a colleague to join us in our fantastic Biology Department and Neuroscience Program at Brandeis. We are a group of *very* collaborative, supportive, and productive scientists (& humans!) so please apply academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30961

In the 2nd preprint from @mlodziklab.bsky.social, Weber et al. show that LRP5/6/arrow, the Wnt/bcatenin signaling specific co-receptor, is also required for Wnt/planar cell polarity establishment, a challenge and eye-opener for the Wnt field. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A new article on our National Eye Institute (NEI) - funded project on the mechanisms underlying color vision! @umassboston.bsky.social 🪰👀🧪 www.umb.edu/news/recent-...

Check out our paper from @christ3na.bsky.social in G+D. DIO3, which degrades thyroid hormone/TH, is expressed in progenitors and turns off in neurons. As the progenitor:neuron ratio decreases, DIO3 decreases and TH increases, triggering photoreceptor generation. genesdev.cshlp.org/content/earl...

Our faculty job market series continues today on the topic of zoom interviews! Come hear Tyler, Heather, and Duc share their thoughts/advice today at 3pm ET / 12p PT. There will also be time for Q&A. Registration link in flyer - hope to see you there!

Come join us! Applications to the GCDB Biology Doctoral program at IU are due December 1st. @iubiology.bsky.social @alizeemalnoe.bsky.social @rhcalderon.bsky.social @lesleynweaver.bsky.social @hoosierflyman.bsky.social @tennessenlab.bsky.social @flyeyelab.bsky.social @briancalvi.bsky.social

See this? This = implanting mouse embryo. Usually this happens inside its mother and is invisible to us, but we can actually watch implantation ex vivo with the hope of understanding why implantation goes awry in embryos of older women. A 🧵...

Check this paper from @simonomisz.bsky.social in our lab! www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/... Human retinas/organoids go through 2 apoptotic waves. Organoids also have a necrotic wave. Blocking apoptosis promotes RGC survival to day 200 (usually die!). Apoptosis promotes normal neurogenesis/maturation.

Kinetic organization of the genome revealed by ultraresolution multiscale live imaging www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

#FluorescenceFriday: a weekly reminder that behind the data, there are moments of pure wonder. This is why we do what we do. And the #retina is so uniquely beautiful!

A big thanks to the NEI for supporting my new R01 and MCW for highlighting the research focus. We’ve already made some interesting discoveries and I’m excited to see how the research progresses for years to come. www.mcw.edu/mcwknowledge...

We’re excited to share that, after receiving many requests each year from the research community for Oligopaint DNA & RNA FISH probes, we’re piloting a service to design & prepare probes for labs. Please share with colleagues who may benefit! ericjoycelab.com/oligopaint-f...

Damaged retinal ganglion cells can lead to blindness. MCW’s Dr. Joel Miesfeld is conducting #research into the development of these cells to better identify ways to help them regenerate after damage. Learn more: www.mcw.edu/mcwknowledge... #Ophthalmology #VisionHealth #MCWKnowledge