An oscillatory dance of fate: HES1–HES5 dynamic co-expression precedes cell fate resolution in spinal cord development This Research Highlight showcases work by Veronica Biga, Cerys Manning @manning-lab.bsky.social and colleagues from @manchester.ac.uk. journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...

Interested in self-organization? See below!

*** GRC Developmental Biology 2027 - Jan 17-22 @ Renaissance Tuscany Il Ciocco Resort *** Join us for a fabulous 2027 Gordon Conference on all things #devbio & the trainee-led GRS! More info on registration, abstract submission, et al., here: www.grc.org/developmenta... #GRCDevBio2027 🧬🐭🐟🪰🌱❤️

📢📢 join us for this edition of the “Quantitative biology to molecular mechanisms” EMBO workshop Gene regulation, cell dynamics & systems biology 17th - 20th November More info: s.embl.org/omx26-01-bl

Excited to share our new #preprint uncovering how early human forebrain is patterned. Compared to mouse, human dorsoventral and anteroposterior telencephalon patterning is strikingly delayed, which is correlated with SHH and FGF signalling differences. Read it here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

We have FIVE GTA PhD Studentships available at UCL Life Sciences. See here for a chance to work in the Medawar Pain and Somatosensory Labs on the influence of early life experience on lifelong pain vulnerability: bit.ly/4bDLg4Z Deadline 23rd April- repost widely! @ucllifesciences.bsky.social

Honoured and overwhelmed to receive the 2026 Waddington Medal. Science is a team effort, and I've been fortunate to work alongside exceptional people asking hard questions. Thank you to the BSDB and to everyone who has been part of the journey. bsdb.org/2026/03/24/2...

Huge congratulations to James Briscoe @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social for receiving the 2026 BSDB Waddington Medal, recognising an extraordinary career of discovery, mentorship, and leadership in developmental biology. bsdb.org/2026/03/24/2...

New work by @sagnera.bsky.social & co A conserved sequence of TFs: OC2 → Pou2f2 → Pou3f1 drives chronological diversification of spinal neuron subtypes across multiple cardinal domains Spinal neuron diversity is generated by integrating spatial & temporal programs www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Happy to share that our work with Kevin Sangster and Artur Kania, is finally out! @sagnera.bsky.social We investigated the mechanisms that drive the chronological diversification of spinal neuron subtypes within cardinal classes. 🧵👇 Read it here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Are you fascinated by self-organised patterning processes? The brand-new Stuart lab at EMBL Barcelona is looking for a lab manager! Hannah @htstuart.bsky.social is a fantastic scientist and mentor. Building the lab with her will be a lot of fun! embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/EMBL/job/Bar...

How can we hope to understand organismal development when it is controlled by huge, complex networks of interacting genes? 
One option is to move away from molecular details and focus on learning representations and rules. Check out the new perspective from me and @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social

📣 We are looking for new colleagues 🔬🧬🧪 The @lmcb-ucl.bsky.social at University College London @ucllifesciences.bsky.social are looking for outstanding candidates to sponsor for career development fellowships. Fellows would then be assessed for tenured positions at the end of the fellowship term.

Happy to announce that our latest paper is now out! Have you ever wondered how neural tissues control their size? In this paper, we show that cell division orientation is critical in both the cortex and retina. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Want to come do a postdoc with us? We’re interested in how sensorimotor function is carried out by the cells and circuits of the spinal cord. We have an awesome team, lots of cool techniques, and we’re open to new ideas/approaches/connections. Get in touch!

Our new paper: Entropy Sorting Feature Selection (ESFS) A computational framework for gene selection from single cell data that extracts biological signals in noisy data while avoiding artefacts from conventional dimensionality reduction A thread www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

I am very happy (and a bit scared) to present to you what we have been working on over the last 4 years. This manuscript is exactly what I dreamt of when I started the lab and I could not be happier and prouder of the outcome!

Don't forget to register for our upcoming Spring Meeting: 'Molecules to Morphogenesis' Get your abstracts submitted by the 16th of January! bsdb.org/meetings

Excited to share @rbrianroome.bsky.social ‘s beautiful paper on development of the dorsal horn of the mouse spinal cord @science.org This is how the anatomical organization and cell types that process pain, touch, body position and more are laid down. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Good to see the peer reviewed version of this published A chemo-optogenetic system for spatiotemporal control of gene expression We use it to: - Reconstruct SHH mediated neural tube patterning in vitro - Measure extracellular half-life of Shh www.cell.com/developmenta...

Ten days left to apply to be a @crick.ac.uk Early Career Group Leader Closing date 27th November www.crick.ac.uk/careers-stud...

How do pleiotropic TFs generate organized diversity in developing tissues? @spinalorga.bsky.social shows that PAX3 & PAX7 organize #SpinalCord by acting as both repressors & pioneer activators, regulated by #morphogens to ensure precise neural subtype specification @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4qumsla

Our latest: *Hierarchical lineage architecture of human and avian spinal cord revealed by single-cell genomic barcoding* For a summary & the digested highlights see thread🧵 from @giulia-boezio.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Are you enthusiastic about stem cell biology and developmental biology and looking to start a PhD in 2026? Funded opportunites now available. Contact for more infomation. Links below! @lovegrovelab.bsky.social @veronicabiga.bsky.social @manchester.ac.uk @ukri.org

Just published: The cis-regulatory logic integrating spatial and temporal patterning in the vertebrate neural tube A global temporal chromatin program, operating across the CNS, directs binding of specific spatial TFs & hence when/where neurons & glia are born authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...

Our latest "Dynamic Landscape Analysis of Cell Fate Decisions: Predictive Models of Neural Development From Single-Cell Data" A rigorous mathematical foundation for Waddington's landscape to study cell fate decision making Applied to ventral neural tube development www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

First preprint from the lab! Expression of 3 TFs - Onecut2, Pou2f2 and Pou3f1 - in sequentially generated neurons correlates with and is functionally required for the correct specification of neuronal subtypes mediating spinal sensory and motor output! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Beautiful work from @sagnera.bsky.social & co on how spinal neurons diversify A temporal TF clock in spinal neurons, sequentially specifying different motor and sensory neuron subtypes during development A shared molecular timer driving cellular diversity www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...