👏 Congrats to EMBL Group Leader @gautamdey.bsky.social on an ERC Proof of Concept Grant to develop a new way of selecting cells for more efficient and versatile evolutionary biology studies. bit.ly/3Rd3H9m @erc.europa.eu

Jana combines evolutionary genomics, quantitative cell biology and experimental evolution with exceptional creativity to tackle big questions in cellular evolution. It has been a privilege & a joy to have her in the lab these years - I can’t wait to see what she does next in her wonderful new home

In September we will have the pleasure of hosting Karla and @fmikus.bsky.social from the labs of @dudinlab.bsky.social and @gautamdey.bsky.social. If you are around Granada please join us for their talk! They will present ExÂME, an incredible initiative to build a 3D atlas of protists diversity!

More than a decade since CRISPR-Cas9 knock in came on the scene, it's remained underutilized in emerging models. Using transposase, and a split-FP system, we built an optimized knock in system for use in the genetically-enabled urchin, Lytechinus pictus. bit.ly/4wswLsd

What kinds of living protocells could be created? In this @royalsocietypublishing.org paper, we made a systematic exploration, from Rashevsky and Turing chemical protocells to Ganti's chemoton, Szostak's ribocells, transduction-driven cells & minimal cells royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/article...

1/11 🤩Sooooo happy to see this work on a new new group #algae. Looks like #centrohelids - predatory ancient eukaryotic lineage sometimes harbor vertically-inherited plastids from #dictyochophytes. Amazing work, @annewalraven.bsky.social, glad to be on board! More below:

@zjmaggiexu.bsky.social's story on suctorian trap structure adaptation is now online in @currentbiology.bsky.social , with new evolutionary analyses and modeling! This fall, Maggie will keep exploring predatory protists as a PD in @nbellono.bsky.social group; keep an eye out for her she's amazing!

I know it seems like a heretical idea, but one way to figure out if a preprint is really interesting (to you) is... to read the preprint. Then, in the spirit of sharing, send a note to authors: a simple kudos or a more detailed question. I do this a dozen times a year. It's awesome. Try it.

#ISEPpapers 28: January to June 2026 www.isep-protists.com/post/iseppap... Your twenty-eighth digest of papers and preprints published by members of the International Society for Evolutionary Protistology is here! #Protists #Algae #Microbes #Evolution

Double preprint! 👇 Check out our latest studies on timing, heterogeneity and collective behaviour (with a fun tiny bonus on evolution!) 1. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 2. arxiv.org/abs/2605.13234

I am thrilled to share my PhD work with @nicolettapetridou.bsky.social @embl.org: www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/... A fun collaboration with Bernat Corominas-Murtra, Adrián Aguirre-Tamaral, @bart-smeets.bsky.social , Jef Vanghel and Tom Belpaire! Read the story in the comments below ⤵️

A very pleasant surprise to see that we got the cover for this paper 🥳 @natphys.nature.com

Expansion microscopy is revolutionary but application to actin cytoskeleton has been challenging. Not anymore....we combine IntAct + U-ExM to get an unprecedented 3D nanoscale view of actin isoforms in expanded cells. Read the full revised paper here: plos.io/4vansgr

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... We are raising the alarm because continuing observations of one of our most important components in the climate system are becoming unsustainable.

Acclaimed cartoonist Joe Sacco breaks silence after publisher withdraws new book about India sectarian riots | The Independent: www.the-independent.com/asia/india/j...

Why is the universities crisis being ignored? Essential piece by @gsoh31.bsky.social for Arguably on the “grim dribbling away of one of Britain's great triumphs and economic advantages” – and why so few politicians seem to care. www.arguably.uk/p/the-quiet-...

A few snapshots from the @embo.org workshop “The Rules of the Game: biophysical and molecular principles in cellular evolution” — and an excuse to thank everyone who made it such a fun, stimulating, and inspiring few days at @gimminstitute.bsky.social #EMBORulesOfTheGame

Interested in how #fungi came about on this planet? If so, take a look at my new article that just came out in @annualreviews.bsky.social. doi.org/10.1146/annu...

A lovely time chatting about interesting work @events.embl.org #EESMechanobiology! as senior editor @natcellbio.nature.com & as advisory editor npj Biological Physics & Mechanics. Got a quick selfie w/ @embojournal.org senior scientific editor Ieva Gailite at #MeetTheEditor session on Wednesday 😁🤳🏽

Very excited to be sharing our new paper, just out in Nature Cell Biology! The big question we investigate: How do migrating cells put their front 🔴 and back 🔵 in the right place?

Our latest: Minimal essential requirements for neural tube self-organisation How does a single cell give rise to a tissue with the right cell types in the right proportions? We deconstruct and rebuild a self-organising tissue from first principles A thread🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Our beautiful special issue on plant evolution is out @currentbiology.bsky.social ! www.cell.com/issue/S0960-...

After a long hiatus, happy #MicroscopyMonday! Here are some amoebae squeezing themselves into narrow channels (part of a video for our preprint pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41377514/). Sound effects by Dillon (my 4 month old who may have had a little to do with the bluesky hiatus!)

Congratulations, Gautam Dey and Omaya Dudin! The two collaborators have received the 2026 EMBO Gold Medal for outstanding contributions to the field of evolutionary cell biology. www.embl.org/news/awards-... @gautamdey.bsky.social @dudinlab.bsky.social @embo.org

🤩🎉 Huge congratulations to @gautamdey.bsky.social & @dudinlab.bsky.social Amazing science & a beautiful example of how to achieve this together with creativity, generosity, and real intellectual partnership. So happy for you both & for all of us inspired by you! 🎉 Kudos @embo.org for this choice.

Two great scientists and humans, whose collaboration shows what it’s like to do science as a positive-sum game. Wonderful news for evolutionary cell biology and for you two @dudinlab.bsky.social @gautamdey.bsky.social! 👏

Gold Medal🏅 for the dynamic duo of cellular evolution!! Congrats @gautamdey.bsky.social & @dudinlab.bsky.social —you are explorers! It's been such a pleasure interacting with you these years on high-res imaging, environmental sampling @embltrec.bsky.social, and climate. Here's to more adventures! 🧪🌍

Science really takes a village. Thrilled to share this with my friend @dudinlab.bsky.social, and with our brilliant and fearless teams, our collaborators around the world and our mentors - in my case a special shoutout to Buzz Baum, Jan Ellenberg and @monicabettencourt.bsky.social. 1/2

"Humbled to receive this recognition. This belongs as much to my team, my family, & to my home, Palestine: the people, the place, the joyful stubbornness to enjoy life." Cheers buddy @gautamdey.bsky.social Thx to my mentors @sophiemartinlab.bsky.social, @paveltomancak.bsky.social, & Pierre Gönczy.

Fantastic line of speakers for this upcoming edition of #CBIAS26🤩 With a novelty this year: image analysis beyond bio! Let's all share expertise, who knows, maybe tracking stars accros the galaxy is as exciting and challenging as tracking cells accros a whole embryo? Share far and wide #microscopy

Spread the word: We’re hiring a Director of Operations to lead scientific support at the FMI. This senior role enables cutting-edge research by partnering with scientists, overseeing technology platforms, ensuring safety & compliance, and representing the FMI externally: www.fmi.ch/education-ca...

Tet Trim-Away: A conditional rapid protein degradation system for Tetrahymena thermophila https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.29.728803v1

New #ISEPpapers by @deemteam.bsky.social! Reversal to osmotrophy in eukaryotes www.nature.com/articles/s41... "Distant eukaryotic lineages convergently reverted from predation to osmotrophy through co-option of bacterial genes and their mobilization via eukaryote-to-eukaryote HGT" #Protists

The ESCRT machinery mediates repair of damaged lysosomal membranes. But how does it recognise damage? Authors @nature report LASER, a fast-forming protein assembly that detects Ca2+-leakage from sites of lysosomal injury and recruits ESCRTs there. shorturl.at/T9zM6

Our study comparing promoter existence and emergence in random vs genomic DNA is finally published!!! TLDR: the E. coli genome has more promoters than random DNA (even in intergenic regions), and promoters emerge ~3x more readily from random DNA than genomic DNA. (1/2)

Irina Kolotuev, Lindsay Lewellyn and colleagues use complementary vEM-based approaches to uncover ultrastructural changes in germline intercellular bridges. Highlight: journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/... Article: journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/... #volumeEM #Drosophila

Thanks for the invitation @biozentrum.unibas.ch!! This was super fun - inspired by the energy, enthusiasm and strong sense of community. Surprise bonus, Olten punched above its weight

☕ @nicolettapetridou.bsky.social & co report a feedback loop between Nodal signaling and tissue phase transitions in zebrafish #embryos. Nodal alters adhesion, triggering tissue rigidification and reduced porosity, which limits its diffusion and speeds up Lefty expression. go.nature.com/4vgBYmo

Now published in Current Opinion in Genetics & Development as part of the special issue on Genome Architecture and Expression. 🧬 Part 1: doi.org/10.1016/j.gd... Part 2: doi.org/10.1016/j.gd...

Excited to share my first preprint from my PhD w/ @justinmcrocker.bsky.social. We show that cell type-specific regulatory dominance promotes robustness and evolutionary innovation through interallelic transcriptional hubs, potentially expanding the mutational paths available to diploids. (1/18)

Our latest manuscript on (Harry Potter and) the effect of elevated temperature on embryonic development in flies. Even a small increase in temperature causes developmental defects, indicating problems in the face of global warming! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Why would a species of ocean plankton coil its shells to the right for millions of years and then suddenly, flip to the left? To find out more see Flipping Plankton in PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... by Bridget Wade , Paul Pearson, David King and Valeria Luciani

JCS congratulates our Editor-in-Chief Michael Way @drmichaelway.bsky.social on his election as a Fellow of the Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of sciences. royalsociety.org/news/2026/05...

"research librarians...wasting up to 15% of their work hours responding to requests for nonexistent records that ChatGPT or Google Gemini alluded to" via @cyrilpedia.bsky.social www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...

These findings confirm studies on chatbots and the recent US presidential election that my lab conducted with @proofnews.bsky.social apnews.com/article/ai-c...

Excited to say that my new paper with @maxlechte.bsky.social (and others not on bluesky) has come out in @nature.com! Study of sediments, geochemistry and fossils from rocks 1.75 to 1.4 billion years old indicate that the oldest known #eukaryotes were aerobic and benthic! #protists rdcu.be/fjNgL

Did you know? Educational policies can strengthen climate coalitions. Authors' findings suggest that well-designed educational programs can have a role to play in broadening coalitions and increasing support for costly climate policies. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

The contrast between the number of media requests I got when rich people on a cruise were facing a deadly, but contained outbreak versus now that some of the poorest people in the world are facing a deadly and devastating epidemic is just so so stark and it just really annoys the hell out of me.