By the way, @dshb-antibodies.bsky.social is a non-profit that sells quality antibodies to many proteins at exceptionally reasonable prices, without AI generated faux-validation images. Check them out. dshb.biology.uiowa.edu

Ten years after the first gathering, #Ctenopalooza returns for Round Ctwo! Join #ctenophore enthusiasts & researchers from around the world at @mbarinews.bsky.social in Moss Landing, California, on August 24-25, 2026 🌊 For more details and how to register, visit: www.mbari.org/event/ctenop... 🦑 🧪

Unlike most animals with a permanent opening, many #ctenophores have a transient anus that only appears when they are about to defecate. Here, you can see a warty comb jelly (Mnemiopsis leidyi) tear a new one to poop! #CtenophoreFunFacts #MarineLife 📽️: Presnell et al (2016) doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...

Combtastic work from lead author @annaferraioli.bsky.social 👏 🦑 #ctenophore #MarineLife

New paper published on symbiosis between sponges: doi.org/10.1093/jeb/... #Porifera #Mitochondria

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...

How do sperm and egg fuse? Surprisingly, we still don’t fully know… Our field has uncovered many pieces of the fertilization puzzle, but not how they fit together. We identify ✨ SPARK ✨ - a conserved sperm complex that couples sperm-egg binding to fusion. tinyurl.com/34cm4xat Read on! 🧵👇

Our work on Trichoplax locomotion and mechanosensing capabilities is out now in @currentbiology.bsky.social. Congrats Marvin Leria & all co-authors! authors.elsevier.com/c/1n8Ig3QW8S...

Congratulations to Brian Wehner @euplokamis.bsky.social for a great popular science talk at the Bergen Pint of Science Festival! A PhD candidate in the @pawelburkhardt.bsky.social lab, Brian applied his neurobiology expertise to a relatable topic - the science of tickling 🪶

Here’s the last major paper from the PhD of @paulknabl.bsky.social. We were trying to understand what BMP signaling does in the sea anemone Nematostella when it is not patterning its second body axis. Check out Part 1 in BMC Biol. 2025; and here's is our Part 2 journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

We are looking for a new colleague to join us in Galway. The position is in Biochemistry and if research focus lines up we hope the successful person will join us in the Centre for Chromosome biology (chromosome.ie). Reach out if you are interested in applying! tinyurl.com/2jy4rj3r

Issue 8 is now complete! On the cover: Embryos of diverse animals & choanoflagellates expressing different fluorescent reporters, from a project to identify membrane-localising tags across diverse organisms. See the Techniques and Resources Article by Karapidaki et al. doi.org/10.1242/dev....

Excited to share our new paper out today in Science Advances describing some familiar Ediacaran fossils (beautifully reconstructed by Alex Boersma) in an unfamiliar place! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

New preprint! Cell division has to happen at the right place but how Archaea pick that place is unknown. We now identified a three-protein system, Dip, that positions the divisome at midcell in H. volcanii and is broadly conserved across Archaea. A thread 🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Only one week left to register for #MSS2026 🚨 On June 4th, @isabellagraf.bsky.social from @embl.org will discuss how sensory systems operate near bifurcation points, allowing small input signals to translate into a larger response. Welcome! ➡️ tinyurl.com/JoinMSS2026 @cbubergen.bsky.social

🚨 We discovered a new mode of Hox gene regulation in annelids! 🪱 A distal enhancer acts as a "global control region", lifting Hox genes from Polycomb repression. This is reminiscent of Hox gene control in vertebrates, but the two modes likely evolved convergently. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

And now it's out! Happy that PNAS selected for the cover this SEM image snapped by @samjlord.bsky.social, one of the most evocative visualizations of Euplotes that I have ever encountered. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... Stay tuned for what is shaping up to be some fascinating follow-up in the lab...

"ER-vesicle contact sites as a previously unrecognized layer of control of axonal trafficking.. [linking] intracellular organization to the timing of synapse assembly" And maybe ER continuity also allows long-distance control of trafficking???

The Pacific spiny lumpsucker, an inefficient swimmer but a highly efficient suction cup. The pelvic fins have evolved into a strong suction disk on the belly, giving it the ability to anchor itself to substrates. Plate-like structures called "tubercles" provide defense against predators.

Multinucleate cells challenge deeply-held assumptions about complexity, ecological success and evolution. Postdoc extraordinaire and gifted writer @mrosjac.bsky.social tackles this subject with aplomb - tell us what you think! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... @currentbiology.bsky.social

It was an honor to host a delegation from The Research Council of Norway in our ctenophore facility! A perfect follow-up to great discussions on the future of neurotechnology research hosted by @unibergen.bsky.social 👏 @pawelburkhardt.bsky.social

PL retweet. Developmental Biology Course (Quintay). More information: biodesarrollo.unab.cl

Glad to see this out in its final form! www.nature.com/articles/s41... What changed since the preprint? Wonderful experiments disentangling the effect of receptor binding vs tissue porosity on Nodal diffusion, plus one of the smoothest review experiences! Thanks @natcellbio.nature.com & reviewers 🙏

Continuing our countdown to #MSS2026, it is a pleasure to introduce another speaker on our lineup ✨ Deirdre Lyons from @scrippsocean.bsky.social will be in Bergen on June 4th to present recent progress in establishing mollusc species as genetically tractable models 🐌 Join us! tinyurl.com/JoinMSS2026

This year, #MSS2026 covers a broad range of research fields under one common theme – understanding a variable ocean 🌊 We look forward to a great talk by our colleague Christian Jørgensen from the Dept. of Biological Sciences on the phenotype and its ecology ✨ Join us ➡️ tinyurl.com/JoinMSS2026

1/23 New preprint! Been thinking about the origin of cellular life. Specifically, how protocells (or *any* compartments) just aren't enough to support the evolution of increasingly complex cells. You gotta de-Darwinize the parts! The ribosome/genome do this. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

📢ERCs! Consider joining us! With @jgahan.bsky.social we have organized a @biologists.bsky.social workshop to discuss the origin of animal cell differentiation. Tons of invited speakers! see below! Looking forward to it!

New piece from our lab: alpha-Gal syndrome from a glycobiologist's point of view. How glycans in ticks' saliva immunize us, and how our immune system responds to similar glycans present in red meat. Glycoproteins/glycolipids discussed. @alphagal-info.bsky.social tinyurl.com/55762ewu #glycotime

1/13 So excited to share our new preprint!! How do organelles pack together in a crowded cytoplasm? we know organelles interact via contact sites, but how does competition for space contribute to organelle morphology and interactions? @wallaceucsf.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

ECRs - there is one month left to apply for a funded place at our Workshop on Rethinking Cell Differentiation and Development: A Unicellular Perspective, organised by Elena Casacuberta & James Gahan jgahan.bsky.social More at biologists.com/workshops/de... #BiologistsWorkshops Deadline: 12 June

*** 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 🧬🐭🐟🪰🌱❤️

We still have a few places to register for our "Heidelberg Wild Thinking Workshop - The organism, its self and its environment: from philosophy to physics." 19-20 May 2026, Heidelberg https://www.cos.uni-heidelberg.de/en/wild-thinking-workshop-1 […] [Original post on biologists.social]

From MBoC… Now accepting submissions for the Evolutionary Cell Biology special issue. Share your research that links evolutionary insights with cell biology mechanisms: https://www.molbiolcell.org/evolutionary-cell-biology

I've spent yesterday and today talking to researchers across the globe trying to understand the hantavirus outbreak aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius. My story in @science.org is here (and some threaded thoughts coming): www.science.org/content/arti... 🧪 #IDsky

Apply by May 20th to do research @mpi-cbg.de or @biohub.org. For example, my lab is open to your #ideas that loosely align with the theme of the #evolution of #morphogenesis. The name of the game is #freedom. Join us to develop an independent research line. I provide support, mentoring & technology

Very grateful for a spontaneous seminar by Prof. Nathan Palpant from the University of Queensland this morning, on bridging genetics and therapeutics for heart disease 🫀 Thank you for your visit!

Only one month to go before #MSS2026 🙌 On June 4th, Tom Michoel from @cbubergen.bsky.social will share how his team uses computational approaches to untangle cause from correlation in complex biological systems 💻 Click here to find out more and register ➡️ tinyurl.com/JoinMSS2026

There needs to be a giant billboard in every major American city that touts this. In any other era except this suicidal science administration, this would be a miraculous, wondrous thing.

Bacterial immune proteins have repeatedly evolved to become parts of eukaryotic immunity. But how? Our new preprint uncovers a recent horizontal transfer event & shows how eukaryotes co-opted a toxic bacterial immune protein 🦠🧪🧵 1/

we're on the cover!

We are thrilled to welcome Anne-Claude Gavin as a speaker at #MSS2026! We look forward to hearing about her research on the binding properties of lipid transfer proteins 🔬 Click here to find out more and register ➡️ tinyurl.com/JoinMSS2026 @cbubergen.bsky.social

#Ctenophore sampling with the lab on a perfect day around #sunnybergen on the R/V Brattström. Always one of the biggest highlights of the year 🤩. @msarscentre.bsky.social @unibergen.bsky.social

The Sars relay team completed the Bergen half-marathon in 1h47 this weekend 🤩👏 Congratulations everyone!

We started by studying gene reuse in eyes over deep time -- but were astonished to find adaptive molecular convergence to be rampant and not directly related to important traits, including eyes. Led by PD Cory Berger www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

The evolutionary immunologist Tera Levin studies how molecular parts isolated from ancient bacterial immune systems can evolve into new tools. www.quantamagazine.org/the-ancient-...

The outreach station designed by the group of @lionlchristiaen.bsky.social was a must-see at One Ocean Week Family Day yesterday 👏 Many visitors stopped by to try puzzles, observe sea squirts and discuss animal development with our researchers! 1/2

Have you registered yet for #MSS2026? Join us to hear @amathelier.bsky.social from @ncmbm.bsky.social share his team’s latest work mapping transcription factor-DNA interactions across species, and much more 👏 We look forward to seeing you there! ➡️ tinyurl.com/JoinMSS2026 @cbubergen.bsky.social

We had a full house today for a special guest visiting us all the way from @oistedu.bsky.social 👏 Assoc. Prof. Hiroshi Watanabe shared his latest findings on cnidarian neurexins, and what they reveal about the evolution of chemical synapses in animals 🧠 Thank you for your visit!

The Tree of Life available as a paperback today. bit.ly/41Mq7jp Breezy, scholarly, whimsical, rigorous + companionable guide to our family history. TLS Erudite, highly informed, frequently amusing.. compelling + memorable. Science Enjoyable + ambitious. An exhilarating cartographic journey. WSJ

Beauty shots of this euplectellid glass sponge, 1811 m Murray Fracture Zone North Pacific #Okeanos #saveNOAA #spongethursday