Bastienne Zaremba
@bassi-z.bsky.social
📤 81
📥 66
📝 3
Scientist on a quest to unravel brain development and evolution @Kaessmannlab
reposted by
Bastienne Zaremba
Kaessmann Lab
30 days ago
We are thrilled to share our new preprint entitled “The origin and molecular evolution of the mammalian liver cell architecture”
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
3
52
21
reposted by
Bastienne Zaremba
Kaessmann Lab
4 months ago
Our study on a male-essential microRNA and the evolution of other dosage compensation mechanisms in birds is now out in Nature!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
loading . . .
A male-essential miRNA is key for avian sex chromosome dosage compensation - Nature
Birds have evolved a unique sex chromosome dosage compensation mechanism involving the male-biased microRNA (miR-2954), which is essential for male survival by regulating the expression of dosage-sens...
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09256-9
10
123
64
reposted by
Bastienne Zaremba
Anamaria Elek
4 months ago
I am very happy to have posted my first bioRxiv preprint. A long time in the making - and still adding a few final touches to it - but we're excited to finally have it out there in the wild:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Read below for a few highlights...
loading . . .
Decoding cnidarian cell type gene regulation
Animal cell types are defined by differential access to genomic information, a process orchestrated by the combinatorial activity of transcription factors that bind to cis -regulatory elements (CREs) to control gene expression. However, the regulatory logic and specific gene networks that define cell identities remain poorly resolved across the animal tree of life. As early-branching metazoans, cnidarians can offer insights into the early evolution of cell type-specific genome regulation. Here, we profiled chromatin accessibility in 60,000 cells from whole adults and gastrula-stage embryos of the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis. We identified 112,728 CREs and quantified their activity across cell types, revealing pervasive combinatorial enhancer usage and distinct promoter architectures. To decode the underlying regulatory grammar, we trained sequence-based models predicting CRE accessibility and used these models to infer ontogenetic relationships among cell types. By integrating sequence motifs, transcription factor expression, and CRE accessibility, we systematically reconstructed the gene regulatory networks that define cnidarian cell types. Our results reveal the regulatory complexity underlying cell differentiation in a morphologically simple animal and highlight conserved principles in animal gene regulation. This work provides a foundation for comparative regulatory genomics to understand the evolutionary emergence of animal cell type diversity. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. European Research Council, https://ror.org/0472cxd90, ERC-StG 851647 Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, https://ror.org/05r0vyz12, PID2021-124757NB-I00, FPI Severo Ochoa PhD fellowship European Union, https://ror.org/019w4f821, Marie Skłodowska-Curie INTREPiD co-fund agreement 75442, Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement 101031767
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.01.662323v1
1
59
26
reposted by
Bastienne Zaremba
Kaessmann Lab
5 months ago
We are delighted to share our new preprint “The evolution of gene regulatory programs controlling gonadal development in primates”
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
4
90
37
reposted by
Bastienne Zaremba
Kaessmann Lab
7 months ago
A great article highlighting the broader implications of the three parallel recent papers from our group and our wonderful colleagues in Spain and Belgium...
add a skeleton here at some point
0
28
7
Thank you to
@yaseminsaplakoglu.bsky.social
, who wrote a fantastic article for
@quantamagazine.bsky.social
about our studies on the evolution of the avian pallium. Love it!
shorturl.at/vmTLq
loading . . .
Intelligence Evolved at Least Twice in Vertebrate Animals | Quanta Magazine
Complex neural circuits likely arose independently in birds and mammals, suggesting that vertebrates evolved intelligence multiple times.
https://shorturl.at/vmTLq
7 months ago
0
17
3
reposted by
Bastienne Zaremba
Quanta Magazine
7 months ago
Calling someone bird-brained is, in fact, a way of calling someone highly intelligent.
@yaseminsaplakoglu.bsky.social
reports:
www.quantamagazine.org/intelligence...
loading . . .
Intelligence Evolved at Least Twice in Vertebrate Animals | Quanta Magazine
Complex neural circuits likely arose independently in birds and mammals, suggesting that vertebrates evolved intelligence multiple times.
https://www.quantamagazine.org/intelligence-evolved-at-least-twice-in-vertebrate-animals-20250407/
2
92
31
What a week! I defended my PhD on Monday, and now my first first-author paper was published in
@science.org
.
shorturl.at/fvIGZ
I am so incredibly grateful to everyone who made this possible! Especially
@kaessmannlab.bsky.social
and the GarcĂa-Moreno lab đź’›
9 months ago
2
26
3
reposted by
Bastienne Zaremba
Universität Heidelberg
9 months ago
Komplexe Evolution: Fortgeschrittene kognitive Fähigkeiten bei Vögeln – Heidelberger Forscher kartieren verantwortliche Gehirnregionen und gewinnen neue Erkenntnisse zu ihrer embryonalen und evolutionären Entwicklung
www.uni-heidelberg.de/de/newsroom/...
1
12
3
reposted by
Bastienne Zaremba
Kaessmann Lab
9 months ago
And please check out the wonderful Perspective by Maria Tosches and Giacomo Gattoni on our paper and the two related ones by the groups of
@steinaerts.bsky.social
and Fernando Garcia-Moreno!!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
loading . . .
Constrained roads to complex brains
Neural development and brain circuit evolution converged in birds and mammals
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adv2609
0
21
8
reposted by
Bastienne Zaremba
Kaessmann Lab
9 months ago
So excited to announce that our study on the development and evolution of pallial cell types and structures in birds, led by
@bassi-z.bsky.social
, is now out in
@science.org
!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
loading . . .
Developmental origins and evolution of pallial cell types and structures in birds
Innovations in the pallium likely facilitated the evolution of advanced cognitive abilities in birds. We therefore scrutinized its cellular composition and evolution using cell type atlases from chick...
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adp5182
3
73
30
you reached the end!!
feeds!
log in