Here the published version of our work on uncoupling different types of tissue phase transitions during development! Find out more on how contact surface tension-driven rigidity transitions trigger tricellular junction formation and initiate epithelial organization! @natphys.nature.com

How do the physical properties of embryos affect their development? New research from EMBL scientists and collaborators shows that tissue mechanics actively influence developmental signalling – revealing new links between physics and embryogenesis. www.embl.org/news/science...

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 🙏

Spectral multiplexing is typically limited to 4-5 channels. Our new preprint introduces a framework that utilizes DNA barcoding and signal tuning to enable robust spectral unmixing and ground-truth benchmarking to achieve 15-plex subcellular profiling without cycling www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Our study on shape diversity in cnidarians is now published. The final version includes extensive new data that substantially extend the original bioRxiv preprint. Congrats to everyone who contributed to this work! www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... @embl.org

We have extended the abstract deadline by a week! Looking forward to seeing you many of you here!

Less than a week left for abstract submission for #EESMechanobiology - join us in this long-standing meeting on the mechanics of life.

Welcome to 'Collectivity in living systems'! During the next few days we'll explore coordination, cooperation, emergence, and decision-making in systems ranging from bacterial biofilms and cell migration to tissue formation, disease models, and animal behaviour. Let's go! 🙌 #EESCollectivity

🐠 Calling all fish model researchers! 🐠 The 1st German Fish Model Research Meeting is happening in Heidelberg, Sept 16–18, 2026—and you don’t want to miss it ! 👉https://www.germanfishmeeting.org/ #daniorerio #fishmodel #germanfish2026 #medaka #killifish #cavefish

Join us in Vienna for the biggest international 'FISH' meeting in 2026! No matter which fish is your favorite model - zebrafish, medaka, killifish, cavefish, Danionella, cichlids, stickleback, you name them...- this meeting is for you! www.ezm2026.org Abstract submission deadline is March 15th.

Our cells are experts at navigating inherently noisy and complicated environments. EMBL researchers are using theoretical physics approaches to uncover fundamental principles behind how cells use complex information to self-organise. www.embl.org/news/science...

We summarised the many roles of material phase transitions in development (and they are not just mechanical 🤔)

✨ At this week's DB seminar, Magdalena Schindler @lena-schindler.bsky.social, a postdoc in the Petridou group @nicolettapetridou.bsky.social @embl.org, presented her work on how cell cycle synchrony affects tissue-level mechanical transitions at the onset of morphogenesis in zebrafish embryos 🐟 🔬

How can structures at the vertex of 3 cells have effects at the tissue level? Join me, @laura-rustarazo.bsky.social, to explore how tricellular junctions (TCJs) act as local tension sensors and regulators of global tissue organization. 🧵⤵️ doi.org/10.1126/scie...

Anthony A. Hyman will become EMBL’s next Director General. He joins EMBL from @mpi-cbg.de in Dresden. He is also Professor of Molecular Biology @tudresden.bsky.social, and was a group leader at EMBL Heidelberg from 1993 to 1999. www.embl.org/news/people-...

Emergence and Self-organisation across biological scales! I hope you are ready for next year conference! It will be an incredible event April 20-22 2026. The first of many #LakeConference organised by @ehannezo.bsky.social @alleninstitute.org and James Sharpe @embl.org

One more week to apply for this exciting symposium on collective behaviour 👇👇👇

You only have one more week to submit your abstract for 'Collectivity in living systems: emergence, function, and evolution' 👉 s.embl.org/ees26-01-bl Don't miss #EESCollectivity which will explore how collective behaviours arise from fundamental principles across biological systems🦠🐒🧬

Please join us for this exciting new conference on the emergence, function and evolution of biological collectives - unpacking the wonderful world of self-organization: www.embl.org/about/info/c...

Only a few days left for abstract submission at the brand new EMBO|EMBL Symposium Collectivity in living systems: emergence, function and evolution. We have stellar speakers in cell, animal collectives & beyond @priscaliberali.bsky.social @icouzin.bsky.social @ricardsole.bsky.social Join us!

Very sad news, John Gurdon has died. A developmental biologist's developmental biologist, Nobel prize winner His work is the foundation of much of today's dev & stem cell bio. An inspiration to many, including me. Always asking questions & wanting the answers www.magd.cam.ac.uk/news/profess...

My lab @mpi-muenster.bsky.social is looking for a computational biologist with a passion for imaging and spatial biology. A staff scientist position with long-term perspective! Apply and spread the word 🙏 jobs.mpi-muenster.mpg.de/jobposting/0...

Please allow me to introduce... our new preprint 🎉 Together with Michael Zhao, Anna Erzberger and Alexander Aulehla, we investigate pattern formation due to aggregation in confined systems. You can find it at arxiv.org/abs/2509.08533 @michaelzhao.bsky.social @erzbergerlab.bsky.social

Congratulations, Michael Dorrity and Anna Erzberger! The two EMBL Heidelberg group leaders have received ERC Starting Grants that will enable ambitious projects related to developmental timing and tissue self-organisation, respectively. Learn more: www.embl.org/news/awards-...

How did differentiation evolve to allow for complex multicellular systems? In this @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social‬ paper, Boolean networks are used to answer long-standing questions in the evolution of cell type diversity. @wcratcliff.bsky.social d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/115269531/j....

Many years in the making but now finally online! What determines the temperature scaling and thermal limits of cell cycle duration in embryos? We tackled the question using a combination of dynamical systems analysis and experimental measurements in embryos and in cycling Xenopus extracts.

Very excited to be co-organizing this meeting next February. Fellow collective behavior enthusiasts, this one is for you!

Brand-new conference on collective behaviour! Join us to foster a community to study how interactions among the constituents trigger fascinating collective phenomena: biofilms, fish schools, tissue self-organisation, bird swarms & many more! Thanks to amazing speakers for helping us realise this!

Everything (and more) you wanted to know about Nodal Signaling. A Paradigm for TGFβ Signaling in Embryonic Development | Annual Reviews - www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

We’re recruiting PhD students & postdocs excited about nonlinear dynamics and the physics of living systems. Help us spread the word!

with updated link: embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/d...

We are searching for an enthusiastic scientist to join our team and establish annual killifish as a model system for early developmental biology and biophysics! @embl.org @embldbunit.bsky.social Apply here: embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/EMBL/job/Hei... Please re-post 🙏

Ready to lead pioneering research that bridges systems-level investigations of biological systems to molecular mechanism? The EMBL Molecular Systems Biology Unit in Heidelberg is hiring a Group Leader!

To all post-docs: The Genome Biology dept ‪@embl.org has an Independent faculty position. Fantastic place to set up your lab –great package: core funding, fantastic Ph.D. students, cutting edge core facilities & great colleagues. Closing date Sept 19th embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j...

🚨 Join us tomorrow for this really exciting talk on the interplay between morphogen signalling and tissue organization! 🚨

It's Planarian Time at the DB Unit Summer School! Today's practical is being led by the Vu group @hanhtkvu.bsky.social and focuses on size-dependent physiological changes throughout the life cycle of planarian flatworms #EMBLDevBio

Day 6 of the DB Unit Summer School at EMBL started with an insightful lecture by Caren Norden @nordenlab.bsky.social on the impact of nuclear properties on the behaviour of Zebrafish retinal neuroepithelia. #EMBLDevBio

Time for a new practical at the DB unit summer school @embl.org ! This session features the sea anemone Nematostella and explores the larva-to-polyp transition driven by neuropeptide signaling. Thanks to the Ikmi group @aikmi.bsky.social 🤩 #EMBLDevBio

The DB Unit Summer School, "Transitions in Developing Systems," kicked off with an incredible talk by Thibaut Brunet @thibautbrunet.bsky.social from the Pasteur Institute @pasteur.fr on the fascinating transition from unicellularity to multicellularity in choanoflagellates #EMBLDevBio

Day 2 of the DB Unit Summer School has now finished. We had fantastic talks from Iain Cousin #collectivebehaviour and Karen Alim #physicsofbehaviour, along with an exciting practical session from the van Gestel group on aggregative development in wild-type slime mold species #EMBLdevbio

At the DB Unit Summer School, it's already time for Practical 1! Participants are exploring the theory of phase transitions, critical points, and bifurcations with James Briscoe @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social and Isabella Graf @isabellagraf.bsky.social and her group members @lwuerthner.bsky.social

Day 3 of the DB summer school "Transitions in developing systems: from theory to experiments" started with a fantastic talk by Guillaume Salbreux, from the University of Geneva, who discussed transitions in populations of coupled phase oscillators #EMBLDevBio

There's always more to learn at the DB unit Summer School @embl.org ! After two engaging practical sessions yesterday from the Aulehla and Petridou groups @nicolettapetridou.bsky.social , today we will be diving into data analysis #EMBLDevBio

Day 1 of the DB Unit Summer School: 'Transitions in Developing Systems: From Theory to Experiments'. We are delighted to welcome all participants! Stay tuned for updates. @nicolettapetridou.bsky.social @hanhtkvu.bsky.social @jordivangestel.bsky.social @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social @karenalim.bsky.social

Excited to share the lab's 1rst preprint! Rapid high-res immunofluorescence is now possible in cultured & environmental diatoms thanks to 4-fold expansion microscopy. A step-change for comparative cell biology in one of the most important phytoplankton groups on the planet 🥳 tinyurl.com/m9s5su7s 1/2

📣Join us for the DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY COURSE @institutcurie.bsky.social @sorbonne-universite.fr We have fantastic speakers and registration is free! training.institut-curie.org/courses/deve... @karinayaniv.bsky.social @doetschlab.bsky.social @eileen-furlong.bsky.social @jesseveenvliet.bsky.social

Very important @nicolettapetridou.bsky.social‬ report #mechanochemical signalling control fate transitions www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... w/ wide/significant implications. Perhaps the clearest indication so far of HOW #NotInTheGenes cell interactions mechanical pattern gene expression #MustRead

Here our latest work on how morphogens trigger tissue phase transitions to tune their own length-scales and time-scales - An exciting collaboration with @zhvas.bsky.social @dianakhorom.bsky.social Bernat Corominas-Murtra and heroic experiments by the incredible @cami-autorino.bsky.social @embl.org

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...

For PhD Students and Postdocs 📣 join us in a crash course on transitions in biological systems! Across theoretical models, developmental processes and species! Hands-on training on theory and experiments 🤩