Looking back on 2025, we are incredibly grateful for all the good moments spent with colleagues, the exciting new discoveries, discussions and seminars, and for the trust of our collaborators and partners! We wish you a wonderful holiday season and look forward to meeting again in 2026 ✨🎄

Happy winter solstice from #SunnyBergen!

We are thrilled to invite you to the Michael Sars Symposium 2026 - Living systems in a variable ocean, together with our co-organizers at @cbubergen.bsky.social! Mark June 4, 2026 in your calendars, and watch out for our speaker lineup reveal in the new year 🙌

Some of our favorite model organisms featured on the cover of @natrevneuro.nature.com 🤩 Congratulations @jeffcolgren.bsky.social & @pawelburkhardt.bsky.social for this beautiful highlight 👏

💡How does nutrition regulate cell cycle in stem cells? Check out our new paper from @prhsteinmetz.bsky.social lab & @msarscentre.bsky.social, out now in @plosbiology.org (plos.io/48J2o6P) #SeaAnemone #Nematostella #StemCell #CellCycle #Quiescence #TORsignalling 1/12

📢 New preprint from the @prhsteinmetz.bsky.social lab! Inés Fournon Berodia @inesfournon.bsky.social looked at cell death and epithelial extrusion in Nematostella. An exciting study with beautiful microscopy ✨ Check it out ⤵️

Congratulations to @eudaldpascual.bsky.social and @ktgarschall.bsky.social from the @prhsteinmetz.bsky.social lab on a new paper out in @plosbiology.org 🤩👏 The work, supported by @embo.org, looked at cell behavior during starvation in the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis 🧵🧪

What an amazing conclusion to this year's guest seminar series! Mari H. Eilertsen @mariheilertsen.bsky.social from @cdeepsea.bsky.social delighted us with a talk on deep-sea chemosynthetic ecosystems, and continued the discussion over a festive coffee break 🌊✨ Thank you for your visit!

The curious case of the comb jelly, where we described a comb jelly with the ability to reverse its development to an earlier stage of life, is now also available at #spotify 🤩 #ctenophores 🪼⏪ open.spotify.com/episode/6c2O... with @joanjsoto.bsky.social @msarscentre.bsky.social

More excellent tunicate news this morning, with a new preprint from the @mchatzigeorgiou.bsky.social lab 🤩 This work, led by @olegtolstenkov.bsky.social, describes the fascinating diversity of behaviors displayed by the larvacean Oikopleura throughout its life cycle ⤵️🧪

This great piece by @lionlchristiaen.bsky.social highlights the sea squirt Ciona as a versatile and tractable model for marine sciences, from cells to ecosystems 👏🧪 Read it in @natmethods.nature.com ⤵️ www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Finished with work, on my way home. Bergen is so beautiful — perfect evening for a boat ride. 💙⛴️🌄

Congratulations to @inesfournon.bsky.social and @ruthstyfhals.bsky.social on their amazing talks at the very first BIO-Early Career Community Conference at @unibergen.bsky.social ✨ We are proud to support this fantastic initiative that brought our local community of young scientists together 👏

As Movember comes to an end, the Sars team sported real (and some suspiciously fake) mustaches to raise awareness for men’s health. Huge thanks to Brandon for leading this fundraising initiative at the Centre! 🥸

We are welcoming a new critter at the Centre - the Norwegian red sea cucumber! These colorful echinoderms will be featured in @emclaereboudt.bsky.social's #MSCActions project on chemosensation 🧪 Of course, they had a moment in the spotlight with our in-house photographer @alexandrejan.bsky.social ✨

Very insightful talk by Dean Gunn Mangerud, who shared the latest updates and upcoming projects at our faculty @scienceandtechuib.bsky.social 👏 We are grateful for this opportunity to have an open dialogue, and look forward to new exciting challenges @unibergen.bsky.social!

In 2025, we celebrate #200years of knowledge at the University of Bergen! An occasion to honor the scientists who came before us and whose legacy we carry on today 🧪🔬 “This story goes from Michael Sars, the vicar and marine zoologist, to Michael Sars, the Centre.” - Prof. Anders Goksøyr ⤵️ 1/2

First neurons didn’t appear overnight. We trace their roots to ancient secretory cells - showing how lifestyle & behavior shaped the evolution of first synapses.🧠🌊 #Evolution #Neuroscience Our latest in @natrevneuro.nature.com Link: rdcu.be/eMX3E @jeffcolgren.bsky.social @msarscentre.bsky.social

Awesome to welcome and host @enricodanielloszn.bsky.social for a seminar and (short) visit at @msarscentre.bsky.social in #SunnyBergen, which - sometimes - is only a state of mind. 😉☀️🇳🇴

Friday seminar treat with a talk by Prof. De Tomaso on the reproductive and regenerative prowesses of colonial ascidians at @msarscentre.bsky.social in #SunnyBergen

Could not be more happy/proud/relieved to finally see this longstanding study published. Bluetorial to follow. @msarscentre.bsky.social Cell cycle-driven transcriptome maturation confers multilineage competence to cardiopharyngeal progenitors | The EMBO Journal www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

Tiny sea cucumbers, big mysteries! 🪱 Out sampling for my MSCA project SensHolo at the @msarscentre.bsky.social, at the University of Bergen, 🇳🇴— exploring how these mini echinoderms sense their world. Plus a few bonus echinoderms! 🌊✨

We had a full room today for a talk by Nicolas Minc @minclab.bsky.social from @ijmonod.bsky.social 👏 He presented his team's latest work on the mechanics of cell division, including how they use magnetic tweezers to rotate mitotic spindles 💥 Thank you for joining us!

Very excited that our lab, together with @lionlchristiaen.bsky.social lab at the @msarscentre.bsky.social, got certified as MY GREEN LAB (mygreenlab.org) which helped us to take major steps towards a greener working environment. Very thankful to all labmembers involved in this huge team effort!

It was fantastic welcoming back Chema Martin @chemamd.bsky.social from @qmulsbbs.bsky.social at the Centre today 👏 He shared with us his latest work on spiralian larvae evolution, with fascinating insights on the timing of gene expression during development. Thank you for visiting us!

Congratulations to Michael Sars Centre alumna @oceanetourniere.bsky.social for this amazing achievement! A very inspiring path, both as a scientist and as an advocate for women in science 👏

We are on a journey to adopt greener practices at the Centre, and our efforts were recently recognized with TWO labs obtaining the highest-level certification from My Green Lab 🌱🤩 This work was driven by engineers @margauxfailla.bsky.social, @evanordmann.bsky.social & @paulamiramon.bsky.social 👏🧵

Incredible pictures by @alexandrejan.bsky.social, ctenophore whisperer in the @pawelburkhardt.bsky.social lab 😍 Happy belated ctenophore day! 🌈

HAPPY CTENOPHORE DAY (part II). A full bucket of ctenophores for Ctenophore day - time to shimmer🌈🌊✨ Please watch till end: Mnemiopsis & Pleurobrachia included. Alexandre @alexandrejan.bsky.social filmed and caught this ctenophore at the same time @msarscentre.bsky.social #ctenophores #GoPro

HAPPY CTENOPHORE DAY (part I). The fjords around Bergen are full with Mnemiopsis right now. Movie by the amazing @alexandrejan.bsky.social @msarscentre.bsky.social #ctenophores #GoPro

Comb jelly season has started in Bergen, Norway! 🌈🍂🧪

Fantastic presentation by @malinkjosavik.bsky.social at the Tutzing basal metazoan workshop 👏 She shared her work on starvation and metabolism in Nematostella, conducted in collaboration between the @prhsteinmetz.bsky.social lab and the Dept of Biomedicine @unibergen.bsky.social ✨

Explaining sea squirt development to the public? Challenge accepted! Our team had a great time at the #forskningsdagene science fair over the weekend. We met visitors of all ages who shared our excitement for science, and went back to the lab inspired and energized 🤩✨

Huge congratulations to postdoc Guillaume Poncelet @guillaumeponcelet.bsky.social who was awarded a UiB Early Idea innovation grant 🤩🎉 Inspired by his work in the @lionlchristiaen.bsky.social lab, he will be developing a new product derived from naturally occurring compounds 🔬 Read more below ⤵️

Congratulations @lionlchristiaen.bsky.social, @rnadoctor.bsky.social & team for a new publication in @plosbiology.org 👏🧪 Their work shows a conserved pathway for neuromuscular junction development between tunicates and vertebrates 🧠 Read the article below ⤵️

Our lab is 2.5 years into #ERC funding✨ Grateful for the support that enabled us to uncover the syncytial nerve net in a ctenophore - a discovery reshaping our understanding of nervous system evolution. Stay tuned for more exciting discoveries to come @erc.europa.eu www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DAE...

"A reminder of why I fell in love with biology in the first place" 🔬✨ This summer, PhD candidate Max Jordi Makem Pekouankouang from the @lionlchristiaen.bsky.social lab participated in the Embryology course at @mblscience.bsky.social. He shares how this experience enriched his approach to science ⤵️

Congratulations Dr. Fournon Berodia @inesfournon.bsky.social 🎉🤩 We are very proud of Inés for successfully defending her PhD thesis conducted in the @prhsteinmetz.bsky.social lab. Thank you to opponents @ragkousik.bsky.social & @levayerr.bsky.social for insightful discussions 👏

We were happy today to co-host a seminar by Sr. Scientist John Stegeman from @whoi.edu 👏 From vertebrates to giant viruses, we learned a lot about the fascinating evolution of the cytochrome P450 family. Thank you for a great talk!

🌊🧪 Big day at #chemecol2025! I presented my talk: “Chemical cues & larval behaviour in the tunicate Ciona intestinalis 🪸✨ I had the pleasure of chairing the Aquatic Chemical Ecology session — featuring amazing talks on annelids, cnidarians, oysters, and red algae. 🌿🦪🪼🪱

Congratulations @appygenetics.bsky.social on a new preprint 🤩 🧪 Read the whole paper below ⤵️

New preprint from the @pawelburkhardt.bsky.social lab 🤩 @annaferraioli.bsky.social & colleagues created a 3D model of the ctenophore apical organ, revealing cell-type diversity and exciting new insights into the evolution of central nervous systems 🧠🧪 Congratulations to the team! 👏

A new dispatch by @iramaegele.bsky.social and @pawelburkhardt.bsky.social is out in @currentbiology.bsky.social 👏 They took a closer look at a fascinating study on siphonophore biodiversity led by @shchurch.bsky.social & @caseydunn.bsky.social 🪼🧪⤵️

Researchers from @imev-mer.fr recently visited us for a workshop supported by the French-Norwegian mobility program Åsgard 🌊 Between seminars, lab demos and discussions, new ideas and plans for long-term collaborations emerged 🤩 Read more about this exciting partnership below ⤵️

New preprint from the Burkhardt lab 🎉 Beautiful work led by @annaferraioli.bsky.social revealing the structure of the ctenophore aboral organ in incredible detail. Congratulations to the team! 👏

We are thrilled to announce the launch of the Michael Sars Visitors Program! ✨🧪 To spark new connections, we are opening our doors to visiting researchers who wish to conduct a project in #SunnyBergen. Applications are open, help us spread the word!

It was an honor to attend a lecture by Christian Sardet @cellsandplankton.bsky.social today 👏 Christian took us on a journey through the history of science and art over the past 200 years, and showed some of his own work documenting beautiful planktonic organisms 🦠 Thank you for a fantastic talk!

The 4th edition of the Michael Sars Symposium was a success 🤩 A big thank you to our fantastic speakers, engaged audience and organizing team ✨ Have a look below for a throwback to the #MSS2025 highlights! 📸⤵️

This year's Nordic Microscopy Society meeting was hosted by @unibergen.bsky.social 👏 Group leader @pawelburkhardt.bsky.social shared his team's work using expansion and 3D electron microscopy to study nervous systems. Congratulations on a great talk! 🔬🧠

Our last session focused on Receptor Evolution 🙌 Yuhong Wang presented her latest findings on glutamate receptors, while Ryan Hibbs @ucsandiego.bsky.social shared insights on inhibitory signals in the human brain. A wonderful conclusion to #MSS2025!