The last chapter of our RSNZ Marsden funded work on the microbiome and regeneration is out in Developmental Dynamics 🧪🐸🦠🧫https://anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/dvdy.70088 @phoebechapman.bsky.social

If you want to study a genetic disorder of growth, in a non-mammalian model system, Xenopus 🐸 has a unique advantage. As we show with Recql4 in G3 this month, it is possible to knock out a gene with CRISPR on just one side of the animal doi.org/10.1093/g3jo... 🧪

RIP Professor Sir John Gurdon, who inspired so many of us in Developmental Biology, and of course, “the frog”.

If for some reason you do not already love arthropod appendages, check this paper!! Single‐cell sequencing reveals potential novel insights into appendage‐patterning and joint‐development in a spider - Medina‐Jiménez - Developmental Dynamics anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Dr Banerjee nailing it at #IXC25 meeting. Just look at the size of the screen we are presenting on! 🐸🧪🐸🧬

Wow, International Xenopus Meeting (IXC25) -- Matt Guille and EXRC opens the meeting with old friends new science @xenbase.bsky.social xenopusresource.org/20th-interna... #science #devbio #xenopus #frogs

Hey! Any #xenopus folk at IXC25 in Portsmouth? Use #IXC25 in your posts, and let us know how it’s going!!

FlyBase, a Drosophila database, will lose a third of its team in early October because the Harvard grant that covered the employees’ salaries was canceled. Scientists warn that losing FlyBase could devastate fly research. By @claudia-lopez.bsky.social www.thetransmitter.org/community/ha...

A super cool #single-cell spatial transcriptomic mouse #brain atlas is out! 🐭🧠🔬 Unveiling cell types, #gene expression, & TF dynamics across the whole brain! Awesome! ✨ #neuroskyence #neuroscience #compneurosky www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...

Thrilled to share that our latest work on #DravetSyndrome is now out as a preprint! 🚀 This project, brilliantly led by @clarazourray.bsky.social and co-supervised by Serena Barral, brought together an incredible team. A huge thanks to everyone involved, exciting science ahead! 👏 shorturl.at/NdC79

Excited for day one of the first @ epilepsyinst.bsky.social conference! If you ever wanted to know how tadpoles can help us understand DEE please come and chat at poster 2

Excited to share our new 🧪 preprint! We show how useful #Xenopus tadpoles, which can be CRISPR engineered on one side, can be for understanding rare genetic disorders that affect growth and development. A study of recql4, with Louise Bicknell and Matt Riley-Bell. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The genetic basis of human height go.nature.com/4lnM152 #Review by Louise S. Bicknell, @joelhirschhorn.bsky.social & Ravi Savarirayan Free to read here: rdcu.be/egGQf @universityofotago.bsky.social @bostonchildrens.bsky.social @harvardmed.bsky.social @broadinstitute.org @mcri.bsky.social

If you, like me, get excited about appendages, it’s hard not love a velvet worm. Hydraulic #lobopods for legs, slime guns, a hidden knife in its jaws… and now bug of the year NZ 2025. Superb.

Jaeger et al. screened Adeno-associated viral tools (AAVs) in three different amphibian species brains identifying serotypes that transduce neurons. Published in Developmental Cell. www.xenbase.org/xenbase/doNe... #science #devbio #xenopus #frogs

Our @zoologyotago.bsky.social department is home to many wonderful animals. These two adorable Southern Bell froglets were raised by Zoology PhD student Bryony Alden, and are part of a group destined for the display tank in our foyer. They just need to grow up a bit first! 🧪 #outreach #ambassadors

Excited to see our team’s work on insect colour evolution published in Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A sad day for basic /fundamental research, our government has scrapped Marsden funding to humanities and social science and the sky for science just got a little less blue. 😭🧪

Best question following a talk today.. “if these frogs have thousands of offspring, why isn’t the world covered in frogs?”

OK If we are moving to Bluesky I am rescuing my favourite ever twitter thread (Jan 2019). The renamed: Bluesky-sized history of neuroscience (biased by my interests)

@phoebechapman.bsky.social latest paper on how #Xenopus tadpole skin gets colonised by microbiota. 🧪🐸🦠

Assembloids have emerged as a powerful tool for studying previously inaccessible processes of development and tissue homeostasis. In our article in Cell Stem Cell, we summarize advances in the generation & application of neural and non-neural #assembloids to explore complex cell-cell interactions.

Hello world! We’re here to spread the love of our favorite model organism Xenopus. Give us a follow for your daily moment of Xen(opus)!

Our latest study is out: 🧠🍎 We discovered that low-caloric intake restructures neuronal circuits in flies, affecting their ability to learn from negative experiences while leaving reward-based learning intact.🍽️🔬 Read more in: learnmem.cshlp.org/content/31/5... #Neuroscience #Drosophila #Nutrition

#neuroskyence Our latest work is now out now in Genetics: Knockdown of NeuroD2 leads to seizure-like behaviour, brain neuronal hyperactivity and a leaky blood-brain barrier in a Xenopus laevis tadpole model of DEE-75. academic.oup.com/genetics/adv...

AAVs work for amphibians! Two new preprints show that the genetic tools are effective in frogs, newts and axolotls, opening up new doors for studying these species' nervous systems. #neuroskyence

🤯 "Nerve cells form long-term memories with the help of an inflammatory response." #science #neuroscience www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Today is purple day If you have epilepsy, today is about you! 💜You have the strength and courage, and there is always hope! Be amazing. Be you.💜 Pass the message on and be part of the support. 💜 #EpilepsyAwareness #PurpleDay #PurpleDay2024

#DBfeature #Xenopus 🐸 Small molecule-mediated reprogramming of Xenopus blastula stem cells to a neural crest state by Paul Huber, Carole LaBonne www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Happy #RareDisorderDay 29th Feb #neuroskyence! Myself and Dr. Sulagna Banerjee #GlowUpShowUp in support of DEE (developmental and epileptic encephalopathies).

UK Worm Meeting registration is now open! Can’t tag anyone because I don’t know who is on blusky and what their handles are but UK folk, please help spread the word! #UKWorm24

I see donuts…

New fellowships now live in Medical Science at UoB. Springboard fellowship to pay you for two years to develop and apply for your first independent fellowship. Obviously Micro more than welcome. Email me for more info edzz.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

📢New preprint alert 📢 Somite-independent regeneration of the axolotl primary body axis. biorxiv.org/content/10.110… This is the combined effort of a fantastic group of people over many years. Read below to see why you should care⬇️ 1/8

Want to do a PhD or MSc @Zoology_Otago in #ancientDNA or geometric morphometrics? Interested in disentangling competing sources of morphological variation in #fossil record of geckos and skinks from #NewZealand and #NewCaledonia. Apply here www.otago.ac.nz/courses/post... 1/2

We are looking for a Research Associate to work on developing new genetic tools in zebrafish! Please share far and wide! boards.greenhouse.io/chanzuckerbe...

Need to find a Cas enzyme? Caspedia is here to help! Learn about the new resource from the Doudna lab in our latest blog post: blog.addgene.org/cas...

(thread) New butterfly Hox paper out doi.org/10.7554/eLif... I want to highlight the main part on Hox "insulation" How do butterflies forewings differ from hindwings in patterns and shape? Rare spontaneous mutants show patches of forewing transformed into hindwing identities? How is that possible?

Changes also affect wing shape, not just color. Hox clusters have been ground zero for understanding how 3D chromatin and gene expression together shape development. I believe this humble results highlights the importance of TAD insulators in this process

'The new call for HFSP Research Grants has just opened with a deadline in March. You need to get into the application system and initiate an application by 19 March 2024, at the latest, and submit the complete Letter of Intent by 28 March 2024.' network.febs.org/posts/wanted...

There's a ~1000nt sub-viral RNA that shows up on every continent, and in humans, and it seems to have gone unnoticed! It has no sequence similarity to any database and codes for a wacky protein Super happy to finally share my thesis work on "Obelisks" tinyurl.com/yc54fzj9 #MicroSky #microbiomesky

GROUP LEADER POSITIONS BRIC, University of Copenhagen, is hiring 1-2 group leaders at associate professor/professor level. We offer a package covering own salary + 1-2 group members, core facilities, research support, and great colleagues. Deadline is March 15th. tinyurl.com/BRICgrouplea...

Deadline for applying to the Embryology Course at the MBL in Woods Hole, MA is near! 6 weeks of a unique hands-on experience. Substantial aid available. Due date: January 10. Apply here: www.mbl.edu/education/ad...

How did I not know this before?

What a year for Neuroscience! Annual fabulous and clever Review by Mark Humphries. Big year for dopamine and cell types. medium.com/the-spike/20...

A newly built framework could help researchers assess the impact of genetic variants associated with developmental and epileptic encephalopathy type 44. elifesciences.org/digests/8989...

It’s been a busy few weeks for Dr. Sulagna Banerjee who graduates today with her PhD in Genetics. First paper submitted last week too. Congratulations!