🚨 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...

We are recruiting 2 PhD students @ the University of Bologna to study neuron evolution in mosquitoes and non-bilaterian animals using single-cell genomics, evo-devo and computational biology. Plus, Bologna is hard to beat scientifically and gastronomically. More info: www.unibo.it/en/study/phd...

🚨Job claxon🚨 4-year #Postdoc available in our lab in @camzoology.bsky.social developing molecular and anatomical approaches to mapping evolutionary changes in the brain, using #Heliconiini butterflies. Come join us, we are nice. 🧪 www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...

We launched a new Group Leader vacancy in our Center for AI & Computational Biology - VIB.AI @vibai.bsky.social - with a Professorship at Ghent University. Join us with your most creative AI+Biology research plan! Apply before 31st May vib.ai/en/group-lea...

Very nice and timely paper on phylogenomic model choice. Strong evidence that mixture models outperform homogeneous and partitioned approaches, with CAT-GTR showing robust performance across conditions. Highly relevant for difficult phylogenetic problems. academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...

Gene regulatory networks: from correlative models to causal explanations www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Even more excited — our paper is featured on the cover of Science Advances! Huge thanks to @alexandrejan.bsky.social who took this incredible photo of a ctenophore (aka comb jelly) and the editors. Here’s the cover 👇 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Final version @nature.com of our paper describing unconventional multicellular development in a choanoflagellate inhabiting an extreme environment. A ton of new data since the first @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social preprint (which we've kept updating). A brief 🧵 (carried over from the old place)

Nel caso vi interessi: 90 minuti su occhi, origine ed evoluzione… e altre cose. Sì, solo 90 minuti 😊 In case you are interested: 90 minutes on eyes, origin and evolution… and other things. Yes, just 90 minutes.. 😊 (yes it is in italian e grazie a A Brain Pod per l'invito) lnkd.in/dMc3V2qP

New from @chemamd.bsky.social lab @qmulsbbs.bsky.social Collab with Elaine Seaver, @baxevanislab.bsky.social @neva-meyer.bsky.social @abhinavsur.bsky.social New chromosome-level assembly for Capitella teleta 🪱 academic.oup.com/gbe/advance-... #DevBio #WormWednesday @genomebiolevol.bsky.social

Our internal organs are evolutionary marvels. New technologies are transforming our understanding of the evolution of vertebrate organs. You can find more by reading here: rdcu.be/e5EgU #EvoBio #EvoDevo 🐟🦎🐢🦇🐊🦜

Salinity tunes mode of multicellularity in a tidepool choanoflagellate www.nature.com/articles/s41... - paper in @nature.com

Postdoc Opening! 🚨 Thrilled to (belatedly!) share that I’ve received @hfspo.bsky.social grant in collaboration with @KatherinaPetrou "Plant-like solar tracking in a photosymbiotic animal." We are hiring a Postdoc to join the team @bristolbiosci.bsky.social! Apply👇 www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQO766/r...

Why do some worms graze on bacteria while others hunt and kill? Our study, published today in Nature, reveals how predatory aggression evolved in nematodes. Led by @gunizgozeeren.bsky.social and @leoboeger.bsky.social across the @jameslightfoot.bsky.social and @monikakscholz.bsky.social labs.

New findings on genomic regulation mechanisms throughout evolution | EurekAlert! www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

There's still time to apply to be a 2026 @dev-journal.bsky.social Pathway to Independence fellow For those about to apply for their first independent academic position, the programme offers - mentoring - leadership training - profile rising - networking journals.biologists.com/dev/pages/pi...

Thrilled to share that I’ve been awarded a FIS-3 Advanced Grant (ERC-inspired) to study the evolution of neurogenic GRNs. Recruiting soon: 4 postdocs + 3 PhDs Press release in Italian — to decolonise scientific language 😄 magazine.unibo.it/it/articoli/... Email me if interested in joining the lab

Sponges are notoriously difficult to understand in evolutionary biology terms. I think this paper is a big step forward : www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Our work on the evolution of the regulatory genome of echinoderms is now out in @natecoevo.nature.com. Led by my former PhD Marta Magri, Danila Voronov & Saoirse Foley. Great collaboration of Arnone, Hinman & Maeso labs, started long time ago with our missed José Luis Gomez-Skarmeta: rdcu.be/eXX8l

Check out our new paper! @imperialsci.bsky.social

Excited to share the final version of our study on Nematostella cell type regulatory programs. Part of our @erc.europa.eu StG project, this was a challenging 5-year effort extraodinarily led by @aelek.bsky.social and @martaig.bsky.social. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Good to see the peer reviewed version of this published A chemo-optogenetic system for spatiotemporal control of gene expression We use it to: - Reconstruct SHH mediated neural tube patterning in vitro - Measure extracellular half-life of Shh www.cell.com/developmenta...

Apennine brown bear #genomic diversity - comparing whole #genome resequencing data from Apennine, Central European, and North American brown bears academic.oup.com/mbe/article/... #biodiversity #genomics

Want to carry a PhD in London, in one of the best Universities in the world? We have two calls for PhD students to join our lab at Imperial College. Deadline January 12th. More details for applications in the link below. Feel free to keep in touch!

Out now: we’re happy to share our new preprint on CroCoNet (Cross-species Comparison of Networks), a framework for robust comparative network analyses. 👉 doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Also have a few other projects available (ranging from ecology/behaviour to genomics and neuroscience) for applications through the NERC and BBSRC Doctoral Training programs, some details here www.shmontgomery.co.uk/opportunitie... but feel free to get in touch!

In the summer (you can tell by the shirt) I had a fabulous conversation about embryology and stem cells with @nmoris.bsky.social at the Crick Institute. Here's the first part of it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WB0...

Out today, our take on 6-methyladenine #6mA evolution in Eukaryotes @natgenet.nature.com. We asked a simple question, is really DNA 6mA common across the eukaryotes? The answer is "yes" if you're a unicellular eukaryote 🦠, not so if you're multicellular 🐝🌱🍄. www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/9

Our study on the role of LTR5HS and SVAs in regulation of human neural crest migration is now published as peer-reviewed paper on @molsystbiol.org! Congrats to first author brilliant postdoc Laura Deelen, and all the authors involved! @imperialsci.bsky.social www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

Happy to share Jialin's first publication. She did a great job exploring the transition to land in animals. Co-supervised by the great Jordi Paps and me and in collaboration with Davide Pisani and @phil-donoghue.bsky.social

Nature research paper: Convergent genome evolution shaped the emergence of terrestrial animals go.nature.com/4i0i61w

Just gonna put this here for now www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... bsky.app/profile/jlst...

Working in a biomed institute, its natural to think about health & medical impact of dev bio but there's more to dev bio Agriculture is dev bio (plant growth, livestock breeding) And dev bio is important to understand environment & climate impact. See e.g: journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...

A productive month for the lab — between new preprints and papers! Monoaminergic neurons evo and devo www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Opsin evolution in plankton academic.oup.com/gbe/article/... Mosquito Cell Atlas (small contrib.) www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Excited to announce the final version of the Mosquito Cell Atlas is out now in @cellpress.bsky.social!! 🦟🩸 There is SO much left to find & investigate in this dataset (& the rich biology of the Aedes aegypti mosquito)! We hope this helps scientists in many fields! www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

New preprint out! Evolutionarily conserved transcriptional regulators control monoaminergic neuron development. We uncover how ancient regulatory programs orchestrate the neurons that produce serotonin and dopamine across 550 million years of evolution. doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Come join the #LondonEvoDevo network half day meeting, hosted at @ucl.ac.uk on Friday November 7th, 2025. Submit your abstract by Oct 27th (or your interest in joining) here: forms.gle/TRbdrCkQTcY2.... Friendly vibes and free registration. More info here: londonevodevo.co.uk.

We have a fully funded PhD to study mosquito vision — combining single-cell genomics, evolutionary genomics & high-resolution imaging. Discover how these tiny hunters see the world. RP, apply and contact me if interested! warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fa...

The version of record of our paper on the emergence of metachronal waves in the #Platynereis larval ciliary band is now out. Together with Rebecca Poon and Kirsty Wan @micromotility.bsky.social#platynereis https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adw4067 funded by @ERC_Research @wellcometrust @bbsrc

We are happy to share our latest work in @nature.com . We study the genomic and cellular basis of facultative symbiosis in Oculina patagonica - a Mediterranean coral remarkable for its ability to survive long periods without algal symbionts. Led by Shani Levy and @xgrau.bsky.social rdcu.be/eLbaZ

Interested in joining my lab to study the evolution and development of monoaminergic neurons? You can now apply for the Giuseppe Levi Post-Doc Fellowship (2 years, Neurobiology, EU citizens). Deadline: 10 Nov 2025 – 18:00 For more info selezionionline.lincei.it and email me!

Thrilled to share that the lab has been awarded a @wellcometrust.bsky.social Discovery Award to keep exploring the evolution of 6-methyladenine #6mA in Eukaryotes. We'll open postdoc (3️⃣) and tech (1️⃣) positions to start in 2026, please share with candidates or reach out if you’d like to join us.

The @crick.ac.uk is recruiting Early Career Group Leaders - Lab set-up, research costs, salaries for up to 5 researchers - Support for up to 12 years - Access to our core facilities - Competitive salary - Fantastic colleagues - All areas of biology Deadline 27 Nov www.crick.ac.uk/careers-stud...

Our latest: combining single-cell RNA-seq from 16 species and HCR validation, we show that monoaminergic neurons share a conserved transcriptional identity across Bilateria. In contrast, we find no evidence for this program in non-bilaterian metazoans. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

I adored writing this piece. It brings together several of the things preoccupying me right now, like chromatin organization and gene regulation. There's so much more to be said on that. Also, these marine critters look gorgeous. www.quantamagazine.org/loops-of-dna...

New short paper from our lab @currentbiology.bsky.social, in which we discover of a new mode of cell motility for choanoflagellates: flagellar gliding. www.cell.com/current-biol... - A 🧵

Our latest: We optimized SPLiT-Seq for insect brains! Check out our new protocol in Methods in Molecular Biology—tailored single-cell transcriptomics for insect neuroscience link.springer.com/protocol/10....

After nearly twenty years in the making, our attempt at understanding what makes the chaetognath phylum so unique has finally been published! www.nature.com/articles/s41... with #LauraPiovani @dariagavr.bsky.social @alexdemendoza.bsky.social @chemamd.bsky.social and others /1

A Summer reading recommendation: new primer in @dev-journal.bsky.social explains how dynamical systems theory unlocks the logic of developmental patterning Everything from bistable switches & oscillators to phase portraits & more with Python code to explore journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...

Happy to see our latest work out in @molbioevol.bsky.social. We revisit the evolution of 5-methylcytosine across neglected eukaryotic supergroups, establishing an ancestral repressive role silencing genome invaders, both transposons and viral elements👾: academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-... 🧵 1/7