Cedric Boeckx
@cedricboeckx.bsky.social
ICREA Research Professor. Evolution, Genetics, Neuroscience, Linguistic Cognition
Pinned
Cedric Boeckx
@cedricboeckx.bsky.social
· Nov 16
![cortical organoid [image credit: O. Leonardi, who is leading this collaborative project]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ljcyk7tem65k7epgu5pkwuuh/bafkreico75nbiyo5zg6kzzahk5kxmcpcajygslloxkndmry2tnzr5q72pu@jpeg)
First post on this platform 👋. Glad to reconnect with old friends, and also learn from new contacts. Will post about intersecting themes: human evolution, genetics (esp. aDNA), neuroscience & cognition. Currently focusing on brain organoids and early developmental changes that may have had an impact
Very nice work revealing the importance of social/cultural learning in orangutans 👇 🧪
Our New Paper is out in Nature Human Behaviour: 🚨 Culture is critical in driving orangutan diet development past individual potentials! 🦧 www.nature.com/articles/s41.... See 🧵
Culture is critical in driving orangutan diet development past individual potentials - Nature Human Behaviour
Howard-Spink et al. develop an empirically based model of orangutan diet development, which suggests that social learning is vital for orangutans to acquire varied diets.
www.nature.com
November 24, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Very nice work revealing the importance of social/cultural learning in orangutans 👇 🧪
Reposted by Cedric Boeckx
Such a fantastic resource by @kuhlwilm.bsky.social's lab. We’re using this catalog in half our projects
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A curated dataset of great ape genome diversity - Scientific Data
Scientific Data - A curated dataset of great ape genome diversity
www.nature.com
November 24, 2025 at 7:12 AM
Such a fantastic resource by @kuhlwilm.bsky.social's lab. We’re using this catalog in half our projects
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Nice work @raffaela-lesch.bsky.social!
November 22, 2025 at 11:18 AM
Nice work @raffaela-lesch.bsky.social!
Reposted by Cedric Boeckx
Excellent @science.org review by an outstanding group, including @inbalarnon.bsky.social @profsimonfisher.bsky.social @limorraviv.bsky.social @simonkirby.bsky.social @lirancarmel.bsky.social @kazuookanoya.bsky.social @luciewolters.bsky.social
What enables human language? A biocultural framework
🧪
What enables human language? A biocultural framework
🧪
What enables human language? A biocultural framework
Explaining the origins of language is a key challenge in understanding ourselves as a species. We present an empirical framework that draws on synergies across fields to facilitate robust studies of l...
www.science.org
November 21, 2025 at 8:59 AM
Excellent @science.org review by an outstanding group, including @inbalarnon.bsky.social @profsimonfisher.bsky.social @limorraviv.bsky.social @simonkirby.bsky.social @lirancarmel.bsky.social @kazuookanoya.bsky.social @luciewolters.bsky.social
What enables human language? A biocultural framework
🧪
What enables human language? A biocultural framework
🧪
Reposted by Cedric Boeckx
I wrote a little bit about the "missing heritability" question and several recent studies that have brought it to a close. A short 🧵
The missing heritability question is now (mostly) answered
Not with a bang but with a whimper
theinfinitesimal.substack.com
November 21, 2025 at 10:34 PM
I wrote a little bit about the "missing heritability" question and several recent studies that have brought it to a close. A short 🧵
+ @tecumsehfitch.bsky.social (glad to see you on this platform)
November 21, 2025 at 8:23 PM
+ @tecumsehfitch.bsky.social (glad to see you on this platform)
Great review 👏. Planning to use it when revising www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
CHD2 Dosage Ties Autolysosomal Pathway to Cortical Maturation in Disease and Evolution
The relatively slow pace of cortical development in humans has long been a topic of investigation. Studies seeking to understand the underlying mechanisms have mostly focused on neurogenetic compariso...
www.biorxiv.org
November 21, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Great review 👏. Planning to use it when revising www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Congrats @limorraviv.bsky.social (and team)!
November 21, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Congrats @limorraviv.bsky.social (and team)!
Excellent @science.org review by an outstanding group, including @inbalarnon.bsky.social @profsimonfisher.bsky.social @limorraviv.bsky.social @simonkirby.bsky.social @lirancarmel.bsky.social @kazuookanoya.bsky.social @luciewolters.bsky.social
What enables human language? A biocultural framework
🧪
What enables human language? A biocultural framework
🧪
What enables human language? A biocultural framework
Explaining the origins of language is a key challenge in understanding ourselves as a species. We present an empirical framework that draws on synergies across fields to facilitate robust studies of l...
www.science.org
November 21, 2025 at 8:59 AM
Excellent @science.org review by an outstanding group, including @inbalarnon.bsky.social @profsimonfisher.bsky.social @limorraviv.bsky.social @simonkirby.bsky.social @lirancarmel.bsky.social @kazuookanoya.bsky.social @luciewolters.bsky.social
What enables human language? A biocultural framework
🧪
What enables human language? A biocultural framework
🧪
Reposted by Cedric Boeckx
Very pleased to share our latest paper published in Cell:
BRAIN-MAGNET: A functional genomics atlas for interpretation of non-coding variants: Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
@cellpress.bsky.social, @cp-cell.bsky.social, @ruizhideng.bsky.social #enhancer
here is a thread about our findings:
BRAIN-MAGNET: A functional genomics atlas for interpretation of non-coding variants: Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
@cellpress.bsky.social, @cp-cell.bsky.social, @ruizhideng.bsky.social #enhancer
here is a thread about our findings:
BRAIN-MAGNET: A functional genomics atlas for interpretation of non-coding variants
BRAIN-MAGNET, a convolutional neural network trained on 148,198 functionally tested
non-coding regulatory elements, predicts enhancer activity directly from DNA sequence
and identifies nucleotides ess...
www.cell.com
November 20, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Very pleased to share our latest paper published in Cell:
BRAIN-MAGNET: A functional genomics atlas for interpretation of non-coding variants: Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
@cellpress.bsky.social, @cp-cell.bsky.social, @ruizhideng.bsky.social #enhancer
here is a thread about our findings:
BRAIN-MAGNET: A functional genomics atlas for interpretation of non-coding variants: Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
@cellpress.bsky.social, @cp-cell.bsky.social, @ruizhideng.bsky.social #enhancer
here is a thread about our findings:
November 19, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Fascinating longitudinal study in @currentbiology.bsky.social by @alicebaniel.bsky.social @jbeehner.bsky.social and colleagues, providing evidence for deceptive fertility in a wild primate (gelada) 🧪
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Evidence for deceptive fertility in a wild primate
Baniel et al. show that female geladas deceptively signal fertility when a new dominant
male arrives. Across 14 years of data, lactating females displayed fertility signals
and mated without conceivin...
www.cell.com
November 19, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Fascinating longitudinal study in @currentbiology.bsky.social by @alicebaniel.bsky.social @jbeehner.bsky.social and colleagues, providing evidence for deceptive fertility in a wild primate (gelada) 🧪
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Perfect forum for your work 👏
November 19, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Perfect forum for your work 👏
Reposted by Cedric Boeckx
@hakha.bsky.social and I wrote a Research Briefing (with a lay summary + "behind the scenes") of our paper on how genes are prioritized by GWAS and rare variant burden tests. 🧬🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
How do genetic association studies rank genes?
Genome-wide association studies and rare-variant burden tests reveal complementary aspects of trait biology.
www.nature.com
November 19, 2025 at 6:43 PM
@hakha.bsky.social and I wrote a Research Briefing (with a lay summary + "behind the scenes") of our paper on how genes are prioritized by GWAS and rare variant burden tests. 🧬🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Terrific resource! Thanks for making this available 👏👏
November 19, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Terrific resource! Thanks for making this available 👏👏
Great @currentbiology.bsky.social study by @xmikezheng20.bsky.social @cliffscience.bsky.social @arkarupbanerjee.bsky.social 🧪🧠🐭🎶
Vocal repertoire expansion in singing mice by co-opting a conserved midbrain circuit node
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Vocal repertoire expansion in singing mice by co-opting a conserved midbrain circuit node
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Vocal repertoire expansion in singing mice by co-opting a conserved midbrain circuit node
Zheng and Harpole et al. show that singing mice produce two major vocal modes: ancestral
USVs and novel songs that follow a linearly decelerating rhythm. Although acoustically
distinct, songs and USVs...
www.cell.com
November 19, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Great @currentbiology.bsky.social study by @xmikezheng20.bsky.social @cliffscience.bsky.social @arkarupbanerjee.bsky.social 🧪🧠🐭🎶
Vocal repertoire expansion in singing mice by co-opting a conserved midbrain circuit node
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Vocal repertoire expansion in singing mice by co-opting a conserved midbrain circuit node
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Cedric Boeckx
Paper out now: A curated dataset of the great ape genome diversity!
rdcu.be/eQLCi
rdcu.be/eQLCi
A curated dataset of great ape genome diversity
Scientific Data - A curated dataset of great ape genome diversity
rdcu.be
November 19, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Paper out now: A curated dataset of the great ape genome diversity!
rdcu.be/eQLCi
rdcu.be/eQLCi
Reposted by Cedric Boeckx
The 2026 EMBL symposium 'Reconstructing the human past using ancient and modern genomics' is live with a fantastic invited speaker lineup!
Abstract deadline 9 June. If work is ongoing, plan for Heidelberg in September😉.
Organised by Maanasa Raghavan, @matejahajdi.bsky.social, Choongwon Jeong & me.
Abstract deadline 9 June. If work is ongoing, plan for Heidelberg in September😉.
Organised by Maanasa Raghavan, @matejahajdi.bsky.social, Choongwon Jeong & me.
November 19, 2025 at 1:41 PM
The 2026 EMBL symposium 'Reconstructing the human past using ancient and modern genomics' is live with a fantastic invited speaker lineup!
Abstract deadline 9 June. If work is ongoing, plan for Heidelberg in September😉.
Organised by Maanasa Raghavan, @matejahajdi.bsky.social, Choongwon Jeong & me.
Abstract deadline 9 June. If work is ongoing, plan for Heidelberg in September😉.
Organised by Maanasa Raghavan, @matejahajdi.bsky.social, Choongwon Jeong & me.
Reposted by Cedric Boeckx
New preprint on bioRvix! We show how cortical sensory-modality identity is instructed by a combinatorial cell-adhesion and activity codes, using #snRNAseq #spatialtranscriptomics #functional imaging. Congrats to everyone on this work! @guillelbendito.bsky.social @neuroalc.bsky.social
Combinatorial Cell-Adhesion and Activity Codes Instruct Cortical Modality Identity
The emergence of functional sensory modalities requires precise cortical arealization and thalamocortical connectivity. While early morphogen gradients broadly initiate cortical patterning, how sensor...
www.biorxiv.org
November 18, 2025 at 7:26 AM
New preprint on bioRvix! We show how cortical sensory-modality identity is instructed by a combinatorial cell-adhesion and activity codes, using #snRNAseq #spatialtranscriptomics #functional imaging. Congrats to everyone on this work! @guillelbendito.bsky.social @neuroalc.bsky.social
Congratulations! So richly deserved @valeriejsydnor.bsky.social! 👏👏
November 17, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Congratulations! So richly deserved @valeriejsydnor.bsky.social! 👏👏
Journal editor encouraged me to review for them by saying I’d gain “early access to cutting-edge research in your field”. I told them not to worry about that, I’m a @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social affiliate. Told them to encourage authors to #preprint, so _everyone_ can gain early access to the work 🧪
November 17, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Journal editor encouraged me to review for them by saying I’d gain “early access to cutting-edge research in your field”. I told them not to worry about that, I’m a @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social affiliate. Told them to encourage authors to #preprint, so _everyone_ can gain early access to the work 🧪