Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

EMBL DB unit @embldbunit.bsky.social · 2d

✨Luc Lederer, a PhD student in the Aulehla group, spoke at the DB seminar @embl.org this week. He investigates whether phase waves during somitogenesis contain functional information for tissue patterning, as well as how we can manipulate and understand the mechanisms behind them #DevBio

3

Reposted by EMBL DB unit

Thibaut Brunet @thibautbrunet.bsky.social · 5d

Latest from ours: www.cell.com/cell-reports...

This is two stories in one: a case study/cautionary tale on developing genetic tools in new organisms, and the first hint at a gene regulatory network for choanoflagellate multicellular development (which turn out to involve a Hippo/YAP/ECM loop!) A 🧵

10 95 230

Reposted by EMBL DB unit

Theory of Living Matter Group @tlmcambridge.bsky.social · 7d

🚨 TLM Online Seminar Series - 08.10.25 | 16:00 UK
Pablo Sáez: "Decision-making during cell migration"

Please repost & to attend online please register to our 📧for the zoom link: lists.cam.ac.uk/sympa/subscr...

Poster with a picture of the speaker, Pablo Saez, advertising his talk: Decision Making during cell migrations. Abstract: Moving cells navigate inside living tissues often encountering obstacles and junctions, where their path branches into alternative directions of migration. This is the case of cells moving on top or within blood vessels, which often bifurcate into branches. Cells have diverse migratory strategies that differentially rely on the adhesion to the substrate. Cells that undergo mesenchymal migration are highly dependent on the adhesion to the substrate, and when facing bifurcations are forced to coordinate the adhesion and detachment of the competing branches. Recent studies showed how the decision is made -to keep or retract a branch and choose a new direction- when there is bias: open versus dead-end, differences in pressure, presence/absence of a chemoattractant. However, much less is know about how cells decide a new direction when the decision is unbiased. Similarly, it is poorly understood how migrating cells coordinate membrane dynamics during branching to maintain a good trade-off between microenvironmental exploration and migratory efficiency. Here, we use in vitro live-cell imaging using different levels of complexity, and advanced image analysis to analyze the response of migrating cells when facing symmetric junctions, and extreme branching when cells simultaneously face several bifurcations. We found that actin and membrane dynamics play a key role to choose a new direction path in both cases i) when cells face a single junction (Ron et al. 2024), and ii) when cells exhibit high levels of branching because they face several junctions at the same time (Liu et al.). In addition, we found that migrating immune cells have a fine tune regulation of branching in order to coordinate surveillance and migration. These results shed light on the mechanisms by which cells resolve unbiased junctions and branching during cell migration.

5 19

Reposted by EMBL DB unit

Michalis Averof @michalis-averof.bsky.social · 7d

Here it is! Postdoctoral position to identify the progenitors sensory organs in the regenerating legs of Parhyale

apply here: www.averof-lab.org/pages/tracman

1/3

Michalis Averof @michalis-averof.bsky.social · Jul 13

We've just been awarded a grant to study the cellular basis of regeneration – to track the progenitors of sensory organs in the context of leg regeneration, in our favourite crustacean tinyurl.com/parhyale, based on live imaging and cell tracking. The project involves some cool collaborations... 1/3

1 35 50

Reposted by EMBL DB unit

MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology @mrclmb.bsky.social · 7d

Don’t miss this upcoming #LMBSeminar from Bonnie Bassler!
Join us at 11am on Monday 13th October to hear all about ‘Quorum sensing across domains: From viruses to bacteria to eukaryotes’
More details: www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/news-and-eve...

Bonnie Bassler
Princeton University
Quorum sensing across domains: From viruses to bacteria to eukaryotes
Monday 13th October at 11am (BST)

1 4 9

EMBL DB unit @embldbunit.bsky.social · 8d

The DB unit also celebrated Anne Ephrussi at this wonderful symposium! Anne was our unit head from 2007-2021. Congratulations on a remarkable career, Anne! 🎉

4 19

Reposted by EMBL DB unit

Jaro Ferenc @jarofrnc.bsky.social · 9d

How to swap the foot for a tentacle and vice versa? Find out in our new story featured in @dev-journal.bsky.social uncovering a transcription factor toggle switch behind the identity of Hydra's extremities.

Development @dev-journal.bsky.social · 10d

Issue 17 is complete!

On the cover: Image of three Hydra specimens. A wild-type Hydra (centre) and two transformants showing switch of foot (pink) to tentacle (yellow) (right) and tentacles to feet (left).

See Research Article by Ferenc et al.

journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...

2 3 13

Reposted by EMBL DB unit

Flora Vincent @floravincent.bsky.social · 11d

Dear all, registration for the upcoming EMBO/EMBL Symposium on "the cellular mechanics of symbiosis" is now OPEN 🤩 ! Feel free to register ! www.embl.org/about/info/c...
#EESSymbiosis #ProtistsOnSky #SymbioSky
@hassansalem.bsky.social @berasymbionts.bsky.social @embl.org

The cellular mechanics of symbiosis: sensing friend from foe

www.embl.org

26 45

EMBL DB unit @embldbunit.bsky.social · 16d

@simonknoblich.bsky.social

Reposted by EMBL DB unit

MPI for Biology Tübingen & Friedrich Miescher Laboratory @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social · 16d

Hassan Salem will be co-hosting the EMBL/EMBO Symposium “The Cellular Mechanics of Symbiosis: Sensing Friend from Foe” from 17–20 March 2026 in Heidelberg next year. Registration and abstract submission will open next month! For more info: tinyurl.com/bdhyv3ht

The cellular mechanics of symbiosis: sensing friend from foe

tinyurl.com

2 3

EMBL DB unit @embldbunit.bsky.social · 16d

✨ Back from summer break with 2 great DB seminars @embl.org! Andrew Hogan (van Gestel group) on protist predation defences & Simon Knoblich (Aulehla group) on calcium waves in Medaka gastrulation. Exciting research happening in the DB unit 🔥 #DevelopmentalBiology

1 1 4

EMBL DB unit @embldbunit.bsky.social · 18d

🚀New research from the Aulehla group @embl.org shows that metabolism not only fuels growth, but also sends signals that control the speed of embryonic development 🔬 #Metabolism #DevelopmentalBiology #BiologicalClock

EMBL @embl.org · 18d

EMBL scientists found metabolism controls embryonic development tempo through signalling in a way separate from its established metabolic function.

More research related to this signalling could illuminate how it guides cell fate, developmental timing -- even disease.

www.embl.org/news/science...

When metabolism provides more than fuel | EMBL

A new study observed the key signalling role that metabolism plays in controlling the tempo of development.

www.embl.org

4

EMBL DB unit @embldbunit.bsky.social · 28d

🔥 Are you curious about the similarities between the brains of sharks and mammals? Read Idoia Quintana-Urzainqui's new preprint from the Arendt lab at @embl.org to find out more. #Neuroscience #Evolution #BrainResearch

Idoia Quintana-Urzainqui @idoiaeu.bsky.social · Sep 2

🧠🦈Excited to present our latest work🧠🦈Interested in brain evolution? And shark embryos? Then read on… Our work sheds light on the deep origins of our brain’s most complex regions.

3

Reposted by EMBL DB unit

Mike Dorrity @mwdorr.bsky.social · Sep 4

Very excited to share - the ERC StG is a game-changer for us 🙏 We're going to learn the rules for timing control across cell types in the embryo and we think we can tune them too 🎛️ ⏳📈- reach out if you’d like to be involved !

European Research Council (ERC) @erc.europa.eu · Sep 4

📣 The ERC Starting Grant call results are out!

Find out which early-career researchers will receive funding this year, what they will be investigating, where they will be based... plus lots of other #ERCStG facts & figures for 2025!

➡️ buff.ly/IsafuFh

#FrontierResearch 🇪🇺#EUfunded #HorizonEurope

12 4 56

Reposted by EMBL DB unit

EMBL @embl.org · Aug 28

Reforming how research and researchers are assessed is an essential step toward ensuring a more accurate, fair, and meaningful evaluation of scientific work.

A recent pan-EMBL event provided an opportunity to reflect on this key topic.

Learn more: www.embl.org/news/lab-mat...

2 5

Reposted by EMBL DB unit

Thibaut Brunet @thibautbrunet.bsky.social · Aug 27

Lovely piece on five model organisms for the origin of animal multicellularity and on the community who studies them. It was a pleasure to make a small contribution.

Nature @nature.com · Aug 27

For some three billion years, unicellular organisms ruled Earth. Then, around one billion years ago, a new chapter of life began

go.nature.com/3JyRV4S

How did life get multicellular? Five simple organisms could have the answer

Single-celled species that often stick together in colonies have researchers rethinking the origin of animals.

go.nature.com

1 22 74

Reposted by EMBL DB unit

Gautam Dey @gautamdey.bsky.social · Aug 22

Want to help us image and understand those incredible samples Felix just collected at UBC - and many more?

2 more days to apply!

embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j...

#ExM #PlanetaryCellBiology

🧪🧬🔬🌍🌱🦠

1 17 20

EMBL DB unit @embldbunit.bsky.social · Aug 21

🔥Would you like to explore the principles behind collective behavior in biological systems, from cells to communities? Don't miss this EMBO | EMBL Symposium! #EESCollectivity

EMBL Events @events.embl.org · Aug 21

✨ How do bird flocks form or diseases emerge?

Join the brand-new EMBO | EMBL Symposium #EESCollectivity and explore how collective behaviours arise from fundamental principles across biological systems 🧬🦠🐒

💻 s.embl.org/ees26-01-bl
✒️ Submit your abstract by 18 Nov

5 10

EMBL DB unit @embldbunit.bsky.social · Aug 1

It's been a busy month at the DB unit at EMBL #PhDdefence Simona Gioe', from the Aulehla group, successfully defended her PhD thesis, which was titled 'Investigating the functional role of oscillatory signalling via experimental entrainment of the somite segmentation clock'. Congrats, Simona 🥳🎓

1 2 16

EMBL DB unit @embldbunit.bsky.social · Jul 31

✨Andrea Zanon, a PhD student in the van Gestel group @jordivangestel.bsky.social, was our speaker at the DB seminar this week @embl.org. He talked about his project, which involves developing a synthetic soil assay to study the aggregative life cycle of Dictyostelium discoideum #lifecycle #amoeba

2

EMBL DB unit @embldbunit.bsky.social · Jul 30

🎓Congratulations to Camilla Autorino, from the Petridou group @nicolettapetridou.bsky.social @embl.org who has just defended her PhD thesis titled 'A closed feedback between tissue phase transitions and morphogen gradients drives patterning dynamics in the zebrafish embryo' #DevelopmentalBiology

1 15

EMBL DB unit @embldbunit.bsky.social · Jul 25

✨ In this week's DB unit seminar, Michael Zhao, a postdoc in the Aulhela group, shared insights on how he uses a combination of experimental data and theoretical models to study patterning and collective behaviour in the presomitic mesoderm #Patterning #CollectiveBehavior #Mesoderm

2 6

Reposted by EMBL DB unit

Society for Developmental Biology @socdevbio.bsky.social · Jul 23

Applications are now open for the 2026 SDB Science Communication Internship. Graduate student and postdoc members of the Society for Developmental Biology are eligible to apply. Deadline: August 15. Learn more: www.sdbonline.org/science_comm...

9 13

Reposted by EMBL DB unit

Max Perutz Labs Vienna @maxperutzlabs.ac.at · Jul 23

📢 Open Call! The Max Perutz Labs invite applications for a Tenure-Track Professorship in Mechanistic Cell and Developmental Biology. More details ➡️ tinyurl.com/3fbkp89c

1 44 37

EMBL DB unit @embldbunit.bsky.social · Jul 24

🎉 Congratulations to Magdalena Schindler, from the Petridou group @nicolettapetridou.bsky.social @embl.org, who has just defended her PhD thesis titled 'An optimum cell cycle heterogeneity times tissue fluidisation at the onset of zebrafish morphogenesis' #PhDDefense #Zebrafish #DevelopmentalBiology

23