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fishevodevogeno.bsky.social
Braasch Lab @ Michigan State University
@fishevodevogeno.bsky.social
1.4K followers 940 following 130 posts
Lobe-finned, gene hunting garfishionados & proud members of the tetrapod fishes.

Read books, repeat quotations, draw conclusions on the wall.

www.fishevodevogeno.org
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fishevodevogeno.bsky.social
Braasch Lab @ Michigan State University @fishevodevogeno.bsky.social · 10d
Our Fish EvoDevoGeno Lab @michiganstateu.bsky.social has its 10th anniversary today! 🐠🐟🧪🧬🔬

Thanks to all lab members - present & past, pictured or not - for making the last decade a success!

& thanks to our partners in crime of the @brainyfishguts.bsky.social Lab, too!

#EndlessFishMostBeautiful
Reposted by Braasch Lab @ Michigan State University
burgesslab.bsky.social
Congrats @jeffreyafarrell.bsky.social !!! He is doing some of the most important work bringing Dev Bio to the 21st century...
(the other winners are pretty good too I hear)
socdevbio.bsky.social Society for Developmental Biology @socdevbio.bsky.social · 23h
Congrats to the 2026 SDB Award Winners!
Conklin Medal: Lee Niswander
SDB Lifetime Achievement Award: Alexandra Joyner
Hamburger Outstanding Educator Prize: Roberto Mayor
Hay New Investigator Award: Jeffrey Farrell
SDB Trainee SciComm Award: Nicholas Desnoyer
bit.ly/4afnjiC
Society for Developmental Biology logo Society for Developmental Biology 2026 Award Winners Edwin G. Conklin Medal Headshot of Lee Niswander Lee Niswander, University of Colorado Boulder Society for Developmental Biology Lifetime Achievement Award Headshot of Alexandra Joyner Alexandra Joyner, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Viktor Hamburger Outstanding Educator Prize Headshot of Roberto Mayor Roberto Mayor, University College London Elizabeth D. Hay New Investigator Award Headshot of Jeffrey Farrell Jeffrey Farrell, National Institutes of Health Society for Developmental Biology Trainee Science Communication Award Headshot of Nicholas Desnoyer Nicholas Desnoyer, The Sainsbury Laboratory
February 5, 2026 at 6:39 PM
Reposted by Braasch Lab @ Michigan State University
solomonrdavid.bsky.social
I just learned the history, and current significance, of red knitted hats to resistance movements: www.npr.org/2026/01/31/n...

Makes these gar stickers I received (years ago) from @drandrewthaler.bsky.social even more relevant today, especially here in Minnesota!
Stickers featuring a gar fish wearing a red knitted cap, clearly indicating gars are against the current ICE occupation of the Twin Cities in Minnesota (or anywhere!)
February 1, 2026 at 3:38 PM
Reposted by Braasch Lab @ Michigan State University
merriam-webster.com
❤️
January 30, 2026 at 7:57 PM
Reposted by Braasch Lab @ Michigan State University
marcrr.bsky.social
Why would Switzerland dissolve its Science Council? Saving no money and losing expertise which Swiss education, research and innovation need.
swr-web.vercel.app/en/blog/stel...
Statement by the Swiss Science Council (SSC) on its planned dissolution
The Federal Council decided on 28 January 2026 to submit a proposal to Parliament to dissolve the Swiss Science Council (SSC) as an Extra-Parliamentary Commission. This decision was justified by the…
swr-web.vercel.app
January 30, 2026 at 12:46 PM
fishevodevogeno.bsky.social
And of course, the gang had to check out the new @msumuseum.bsky.social exhibit on fish X-ray vision diversity. All three main lineages of “fishes” on one wall, what more can you ask for? Ray, coelacanth, and yours garly represent. 🐟🐠🐡

#EndlessFishMostBeautiful
January 30, 2026 at 1:11 AM
Reposted by Braasch Lab @ Michigan State University
mads100tist.bsky.social
#Zebrafish 🐟 meeting klaxon🧨 The registration period for the 1st German Zebrafish Meeting (16-18 Sept) is open www.germanfishmeeting.org with Sessions on Development, Pharma, Behavior, Omics, and more. Deadline for Abstracts at the end of April. Hope to see y'all there! 🧪 (1/n)
1st German Fish Model Research Meeting | German Fish Model Research Meeting
Discover the 1st German Fish Model Research Meeting—uniting global experts on zebrafish, cavefish, killifish, medaka & more. Join us to collaborate, share breakthroughs, and advance fish biology resea...
www.germanfishmeeting.org
January 19, 2026 at 9:20 AM
Reposted by Braasch Lab @ Michigan State University
agneeshbarua.bsky.social
Our project on molecular convergence in teleosts is published in MBE. This study involved analysing over 2 million genes, and combining multiple data modalities to uncover some surprising insights behind the evolution of adaptations in teleosts. Thank you @hfspo.bsky.social for the funding!
January 29, 2026 at 9:14 AM
fishevodevogeno.bsky.social
Our Fish EvoDevoGeno Lab @michiganstateu.bsky.social has its 10th anniversary today! 🐠🐟🧪🧬🔬

Thanks to all lab members - present & past, pictured or not - for making the last decade a success!

& thanks to our partners in crime of the @brainyfishguts.bsky.social Lab, too!

#EndlessFishMostBeautiful
January 26, 2026 at 8:22 PM
Reposted by Braasch Lab @ Michigan State University
vilcekfoundation.bsky.social
#ImmigrantStoryoftheWeek 🔬 Meet Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado, a Venezuelan molecular biologist whose curiosity was sparked by his grandfather’s ranch. His research reveals how organisms regenerate themselves, offering insight into treating human disease. Watch the full video: https://vilcek.co/3YPdH8W
January 22, 2026 at 10:09 PM
Reposted by Braasch Lab @ Michigan State University
gabrielalima19.bsky.social
It’s out! 🐟 We compared three regeneration superstars—axolotl, zebrafish, and Polypterus—to ask how animals regrow limbs and fins. We find shared core processes, and other programs fine-tuned by evolution in surprising, lineage-specific ways. tinyurl.com/mpftkn7y
January 22, 2026 at 5:38 PM
fishevodevogeno.bsky.social
A distinguished visitor in our Ancient Fish Facility today: @fishguy.bsky.social in da house!
January 20, 2026 at 5:53 AM
fishevodevogeno.bsky.social
I need to wash my car…
fishguy.bsky.social Adam Summers @fishguy.bsky.social · 17d
Classy fishy license plate.
January 20, 2026 at 5:33 AM
fishevodevogeno.bsky.social
So 80 sticks or 8 binds:

bsky.app/profile/gree...

It’s hard to get even get half a stick of American eel for research these days…
greenleejw.bsky.social Surprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · 22d
"What do eels have to do with Thomas Becket?" I hear you ask. Well, not much in life (though he likely ate them).

But after his death, the church at Wymondham Abbey was rededicated to include his name & it was sustained by an annual rent of 2,000 eels from the village of Hilgay.
Meme. Medieval painting of Becket's assassination. Set against a yellow background, the scene shows TB kneeling at an altar. Behind the altar is a bishop, looking alarmed. He is holding a crozier, and has is holding is other hand up, palm out. He looks like he's being mugged. Tommy B. has his hands outstretched like he's about to receive communion, or he's just dropped a baby. He's looking down in surprise at his hat, which has fallen from his head. It has fallen because there are four knights behind him with swords, and one of them seems to have knocked his cap off. They are armored and armed and up to no good. One is pointing is sword at the bishop, which is why he looks like he's being mugged. He sort of is. Another of the knights is raising his hand, with one finger extended as if answering the question, "How many rings does it take to rule them all?" Meme text reads: "If you strike me down I will get more eels than you can possibly imagine"
January 14, 2026 at 11:48 PM
Reposted by Braasch Lab @ Michigan State University
gregpriest.bsky.social
OTD 1908 Willhelm Weinberg gave a talk to the Society for the Natural History of the Fatherland in Württemberg giving the population genetics equations GH Hardy would independently publish 5 months later. It was 35 years before his work was recognized in the Anglophone world.

🐋🌱🥢🧪 #EvoBio #HistSTM
Photo of Weinberg. Photographer unknown.
January 13, 2026 at 5:27 PM
Reposted by Braasch Lab @ Michigan State University
burgesslab.bsky.social
Exciting genome news! For those interested, there is a prerelease of the Ensembl gene models for the new reference genomes GRCz12tu (GCA_049306965.1) and GRCz12ab (GCA_05204075.1) at ftp.ebi.ac.uk/pub/database...
You can download gff and gtf files there as well as softmasked genomes.
Index of /pub/databases/ensembl/pre-release/Danio_rerio
ftp.ebi.ac.uk
January 13, 2026 at 5:59 PM
fishevodevogeno.bsky.social
When you meet your scientific nemesis at a conference...
January 10, 2026 at 6:18 PM
Reposted by Braasch Lab @ Michigan State University
greenleejw.bsky.social
So you're a medieval landlord, collecting property rent from your peasants in eels. How do you count them?

Eels were usually counted in units called sticks (25 eels) -- possibly from the number of eels you can smoke on a stick at one time.

10 sticks of eels was called a bind.
🗃️🧪
Photograph of eels hanging on a stick for drying. The els are orange in color, and have been gutted. The stick passes through each eel at or near the head. There are 11 eels on the first rack, and another rack is behind them. The dark of the drying oven is like dusk in a cavern. There are 11 eels on this stick, not 25, and it is a certainty that someone will point this out in the replies. The only logical assumption, then, is that medieval sticks were simply larger than sticks today, and that the historical processes of industrialization have made sticks a shadow of their former selves. Marx might say they've been alienated from their true selves since their value has been tied to capital enterprise. Any small boy will disagree, though. Sticks still retain their magic. Perhaps in distant lands, untouched by modernity, there are free-roaming herds of sticks capable of holding the right amount of eels. Sadly, we here today must deal with the sticks that late-stage capitalism allows us. The enshittification of sticks is upon us.
January 9, 2026 at 4:46 PM
Reposted by Braasch Lab @ Michigan State University
friendsofdarwin.bsky.social
08-Jan: Born on this day in 1823, the man who independently of Darwin came up with the idea of natural selection, Alfred Russel Wallace. Here’s a post I wrote about Darwin’s and Wallace’s friendship…
friendsofdarwin.com/articles/dar...
#HistSci
Modesty and candour: the Darwin-Wallace friendship
To mark the 200th anniversary of Wallace’s birth, an article exploring the friendship between Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace.
friendsofdarwin.com
January 8, 2026 at 6:34 PM
Reposted by Braasch Lab @ Michigan State University
gregpriest.bsky.social
Alfred Russel Wallace born OTD in 1823.

He said he shared with Darwin “an intense interest in … the variety [of living things] that catches the eye of the observer even among those which are very much alike, but which are soon found to differ in several distinct characters.”

🌱🐋🧪 #HistSTM #EvoBio
Caricature of Wallace, including the words “After you, Mr. Darwin, kind sir.” By David Hughes for the New Yorker.
January 8, 2026 at 4:03 PM
Reposted by Braasch Lab @ Michigan State University
zebrafishrock.bsky.social
#ZebrafishFunFacts: Unofficially known as the Zebrafish Bible, "The Zebrafish Book" sought to standardize zfish husbandry in early days of zfish research. Originally published by Monte Westerfield, the book is now in its 5th edition. Previous editions are freely available: zfin.org/zf_info/zfbo... 🧪
Front cover of The Zebrafish Book. It shows images of wildtype and golden (transparent) zebrafish embryos. Text reads, "THE ZEBRAFISH BOOK, A guide for the laboratory use of zebrafish (Danio rerio)"
January 7, 2026 at 9:31 AM
fishevodevogeno.bsky.social
New paper alert! ‼️
compbiologist.bsky.social Arjun Krishnan @compbiologist.bsky.social · Jan 6
Our Perspective article on Computational Strategies for Cross-Species Knowledge Transfer is now published in @natmethods.nature.com!

This was a collab b/w @krishnanlab.bsky.social & @fishevodevogeno.bsky.social, led by the amazing Hao Yuan @yhbioinfo.bsky.social. 🧵

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Figure depicting the four classes of important questions that frequently arise when using research organisms to study biomedical questions and translating findings to humans. a, How to predict disease–gene or function–gene relationships across species? Diagram depicts genes in each species associating with specific functions, diseases and phenotypes. b, How to identify functionally equivalent molecular components across species? Diagram depicts finding the most equivalent gene, pathway or expression module or phenotype between species. c, How to infer perturbed molecular profiles across species? Diagram depicts gene expression in each species as a result of taking a particular perturbation like a drug. d, How to map equivalent cell types and cell states across species? Diagram depicts alignment of cell types across species. This Perspective comprehensively lays out the landscape of recent and state-of-the-art data-driven strategies, including those that leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning (ML), for answering these questions.
January 6, 2026 at 3:16 PM
Reposted by Braasch Lab @ Michigan State University
hleisthen.bsky.social
Also, Sam's looking for a postdoc! She's skilled in animal and microbe physiology, analytical chemistry, bacterial genetics, and bioinformatics. She’d like to keep studying symbioses but is flexible. If you have (or know of) postdoc opportunities, please find her and talk to her! #SICB2026
hleisthen.bsky.social HL Eisthen, defective human product @hleisthen.bsky.social · Jan 4
Hey #SICB2026 peeps! My grad student Sam Westcott has a poster (#104) on Tuesday (3:30-4:30) on the genetic basis of tetrodotoxin production in newt-associated bacteria.

If you’re interested in amphibians, neurotoxins, or bacterial production of secondary metabolites, check it out!
Illustration by the talented Ayley Shortridge showing a garter snake thinking about preying on a Taricha newt; a call-out shows tetrodotoxin-producing bacteria on the newt's skin.
January 4, 2026 at 6:00 PM
fishevodevogeno.bsky.social
When at #SICB2026, check out Tony Zhou's @zzhou32.bsky.social talk on developmental multi-omics in the "living fossil" spotted gar on Monday.

#EndlessFishMostBeautiful
January 3, 2026 at 6:27 PM
fishevodevogeno.bsky.social
Celebratory drink with @compbiologist.bsky.social to salute the new year AND to cheer for @yhbioinfo.bsky.social’s new article on cross-species comparison methods out in Nature Methods: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
January 2, 2026 at 5:24 AM
fishevodevogeno.bsky.social
Motto for 2026: Yes, We coelaCANth! Thanks @drheathheckman.bsky.social for the nice Fishmas present!
December 29, 2025 at 4:02 PM