Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Giulia Paci

@giuliapaci.bsky.social

620 followers 610 following 51 posts

Physicist having a go at biology, EMBO postdoctoral fellow @UCL in the Mao group, @EMBL alumna

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Giulia Paci @giuliapaci.bsky.social · Aug 11

Thrilled to share the first story from my postdoc! 🎉 A wonderful experiment + simulations collaboration. In the Drosophila wing, we find that 3D cell shapes affect signalling range and fine-tune developmental patterning www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Thread below ⬇️

5 40 100

Reposted by Giulia Paci

Assaf Zaritsky @assafzaritsky.bsky.social · 1d

Excited to announce the first @cshlnews.bsky.social meeting on Cell Modeling in Space and Time, June 2026 💫

meetings.cshl.edu/meetings.asp...

Bringing together experiments, computation and theory to explore dynamic, multi-scale cellular organization and function!

1/3

2 6 19

Giulia Paci @giuliapaci.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you!

Giulia Paci @giuliapaci.bsky.social · 1d

Any 3D wing disc images from a comparable stage can be aligned to our atlas and automatically segmented into the annotated sub-regions. The atlas is built within the @brainglobe.info ecosystem, so we can leverage its open-source Python tools for registration, visualization and analysis.

Giulia Paci @giuliapaci.bsky.social · 1d

We plan to further expand the annotations using region-specific genetic markers (e.g. A/P compartments, intervein regions). The current resolution is 2 µm, already quite high compared with most brain atlases (10–100 µm), and can be further increased to capture finer anatomical details.

Giulia Paci @giuliapaci.bsky.social · 1d

Sure! The population-averaged template was generated from 16 individual 3D images of female larval wing discs (~110–120 h AEL) expressing a membrane marker (Ubi-EGFP-CAAX). As a proof of principle, we manually annotated the main anatomical regions (pouch, hinge, notum, and peripodial layer).

2 1

Reposted by Giulia Paci

GloBIAS @globias.bsky.social · 26d

Next #GloBIAS seminar is coming up: join us on 22nd of September, 4 pm CEST to hear from Jean-Yves Tinevez about: The scientific added value of a core-facility dedicated to Bioimage Analysis services. Want to register? -> www.globias.org/activities/b...

6 9

Giulia Paci @giuliapaci.bsky.social · 1d

Very excited about this project: we believe that 3D anatomical atlases have a huge potential for developmental biology. As a starting point, we made the first ever Drosophila wing disc atlas!

BrainGlobe @brainglobe.info · 1d

BrainGlobe branches out!

New blog outlining our collaborative work with @giuliapaci.bsky.social from @lmcb-ucl.bsky.social to build anatomical atlases for developmental mechanobiology.

brainglobe.info/blog/drosoph...

3 9 40

Reposted by Giulia Paci

Anzy Miller @anzymiller.bsky.social · 2d

Are you enthusiastic about stem cell biology and developmental biology and looking to start a PhD in 2026? Funded opportunites now available. Contact for more infomation. Links below! @lovegrovelab.bsky.social @veronicabiga.bsky.social @manchester.ac.uk @ukri.org

2 11 19

Reposted by Giulia Paci

Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) @mpi-scienceoflight.bsky.social · 3d

With deep sadness, we share that Prof. Jochen Guck, Director at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light passed away on October 3. His visionary work bridged physics and medicine. We have lost a brilliant scientist and dear friend.

mpl.mpg.de/news/article...
@fau.de

📸 Stephan Spangenberg

Professor Jochen Guck, Director at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL), He headed the division “Cell Physics” at MPL and the Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin (MPZPM).

5 27 75

Reposted by Giulia Paci

Levayer Lab @levayerr.bsky.social · 2d

Happy to share the last version of our story @currentbiology.bsky.social on the role of interfacial tension in mechanical cell competition led by @leovalon.bsky.social and Alexis Matamoro Vidal
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

3 26 60

Reposted by Giulia Paci

ilastik-team.bsky.social @ilastik-team.bsky.social · 2d

Segment large images without tiling artifacts: sharing our work that should have been presented at ICCV in 2 weeks - the brilliant first author Elena can’t go because of visa issues.
The paper: arxiv.org/abs/2503.19545 1/🧵

Large images have to be broken into tiles both for training and inference with neural networks. The tile predictions then need to be merged to produce the final volume prediction.

2 16 51

Giulia Paci @giuliapaci.bsky.social · 2d

Congratulations to the whole team!! 👏🏻

Reposted by Giulia Paci

Alberto Elosegui-Artola @aeloseguiartola.bsky.social · 2d

Don’t miss the exciting ISSCR Webinar: Integrating Biophysics into Stem Cell Biology next Tuesday October 14!
The webinar features paired tandem talks that brings together experimentalists and theorists working at the interface of stem cell biology and biophysics. 1/2
www.isscr.org/upcoming-pro...

www.isscr.org

1 4 9

Reposted by Giulia Paci

BrainGlobe @brainglobe.info · 2d

We are incredibly proud to receieve this award, especially as it recognises the hard work of the entire BrainGlobe community.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to BrainGlobe over the years!

Le Neuro (Institut-Hôpital neurologique de Montréal) @theneuro.bsky.social · 3d

🏆Announcing the laureates of the Neuro - Irv and Helga Cooper Foundation Open Science Prizes 2025!

🎉 Join us in celebrating the laureates at the award ceremony, featuring a special lecture from International Prize laureate representative from the BrainGlobe initiative.

#OpenScience #Neuroscience

The Neuro – Irv and Helga Cooper Foundation Open Science Prizes: Meet the winners of an exceptional edition

This year’s edition of the Irv and Helga Cooper Foundation Open Science Prizes at The Neuro, organised by the Tanenbaum Open Science Institute, was exceptional in every way. With a record number of ap...

www.mcgill.ca

2 7 12

Reposted by Giulia Paci

Development @dev-journal.bsky.social · 4d

Pathway to Independence: a forecast for the future of developmental biology

In this Perspective, each of our 2025 Pathway to Independence Fellows discuss future outlooks for #DevBio and how their work will contribute to this exciting new era.

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

Picture of the title of the article and author list (2025 PI fellows) Chee Kiang Ewe, Max S. Farnworth, Anzy Miller, Joaquı́n Navajas Acedo, Marlies E. Oomen, Giulia Paci, Sonya A. Widen and Toshimichi Yamada

6 12

Reposted by Giulia Paci

Jean-Yves Tinevez @jytinevez.bsky.social · 4d

Job alert!

We are looking for a bioimage analysis to work in an image analysis core facility in beautiful Paris. Can I ask you to share this opportunity with your networks?

See also on the forum:
forum.image.sc/t/research-e...

Research engineer in Bioimage Analysis for the researchers of the inIdEx FORMULA

Hi all We are looking for a bioimage analysis to work in an image analysis core facility in beautiful Paris. Can I ask you to share this opportunity with your networks? The position is in the Instit...

forum.image.sc

2 72 56

Reposted by Giulia Paci

Naomi Moris @nmoris.bsky.social · 5d

Fully-funded 4-year PhD Opportunities available at the @crick.ac.uk , including a project in our lab on human #embryomodels Feel free to share with anyone interested, and apply through the online portal before 5th November! 👏

www.crick.ac.uk/careers-stud...

Moris Lab | Investigating human trunk development using stem cell-based embryo models

www.crick.ac.uk

15 22

Reposted by Giulia Paci

UCL BioImage Interest Group @biig-ucl.bsky.social · 8d

Next BIIG seminar is 12-1pm on Friday 10th October 🔬😄:

- Anna Bajur (Imperial College London): “Quantifying cellular forces, one molecule at a time”
- Virginia Silio (UCL): “Euro-BioImaging: From Access to Analysis”

1 4 7

Reposted by Giulia Paci

Thibaut Brunet @thibautbrunet.bsky.social · 6d

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 98 230

Reposted by Giulia Paci

Gautam Dey @gautamdey.bsky.social · 7d

If you’re applying to your dream lab for an internship/PhD/postdoc, always send a second email 1-2 weeks after the first one if you don’t hear back.

I promise we will be grateful rather than annoyed. My email inbox is a disaster and I’m quite junior - and very few of us have secretarial support

2 45 160

Reposted by Giulia Paci

Tung Le @tunglejic.bsky.social · 8d

Independent research fellowships leading to tenured positions at the John Innes Centre.

Repost = nice. Thank you very much!!!

John Innes Centre @johninnescentre.bsky.social · 8d

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to give a seminar at the Fellows Conference, which will be held on 10 March 2026.

Candidates who win Fellowships will be offered a Tenure Track Group Leader position from the outset, initially for 5 years.

Find out more: www.jic.ac.uk/training-car...

Independent Research Fellowships Leading to Tenured Faculty Positions | John Innes Centre

The John Innes Centre (JIC), is a world leading centre of excellence in plant and microbial sciences based on the Norwich Research Park, UK. We are inviting applications from outstanding researchers…

www.jic.ac.uk

84 46

Reposted by Giulia Paci

FlyBase @flybase.bsky.social · 8d

There's an update on the state of FlyBase on the FlyBase.org front page. You can contribute to FlyBase at this link wiki.flybase.org/wiki/FlyBase...
We express enormous gratitude to the people, labs, groups, and foundations who have already helped us.
#FlyBase #Drosophila

FlyBase Update – October 2025
The termination of the NIH/NHGRI FlyBase grant has placed the long-term sustainability of FlyBase at risk. However, thanks to the generous support of several key individuals and institutions, we are pleased to announce that FlyBase will remain operational through the coming year. We extend our deepest gratitude to Yukiko Yamashita, Cassandra Extavour, Hugo Bellen, Thom Kaufman, the Genetics Society of America / Drosophila Board, the Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center, an anonymous donor and the Wellcome Trust. We are especially thankful for a generous gift from Seemay Chou, Jed McCaleb, and The Navigation Fund. We also greatly appreciate the continued support from the broader Drosophila community – your donations and service fees have been vital in helping us stay afloat. Special thanks also go to Jessica Manning for her tireless administrative work at Harvard, to Ruth Lehmann, Hugo Bellen, and Paul Sternberg for advice and efforts, and to the Board of the European Drosophila Society for all their efforts. Sadly, we must also share that several long-standing FlyBase team members have recently moved on. We are immensely grateful to Susan Russo-Gelbart, Lynn Crosby, Gil dos Santos, Kris Broll, Victoria Jenkins, and TyAnna Lovato for their many years of dedicated service and contributions to FlyBase. Looking ahead, ensuring FlyBase’s sustainability beyond the next year – and successfully integrating with the Alliance – will require new funding sources. We kindly ask for your continued support:
• European labs: Please consider contributing to the Cambridge, U.K. FlyBase group
• U.S. and other non-European labs: Please consider contributing to the U.S. FlyBase groups
• Both U.K. and U.S. FlyBase are working diligently to establish an invoicing system. We appreciate your continued patience.
For more information on how to support us, please visit: Contribute to FlyBase wiki page https://wiki.flybase.org/wiki/FlyBase:Contribute_to_FlyBase

1 42 44

Reposted by Giulia Paci

Kate Cavanaugh @katecavanaugh.bsky.social · 10d

See this? This = implanting mouse embryo. Usually this happens inside its mother and is invisible to us, but we can actually watch implantation ex vivo with the hope of understanding why implantation goes awry in embryos of older women. A 🧵...

11 68 220

Reposted by Giulia Paci

Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 10d

Getting ready for a presentation about Skype a Scientist, so I was crunching the numbers on what we've done this year & no wonder I'm tired.

Philly event attendees: 433
Zines distributed: 5,900
Seed packets distributed: 10,000
Online event attendees: 1,355
Classrooms matched w/scientists: 3,488

A ppt slide that says "weaving science into everyday" with 6 examples, including "getting coffee, at a street festival, trick or treating, on the road, at a community meeting, at the corner bar" and each of those has a picture associated like a squid zine at coffee, a table of squid stuff with a man dressed as a squid for street festival, squid postcards and candy for trick or treating, the squidmobile for road, me taking in front of people for community meeting, and bar coasters for corner bar

4 18 130

Reposted by Giulia Paci

Ana Marija Jakšić @merianelion.bsky.social · 11d

🚨Preprint🚨
What started as an attempt to compare CT scans of diverse fly brains, ended up a new concept for analysis & segmentation of difficult tomographic data. No ground truths, no training, just maths. This is TopoTome, topological data analysis of 3D images

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Figure showing 3 panels. Panel A: workflow of a classical deep learning model vs TopoTome workflow, with marked differences between the methods, including manual segmentation of images, design and optimization of neural network and data post processing that is needed in deep learning workflow but not in TopoTome. Panel B: core concepts behind TopoTome shown connected by arrows. From left to right, there is a microCT scan of a fly brain (3D reconstruction), a persistence barcode of H2 homologies, an image of how persistent barcodes map to the original CT brain scan, and a segmentation of a CT scan. Panel C shows the concept of cubical complex filtration of 2D and 3D image data.

1 15 32