Ilaria Morella
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ilariamorella.bsky.social
Ilaria Morella
@ilariamorella.bsky.social
140 followers 260 following 6 posts
Assistant Professor @University of Pavia decoding protein signalling to tackle brain disorders 🧠 Former post-doc @Cardiff University
Behavioural neuropharmacologist in awe of stem cells 🐭💊🧫
Art galleries wanderer 🖼️| Music lover 🎶
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Ilaria Morella
bita137.bsky.social
Raise a glass for Rosalind Franklin tonight and honor her memory and scientific contributions
jeremymberg.bsky.social Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 8d
NYT obituary of Jim Watson.

A long and fairly balanced view of a complicated man who participated in one of the greatest discoveries in biology.

[Gift Link]

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/s...
James Watson, Co-Discoverer of the Structure of DNA, Is Dead at 97
www.nytimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Reposted by Ilaria Morella
harmitmalik.bsky.social
When people celebrate the individual genius of folks in science, they should also
mourn the collective loss of genius of folks who were actively discouraged or disadvantaged from a career in science because of the same person(s)
November 7, 2025 at 11:43 PM
Reposted by Ilaria Morella
johannajoyce.bsky.social
New issue of Nature - with NINE studies on #brain #development from the BRAIN Initiative Cell Atlas Network (BICAN) 🧠🧪🔬

An amazing set of resources for all scientists working on the brain!

🧠 Immersive feature:
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...

🧠 Perspective:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Cover of this week's Nature showing a brain rendering Cover caption from the journal: Brain development: Our ability to process information into complex emotions, behaviours and decisions relies on the rich diversity of cell types that make up the human brain. Uncovering the molecular and cellular events that take place during brain development could reveal not only the mechanisms that give rise to this diversity but also shed light on how this process might go awry in neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and schizophrenia. In this week’s issue, the BRAIN Initiative Cell Atlas Network (BICAN) builds on its previous work creating atlases of cell types in the adult mouse, non-human primate (NHP) and human brains to present cell-type atlases of the developing human, mouse and NHP brains. Across a suite of papers, nine of which are published in Nature, the researchers uncover the complex programs through which cell types emerge during brain development in humans and animals, revealing both the shared and unique features of the human brain. The latest work, along with future research directions, is summed up in a Perspective article by Tomasz Nowakowski and colleagues
November 5, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Reposted by Ilaria Morella
gozziale.bsky.social
Great coverage by @thetransmissions.bsky.social of our latest preprint: adding new evidence (and a hint of controversy 🙂) to the E/I imbalance debate in autism
👇👇
www.thetransmitter.org/spectrum/ram...
Ramping up cortical activity in early life sparks autism-like behaviors in mice
The findings add fuel to the long-running debate over how an imbalance in excitatory and inhibitory signaling contributes to the autism.
www.thetransmitter.org
November 4, 2025 at 10:59 AM
Reposted by Ilaria Morella
profantisles.bsky.social
This work, initiated and supported by #FPWR, represents an international collaboration involving @mrcharwell.bsky.social, #CardiffUniversity, #INMED and #IIT, to establish a standardised and open-access preclinical ‘Resource’ for Prader-Willi syndrome #PWS
🐭🧬
biorxiv-genetic.bsky.social bioRxiv Genetics @biorxiv-genetic.bsky.social · 21d
The Preclinical Animal Network (PCAN): Integrative high-throughput phenotyping of standardized mouse models for Prader-Willi syndrome https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.24.684371v1
October 29, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Reposted by Ilaria Morella
caulfieldtim.bsky.social
Covid in pregnancy tied to autism, developmental issues, study wapo.st/4hB1OvP

Emphasized: "an observational study, the findings do not prove that covid causes the conditions..."

Still "...the findings underscore the importance of covid-19 vaccination during pregnancy"
Covid in pregnancy tied to autism, developmental issues, study says
A study published in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology analyzed more than 18,100 births in Massachusetts of children born to women who contracted the virus starting in the early months of the pand...
wapo.st
October 30, 2025 at 11:18 PM
Reposted by Ilaria Morella
uclbrainscience.bsky.social
🧟This Halloween, explore how eerie experiments and 19th-century neuroscience shaped the darkest corners of gothic literature.
Join @selinawray.bsky.social, @caswell.bsky.social & @drjlange.bsky.social for a spooktacular Brain Stories.
🎃 Listen: share.transistor.fm/s/51e18001
@uclqsion.bsky.social
a black and white photo of frankenstein laying on a bed with his eyes closed
ALT: a black and white photo of frankenstein laying on a bed with his eyes closed
media.tenor.com
October 31, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Reposted by Ilaria Morella
vw1234.bsky.social
This was a fantastic collaboration with lots of people including @hilarycmartin.bsky.social @jakobgrove.bsky.social, Experts by Experience, and several others who I can't seem to find on this app.

Article: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Polygenic and developmental profiles of autism differ by age at diagnosis - Nature
A study of several longitudinal birth cohorts and cross-sectional cohorts finds only moderate overlap in genetic variants between autism that is diagnosed earlier and that diagnosed later, so they may represent aetiologically different conditions.
www.nature.com
October 1, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Reposted by Ilaria Morella
kingscollegelondon.bsky.social
Living in an unequal society, regardless of individual wealth, can lead to structural changes in the brains of children.

#ScienceatKings #PopulationHealth
Study links greater inequality to structural changes in children’s brains
Researchers say findings show inequality creates toxic environment and reducing it is ‘a public health imperative’
www.theguardian.com
September 30, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Reposted by Ilaria Morella
erictopol.bsky.social
A new @nature.com feature on autism with real data and facts
Published today, written before the Tylenol debacle.
' Kennedy and the HHS are “going to falsely
declare the cause for autism — and that that
gets in the way of a great deal of progress”.'
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
September 25, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Reposted by Ilaria Morella
alleninstitute.org
Copy our protocols!

📝 Find many of our lab protocols and techniques on @protocolsio.bsky.social at www.protocols.io/search?q=%22...

🎥 Go deeper with recorded video tutorials of some of our most requested methods: alleninstitute.org/education/sc...

#OpenScienceWeek
September 17, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Reposted by Ilaria Morella
jatinnagpal.bsky.social
Great to see our review on microbiome, exposome and cognitive development out in @annualreviews.bsky.social.

@apcmicrobiomeirel.bsky.social
@uccresearch.bsky.social

#MicrobiomeSky #Gut-Brain
September 17, 2025 at 7:37 AM
ilariamorella.bsky.social
Incredible resource and a big step forward in modelling neurodevelopmental disorders 👇🏻
#organoids #neurodevelopment
biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social bioRxiv Neuroscience @biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · Sep 13
A phenotypic brain organoid atlas for neurodevelopmental disorders https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.12.675864v1
September 13, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Reposted by Ilaria Morella
gozziale.bsky.social
🚨 Excited to share the latest preprint form the lab ➡️https://tinyurl.com/32d3be9f

Here we tackle a long-standing chicken-or-egg 🐣🥚question in #autism and developmental neuroscience

➡️ Is excitation–inhibition (E:I) imbalance a "cause" or a "consequence" of #autism?

Check out what we found!
🧵1/n
September 10, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Reposted by Ilaria Morella
sabaaltaf.bsky.social
Our lncRNA-in-brain review is out in @natrevneuro.nature.com

✨ The emerging roles of long noncoding RNAs in the brain

We discuss 🧬 lncRNA roles in brain development, synaptic function, learning, & behavior
💡 Therapeutic potential and future directions.
@unswrna.bsky.social @unswbabs.bsky.social
September 5, 2025 at 11:41 PM
Reposted by Ilaria Morella
oneneurojhu.org
OneNeuro's August #FotoFriday #FluorescenceFriday contest winner is "Cellular Subtype Composition of an Amphetamine-activated Ensemble in mPFC," by Suhaas Adiraju from @martinowk.bsky.social at the @lieberinstitute.bsky.social

View the complete gallery here: www.oneneurojhu.org/art/
September 5, 2025 at 4:49 PM
ilariamorella.bsky.social
Honoured to have shared our recent findings on 16p11.2 CNV-associated syndromes at the Neurofront meeting at University of Bari. Inspiring talks covering precision medicine, biomarkers discovery, stem cells, advanced imaging and glial cells. Looking forward to the next meeting!
September 5, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Reposted by Ilaria Morella
profantisles.bsky.social
I am a co-supervisor on one of these #PhD projects, led by @asamioguroando.bsky.social
Find the details here:

gw4biomed.ac.uk/neuronal-clu...
September 1, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Reposted by Ilaria Morella
labogden.bsky.social
Are you interested in understanding how cells communicate during development?

We are now accepting applications for a Senior Scientist in my group at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital!

Please ✅ out the link below.

Reposts appreciated! 🧪 👩‍🔬 🔬

stjude.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/stjude/job/M...
Senior Scientist- Ogden Lab
The Ogden lab's current efforts are aimed at understanding how cells exchange signals through specialized filopodia to drive tissue morphogenesis in the developing nervous and cardiopulmonary systems....
stjude.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com
August 25, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Reposted by Ilaria Morella
ivlrose.bsky.social
Ever wanted to do a CRISPR screen directly in the mammalian brain? While perturbing thousands of genes in parallel? All while targeting specific cell types? Check out our latest paper describing CrAAVe-seq, a powerful new functional genomics tool for massively parallel neuroscience research
August 23, 2025 at 6:06 AM
Reposted by Ilaria Morella
ukdri.ac.uk
Could a vaccine help prevent dementia?

Data suggests the shingles vaccine is linked to a lower risk of developing dementia, adding to evidence that viral infections could influence brain health.

🎙️@tspiresjones.bsky.social breaks down the findings on BBC Radio 4's Inside Health ⬇️
BBC Radio 4 - Inside Health, Potential Break Through in Dementia Treatment
Shingles vaccine to reduce dementia risk? Antibiotic resistant gonorrhoea & tech trousers
buff.ly
August 22, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Reposted by Ilaria Morella
science.org
A new #ScienceReview looks at a different approach to drug discovery that may enable drugging of unconventional targets through stabilization of macromolecular complexes with molecules known as “LOCKTACs.”

Learn more: https://scim.ag/4lC2aCM
LOCKTACs comprise a subset of proximity drugs that stabilize naturally existing complexes. (A) Categories of proximity-based drugs. (B) Mechanism of PROTAC drugs. (C) LOCKTAC acting within a protein-protein interface. (D) LOCKTAC acting adjacent to a protein-protein interface. (E) Heterobifunctional LOCKTAC that does not bind at protein-protein interface. (F) Allosteric drugs induce conformational changes at a distance and are not LOCKTACs.
August 22, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Reposted by Ilaria Morella
mathiasvschmidt.bsky.social
Important initiative 👇
August 21, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Reposted by Ilaria Morella
crick.ac.uk
Have a research project that requires analysing microscopy data? Master the skills you need in our upcoming ‘Introduction to image analysis’ technical training course.

📅 27-28 October
📍 The Francis Crick Institute

For more info and to apply 👇
www.crick.ac.uk/whats-on/int...
Introduction to image analysis
www.crick.ac.uk
August 18, 2025 at 12:59 PM