Thibaut Brunet
@thibautbrunet.bsky.social
Evolutionary cell biology / evolution of morphogenesis / animal origins / choanoflagellates @institutpasteur.bsky.social
https://research.pasteur.fr/en/team/evolutionary-cell-biology-and-evolution-of-morphogenesis/
https://research.pasteur.fr/en/team/evolutionary-cell-biology-and-evolution-of-morphogenesis/
Pinned
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 🧵
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 🧵
Reposted by Thibaut Brunet
Happy to share that my PhD project is finally published!🪱✨
Selfish genes are found across the tree of life. They can disrupt inheritance patterns and at the same time act as units for molecular innovation. Here we tried to answer one big question: how do selfish genes emerge in the first place?
Selfish genes are found across the tree of life. They can disrupt inheritance patterns and at the same time act as units for molecular innovation. Here we tried to answer one big question: how do selfish genes emerge in the first place?
Recurrent evolution of selfishness from an essential tRNA synthetase in Caenorhabditis tropicalis 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Recurrent evolution of selfishness from an essential tRNA synthetase in Caenorhabditis tropicalis - Nature Ecology & Evolution
In Caenorhabditis tropicalis, three toxin–antidote elements arose via gene duplication from the essential tRNA-synthetase subunit FARS-3. The ancestral antidote probably acquired affinity for FARS-3, ...
www.nature.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Happy to share that my PhD project is finally published!🪱✨
Selfish genes are found across the tree of life. They can disrupt inheritance patterns and at the same time act as units for molecular innovation. Here we tried to answer one big question: how do selfish genes emerge in the first place?
Selfish genes are found across the tree of life. They can disrupt inheritance patterns and at the same time act as units for molecular innovation. Here we tried to answer one big question: how do selfish genes emerge in the first place?
Reposted by Thibaut Brunet
Highly recommended! Nice team, exciting science, and a great place to work! 🪲🌱🍄
There’ll be several opportunities to join the group, starting w/ a PhD studentship via the BBSRC-NRP Doctoral Training Partnership.
Team up w/ us, @saskiahogenhout.bsky.social & @berasymbionts.bsky.social to answer how microbes shape insect behavior:
biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk/projects/mic...
Team up w/ us, @saskiahogenhout.bsky.social & @berasymbionts.bsky.social to answer how microbes shape insect behavior:
biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk/projects/mic...
Microbial determinants of behaviour in herbivorous beetles (SALEM_J26DTP) | Doctoral Training Partnership
Many animals rely on beneficial microbes for nutrition, defence, or reproduction. In this project, the student will explore an exciting new dimension of these relationships:
biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk
November 25, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Highly recommended! Nice team, exciting science, and a great place to work! 🪲🌱🍄
Reposted by Thibaut Brunet
SAVE THE DATE! Stoked to organize the 2026 Santa Cruz Developmental Biology Meeting with @rashmi-priya.bsky.social, @lowelab.bsky.social, and Shelbi Russell. Come learn about Biomedicine, Biomechanics, and the Biosphere, August 24-28, 2026. Registration dates, etc., coming soon! Please RT
November 19, 2025 at 8:23 PM
SAVE THE DATE! Stoked to organize the 2026 Santa Cruz Developmental Biology Meeting with @rashmi-priya.bsky.social, @lowelab.bsky.social, and Shelbi Russell. Come learn about Biomedicine, Biomechanics, and the Biosphere, August 24-28, 2026. Registration dates, etc., coming soon! Please RT
Reposted by Thibaut Brunet
Applications closing soon for our internship programme aimed at Master's students at French universities 🇫🇷
Are you studying bioinformatics, computer science or statistics? Check it out!
Deadline: 7 December 2025
www.ebi.ac.uk/about/jobs/i...
A collaboration with the French Embassy in London.
Are you studying bioinformatics, computer science or statistics? Check it out!
Deadline: 7 December 2025
www.ebi.ac.uk/about/jobs/i...
A collaboration with the French Embassy in London.
November 24, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Applications closing soon for our internship programme aimed at Master's students at French universities 🇫🇷
Are you studying bioinformatics, computer science or statistics? Check it out!
Deadline: 7 December 2025
www.ebi.ac.uk/about/jobs/i...
A collaboration with the French Embassy in London.
Are you studying bioinformatics, computer science or statistics? Check it out!
Deadline: 7 December 2025
www.ebi.ac.uk/about/jobs/i...
A collaboration with the French Embassy in London.
Reposted by Thibaut Brunet
📣 Register to the 13th Advances in Stem Cell Biology Course #ASCBcourse at the @pasteur.fr @pasteuredu.bsky.social. Hands-on training in different models, embryonic stem cells, iPS cells and much more on #StemCells, #organoids. 🕘June22-July03, 2026
👉 shorturl.at/PyUHi
👉 shorturl.at/PyUHi
November 24, 2025 at 11:42 AM
📣 Register to the 13th Advances in Stem Cell Biology Course #ASCBcourse at the @pasteur.fr @pasteuredu.bsky.social. Hands-on training in different models, embryonic stem cells, iPS cells and much more on #StemCells, #organoids. 🕘June22-July03, 2026
👉 shorturl.at/PyUHi
👉 shorturl.at/PyUHi
Reposted by Thibaut Brunet
Very happy to share video of 1st lecture @college-de-france.fr on Biological computation 😊. I defend the necessity to access Algorithmic & Computational levels of analysis in cell & developmental biol. proposed by David Marr in neuroscience. Logic & Function matter 🤩.
Video: tinyurl.com/55yejk5f
Video: tinyurl.com/55yejk5f
Qu’est-ce que l’information biologique (suite) ? (1) - Thomas Lecuit (2025-2026)
Enseignement 2025-2026 : Qu’est-ce que l’information biologique (suite) ? Cours du 20 décembre 2025 : Introduction : approche computationelle du vivant Professeur : Thomas Lecuit Chaire Dynamiques du vivant Retrouvez les enregistrements audios et vidéos du cycle : https://www.college-de-france.fr/fr/agenda/cours/qu-est-ce-que-information-biologique Tous les enseignements du Pr Thomas Lecuit : https://www.college-de-france.fr/chaire/thomas-lecuit-dynamiques-du-vivant-chaire-statutaire https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOj9pZ2YNGZ84uMY6DhPnqpL1rq5qNAVJ Le Collège de France est une institution de recherche fondamentale dans tous les domaines de la connaissance et un lieu de diffusion du « savoir en train de se faire » ouvert à tous. Les cours, séminaires, colloques sont enregistrés puis mis à disposition du public sur le site internet du Collège de France. Découvrez toutes les ressources du Collège de France : https://www.college-de-france.fr Soutenir le Collège de France : https://www.fondation-cdf.fr/faire-un-don Suivez-nous sur : Threads : https://www.threads.net/@collegedefrance Bluesky : https://bsky.app/profile/college-de-france.fr Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/College.de.France Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/collegedefrance LinkedIn : https://fr.linkedin.com/company/coll%C3%A8gedefrance
tinyurl.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:42 AM
Very happy to share video of 1st lecture @college-de-france.fr on Biological computation 😊. I defend the necessity to access Algorithmic & Computational levels of analysis in cell & developmental biol. proposed by David Marr in neuroscience. Logic & Function matter 🤩.
Video: tinyurl.com/55yejk5f
Video: tinyurl.com/55yejk5f
Reposted by Thibaut Brunet
Nah. The answer to increasing dishonesty in science is never and will never be "create an inquisition that will hunt dishonesty, and make people prove honesty at every step".
We need to remake the incentives so rewards are for being a proper scientist and discovering new, validatable things.
We need to remake the incentives so rewards are for being a proper scientist and discovering new, validatable things.
November 23, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Nah. The answer to increasing dishonesty in science is never and will never be "create an inquisition that will hunt dishonesty, and make people prove honesty at every step".
We need to remake the incentives so rewards are for being a proper scientist and discovering new, validatable things.
We need to remake the incentives so rewards are for being a proper scientist and discovering new, validatable things.
Reposted by Thibaut Brunet
Revised refereed preprint:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Revision work lead by @longweibai.bsky.social
Our work reveals how the #microbiota helps buffer #malnutrition: L. plantarum sustains intestinal activity of the steroid hormone ecdysone, expanding the midgut and supporting systemic growth.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Revision work lead by @longweibai.bsky.social
Our work reveals how the #microbiota helps buffer #malnutrition: L. plantarum sustains intestinal activity of the steroid hormone ecdysone, expanding the midgut and supporting systemic growth.
November 23, 2025 at 6:19 AM
Revised refereed preprint:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Revision work lead by @longweibai.bsky.social
Our work reveals how the #microbiota helps buffer #malnutrition: L. plantarum sustains intestinal activity of the steroid hormone ecdysone, expanding the midgut and supporting systemic growth.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Revision work lead by @longweibai.bsky.social
Our work reveals how the #microbiota helps buffer #malnutrition: L. plantarum sustains intestinal activity of the steroid hormone ecdysone, expanding the midgut and supporting systemic growth.
Reposted by Thibaut Brunet
don't forget the @sbcf.bsky.social special symposium on #eukaryogenesis!
we have available slots for oral presentation
we have available slots for oral presentation
🔔 Save the date!
Join us on Feb 3, 2026 at the Institut Pasteur (hybrid format) for the next SBCF symposium: “The Cell Biology of Eukaryogenesis and Beyond.”
🧬 Abstract deadline extended to Nov 26 — 5 short talks will be selected!
👉 Registration & program available online: tinyurl.com/y2r9ff89
Join us on Feb 3, 2026 at the Institut Pasteur (hybrid format) for the next SBCF symposium: “The Cell Biology of Eukaryogenesis and Beyond.”
🧬 Abstract deadline extended to Nov 26 — 5 short talks will be selected!
👉 Registration & program available online: tinyurl.com/y2r9ff89
November 22, 2025 at 8:34 PM
don't forget the @sbcf.bsky.social special symposium on #eukaryogenesis!
we have available slots for oral presentation
we have available slots for oral presentation
Reposted by Thibaut Brunet
Three more weeks to sign up!
#CellBio community, this one is for you! Applications are open for the #LakeConference on Modeling Life from Cells to Tissues – co-hosted with Circuit Neuroscience Basel!
📆 April 20-22, 2026
📍 Seattle, USA
🔬 All career stages welcomed.
Apply to attend by 12/12: alleninstitute.org/events/aics-...
📆 April 20-22, 2026
📍 Seattle, USA
🔬 All career stages welcomed.
Apply to attend by 12/12: alleninstitute.org/events/aics-...
2026 Lake Conference: Modeling Life from Cells to Tissues
Join the Allen Institute for Cell Science and Circuit Neuroscience Basel in Seattle, Washington, April 20–22, 2026, for a 3 day conference, Modeling...
alleninstitute.org
November 21, 2025 at 8:18 AM
Three more weeks to sign up!
Reposted by Thibaut Brunet
Save the date for the next Santa Cruz Developmental Biology Meeting next summer.
SAVE THE DATE! Stoked to organize the 2026 Santa Cruz Developmental Biology Meeting with @rashmi-priya.bsky.social, @lowelab.bsky.social, and Shelbi Russell. Come learn about Biomedicine, Biomechanics, and the Biosphere, August 24-28, 2026. Registration dates, etc., coming soon! Please RT
November 19, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Save the date for the next Santa Cruz Developmental Biology Meeting next summer.
Reposted by Thibaut Brunet
We just released a new major version of TrackMate (v8), the cell and organelle tracking plugin of Fiji.
It ships many new features, detailed below, but that are articulated around the following:
It ships many new features, detailed below, but that are articulated around the following:
November 20, 2025 at 11:42 AM
We just released a new major version of TrackMate (v8), the cell and organelle tracking plugin of Fiji.
It ships many new features, detailed below, but that are articulated around the following:
It ships many new features, detailed below, but that are articulated around the following:
Reposted by Thibaut Brunet
Is it a flagellate? A tiny ball with tentacles? Contamination in my ciliate culture? NEW SUPERGROUP OF EUKARYOTES? Yes to all 4! Meet Solarion - just out in #Nature doi.org/10.1038/s415... Huge congrats to Marek Valt, Cepicka Lab & the star team! Very happy to be part of this project. #ProtistsOnSky
November 19, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Is it a flagellate? A tiny ball with tentacles? Contamination in my ciliate culture? NEW SUPERGROUP OF EUKARYOTES? Yes to all 4! Meet Solarion - just out in #Nature doi.org/10.1038/s415... Huge congrats to Marek Valt, Cepicka Lab & the star team! Very happy to be part of this project. #ProtistsOnSky
Reposted by Thibaut Brunet
Super excited for this project and grateful to the John Templeton Foundation for support!
Congrats to @wcratcliff.bsky.social, who received a grant from @templetonfdn.bsky.social. The grant will enable Ratcliff to continue groundbreaking research into the origins of multicellular life. b.gatech.edu/4oPhHSh
November 19, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Super excited for this project and grateful to the John Templeton Foundation for support!
Reposted by Thibaut Brunet
You may have heard about paranoia and the paranormal, but have you heard about paraneurons?
Oliver Hobert revisits this half a century old concept and show cases how out may inform our understanding of #neuron #evolution.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Oliver Hobert revisits this half a century old concept and show cases how out may inform our understanding of #neuron #evolution.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Paraneurons
Hobert revives the concept of a ‘paraneuron’ to unify a group of cells with neuron-like,
yet distinct features that are found widely in animals.
www.cell.com
November 19, 2025 at 3:46 PM
You may have heard about paranoia and the paranormal, but have you heard about paraneurons?
Oliver Hobert revisits this half a century old concept and show cases how out may inform our understanding of #neuron #evolution.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Oliver Hobert revisits this half a century old concept and show cases how out may inform our understanding of #neuron #evolution.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Thibaut Brunet
A couple of days left to submit your abstract for the upcoming EMBO/EMBL Symposium on the Molecular Basis of Symbiosis ! Great line up of speakers :)
#ProtistsOnSky #SymbioSky
#ProtistsOnSky #SymbioSky
🧪 Submit your abstract for #EESSymbiosis and get the chance to present your research, receive qualified feedback and help develop our understanding of the complexities of symbiotic function.
You have until 25 Nov: https://s.embl.org/ees26-03-bl
🗓️ 17 – 20 Mar 2026
📍 EMBL Heidelberg and Virtual
You have until 25 Nov: https://s.embl.org/ees26-03-bl
🗓️ 17 – 20 Mar 2026
📍 EMBL Heidelberg and Virtual
November 19, 2025 at 3:28 PM
A couple of days left to submit your abstract for the upcoming EMBO/EMBL Symposium on the Molecular Basis of Symbiosis ! Great line up of speakers :)
#ProtistsOnSky #SymbioSky
#ProtistsOnSky #SymbioSky
Reposted by Thibaut Brunet
I feel this. A big part of my professional growth over the last few years has been the realization that I will not live to carry out the vast majority of my ideas. As a result, I'm much more open with sharing them than ever before.
Science is like this too 🧪
I am not aware of a single author who has a shortage of book ideas. Words, yes. Ways to make the ideas become a book, yes. But I've never met an author who doesn't have ideas just raining down all the damn time.
November 19, 2025 at 1:46 PM
I feel this. A big part of my professional growth over the last few years has been the realization that I will not live to carry out the vast majority of my ideas. As a result, I'm much more open with sharing them than ever before.
Reposted by Thibaut Brunet
One more week to apply for this exciting symposium on collective behaviour 👇👇👇
Abstract deadline extension alert! 🚨 You now have until 25 November to submit your abstract and be one of 22 selected short talk speakers for #EESCollectivity ➡️ s.embl.org/ees26-01-bl
Explore how collective behaviours arise from fundamental principles across biological systems. 🦠🐒🧬
Explore how collective behaviours arise from fundamental principles across biological systems. 🦠🐒🧬
November 19, 2025 at 9:03 AM
One more week to apply for this exciting symposium on collective behaviour 👇👇👇
Reposted by Thibaut Brunet
Drawing together findings from several projects over many years, we make a case that neural cell types in the Clytia larva have two embryological origins: i-cells and ectodermal.
bioRxiv 2025.11.17.688882; doi: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
bioRxiv 2025.11.17.688882; doi: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
November 19, 2025 at 7:43 AM
Drawing together findings from several projects over many years, we make a case that neural cell types in the Clytia larva have two embryological origins: i-cells and ectodermal.
bioRxiv 2025.11.17.688882; doi: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
bioRxiv 2025.11.17.688882; doi: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Wow! Remarkably complete story on the logic of phenotypic plasticity in a predatory protist - congrats @cellraiser.bsky.social et al!
How do cells adapt morphology to function? In a 🔥 preprint by @zjmaggiexu.bsky.social , with @dudinlab.bsky.social and @amyweeks.bsky.social , we identify a self-organizing single-cell morphology circuit that optimizes the feeding trap structure of the suctorian P. collini. 🧵 tinyurl.com/4k8nv926
November 18, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Wow! Remarkably complete story on the logic of phenotypic plasticity in a predatory protist - congrats @cellraiser.bsky.social et al!
Reposted by Thibaut Brunet
How do cells adapt morphology to function? In a 🔥 preprint by @zjmaggiexu.bsky.social , with @dudinlab.bsky.social and @amyweeks.bsky.social , we identify a self-organizing single-cell morphology circuit that optimizes the feeding trap structure of the suctorian P. collini. 🧵 tinyurl.com/4k8nv926
November 18, 2025 at 4:15 PM
How do cells adapt morphology to function? In a 🔥 preprint by @zjmaggiexu.bsky.social , with @dudinlab.bsky.social and @amyweeks.bsky.social , we identify a self-organizing single-cell morphology circuit that optimizes the feeding trap structure of the suctorian P. collini. 🧵 tinyurl.com/4k8nv926
Reposted by Thibaut Brunet
Our paper on the role of neurons in Nematostella head regeneration is now out at @currentbiology.bsky.social Big thank you to all collaborators, it was a pleasure!
Ectopic head regeneration after nervous system ablation in a sea anemone: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...
Ectopic head regeneration after nervous system ablation in a sea anemone: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...
Ectopic head regeneration after nervous system ablation in a sea anemone
Via genetic ablation of neurons, Mazloumi Gavgani et al. show that the nervous system
is essential for defining axial polarity during whole-body regeneration in the sea
anemone Nematostella vectensis.
www.cell.com
November 18, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Our paper on the role of neurons in Nematostella head regeneration is now out at @currentbiology.bsky.social Big thank you to all collaborators, it was a pleasure!
Ectopic head regeneration after nervous system ablation in a sea anemone: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...
Ectopic head regeneration after nervous system ablation in a sea anemone: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Thibaut Brunet
Out today, our take on 6-methyladenine #6mA evolution in Eukaryotes @natgenet.nature.com. We asked a simple question, is really DNA 6mA common across the eukaryotes? The answer is "yes" if you're a unicellular eukaryote 🦠, not so if you're multicellular 🐝🌱🍄. www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/9
Adenine DNA methylation associated with transcriptionally permissive chromatin is widespread across eukaryotes - Nature Genetics
Long-read sequencing in 18 unicellular eukaryotes reveals that 6mA is widespread across eukaryotes and is enriched at transcriptionally permissive regions, which are also marked by H3K4me3.
www.nature.com
November 18, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Out today, our take on 6-methyladenine #6mA evolution in Eukaryotes @natgenet.nature.com. We asked a simple question, is really DNA 6mA common across the eukaryotes? The answer is "yes" if you're a unicellular eukaryote 🦠, not so if you're multicellular 🐝🌱🍄. www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/9
Reposted by Thibaut Brunet
Glad to see our phoronid genome study featured on the cover of @currentbiology.bsky.social! It shows how genome structure can be used to test competing hypotheses of nested topology and how derived structural changes provide evidence for monophyly.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
November 17, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Glad to see our phoronid genome study featured on the cover of @currentbiology.bsky.social! It shows how genome structure can be used to test competing hypotheses of nested topology and how derived structural changes provide evidence for monophyly.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Thibaut Brunet
Our work on Naegleria Myosin 2 is out!
Naegleria encodes 3 Myo2s which contract its actin network—the first evidence of contractile Myo2 outside of Amorphea.
Myo2 is actually widespread in Naegleria's relatives and correlates with fast cell crawling.
Read more: www.cell.com/current-biol...
Naegleria encodes 3 Myo2s which contract its actin network—the first evidence of contractile Myo2 outside of Amorphea.
Myo2 is actually widespread in Naegleria's relatives and correlates with fast cell crawling.
Read more: www.cell.com/current-biol...
Myosin 2 drives actin contractility in fast-crawling species outside of the amorphean lineage
Myosin 2-dependent actin contractility—the force that powers cell division and migration
in animals, fungi, and other Amorphea—had been previously unknown outside this single
eukaryotic group. Guest e...
www.cell.com
November 17, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Our work on Naegleria Myosin 2 is out!
Naegleria encodes 3 Myo2s which contract its actin network—the first evidence of contractile Myo2 outside of Amorphea.
Myo2 is actually widespread in Naegleria's relatives and correlates with fast cell crawling.
Read more: www.cell.com/current-biol...
Naegleria encodes 3 Myo2s which contract its actin network—the first evidence of contractile Myo2 outside of Amorphea.
Myo2 is actually widespread in Naegleria's relatives and correlates with fast cell crawling.
Read more: www.cell.com/current-biol...