Dr. Peter Walentek (Walentek Lab)
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walenteklab.bsky.social
Dr. Peter Walentek (Walentek Lab)
@walenteklab.bsky.social
(he/him) Cilia & mucociliary epithelia development, self-organization, and human airway diseases. 🏳️‍🌈 opinions own & plenty.
Lab link: uniklinik-freiburg.de/walentek-en.html
Reposted by Dr. Peter Walentek (Walentek Lab)
Excited to share our work on epithelial multilayering - identifying why stem cell stay in the basal layer and how and why differentiating cells move up. Great collab with @manningresearch.bsky.social and Niessen labs! Check out preprint and great summary below www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
February 10, 2026 at 6:14 AM
Reposted by Dr. Peter Walentek (Walentek Lab)
I am writing a short piece about Epstein and scientists, but I'm simply unable to say in the space available how disgusted and angry it makes me, or to use the words I'd otherwise be inclined to.
And yes, I do start by saying that none of this is a surprise.
February 6, 2026 at 11:06 AM
This looks like a less than smart set of ideas and is in itself logically incoherent. Force basic funding towards more applied research (there is no substitute for such explorative research), and then also cut bridge funding for marketing early stage startups and innovation. 🤦‍♂️
Helpful update into UKRI and research council funding changes from Zoe Kleinman @zsk.bsky.social

But please more focus on 2 things...

1) Immediate effects (eg funding decisions expected in March)

2) Likely disproportionate effects on early career scientists

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
UK’s £8bn research fund faces “hard decisions” as it pauses new grants
UKRI boss Ian Chapman said it had been told by the government to
www.bbc.co.uk
February 5, 2026 at 6:22 PM
Dear PI colleagues, please do not recommend to your trainees to join labs that have a leader who is known for sexualized talk about their trainees, is "obsessed about sexual attractiveness" of trainees or is otherwise showing warning signs of abusive or inappropriate behavior. This is so fu*ked up.
This is the Yale professor's explanation for why he described the physical attractiveness of a student in an email to Epstein. He explicitly says he regrets nothing about their association.

Again, I'm so happy Yale hired David Brooks to restore trust.

yaledailynews.com/articles/gel...
February 5, 2026 at 5:58 PM
Awesome awardees! Excellent selection and congrats to all, esp to Jeff and Roberto! 👏👏👏
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
February 5, 2026 at 5:53 PM
Reposted by Dr. Peter Walentek (Walentek Lab)
Bio folks hiring: my student is on the job hunt, she finishes undergrad in May. Would do very well in a molecular biology or physiology lab, lots of undergrad research experience, inquisitive, mature, great problem solver, reliable. Who needs a very solid tech? Willing to move!
#scijobs #MedSky
February 5, 2026 at 1:48 AM
Reposted by Dr. Peter Walentek (Walentek Lab)
A fascinating review on the role of Activin in organ induction. Isn't it wild that in Xenopus embryos, a piece of the animal cap can be induced with Activin at different concentrations and buffers to form the ❤️, kidney, the pancreas, head, tail, and even a whole embryoid 🤯:
doi.org/10.1016/j.cd...
January 31, 2026 at 6:39 PM
Reposted by Dr. Peter Walentek (Walentek Lab)
So stoked to see this highlight of postdoc Nayeli Reyes-Nava after her awesome paper in @dmmjournal.bsky.social! Congrats Nayeli!
Meet Nayeli Reyes-Nava, 1st author of #EditorsChoice paper with @edwardmarcotte.bsky.social, @jbwallingford.bsky.social & co who used #Xenopus to study #Cilia motility disturbances in primary ciliary dyskinesia #PCD

Interview & article:
doi.org/10.1242/dmm....
doi.org/10.1242/dmm....
January 28, 2026 at 9:13 PM
Reposted by Dr. Peter Walentek (Walentek Lab)
Cilia alert! Stoked to have the new paper from Juyeon Hong about a new domain at the extreme distal tip of motile cilia! (The EDT, y'all!) It's out now @natcomms.nature.com.
Check it out!
#cilia

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A protein complex in the extreme distal tip of vertebrate motile cilia controls their organization, length, and function - Nature Communications
Here they combine in vivo imaging with proteomics to characterize a protein complex comprised of Ccdc78 and Ccdc33 that acts at the extreme distal tip of 9 + 2 motile cilia to control tip architecture...
www.nature.com
January 29, 2026 at 1:23 AM
Reposted by Dr. Peter Walentek (Walentek Lab)
Why do we lose so much talent in academia?
Let’s talk about it – openly, together, responsibly.

NEXT TUESDAY AT 5:30 PM.

PI Forum Brno #7 | Feb 3 @ CEITEC MU
For all PIs, PhDs & researchers in Brno.

Chaired by @fabianlab.bsky.social
January 27, 2026 at 1:11 PM
Reposted by Dr. Peter Walentek (Walentek Lab)
Join Monica in Barcelona!
📣 Please spread: we’re hiring a Lab Manager! It is a critical position in our new lab. As our lab moves to Barcelona and joins the @crg.eu, we’re looking for a Lab Manager to help build the lab and set the lab atmosphere.
🔗 Apply here 👉 recruitment.crg.eu/content/jobs...
January 23, 2026 at 7:39 AM
Reposted by Dr. Peter Walentek (Walentek Lab)
In @jcb.org, Diaz & @mayorlab.bsky.social show that epithelial & mesenchymal cells navigate chemical cues via fundamentally different force-generating mechanisms, offering new insight into how diverse cell types achieve collective movement during development and disease. rupress.org/jcb/article/...
January 21, 2026 at 5:00 PM
What a fantastic meeting and group of scientists! We are very much looking forward to our joint discoveries over the next years! 🥳👏
For updates and info follow @hetcci.bsky.social our official group account and @sandraiden.bsky.social our consortium speaker.
Exited for the start of our HetCCI kickstart meeting at Uni Saarbrücken.
www.uni-saarland.de/forschen/het...

In this consortium, labs throughout Germany focus on investigating how heterotypic cell cell interactions shape the formation and function of a wide diversity of epithelia. 🥳🧪🔬👨‍🔬
Heterotypic Cell-Cell Interactions in Epithelial Tissues (HetCCI)
The SPP 2493 is a DFG-funded consortium of 15 research projects that address roles and mechanisms of communication between epithelial cells and their non-epithelial neighbors.
www.uni-saarland.de
January 22, 2026 at 8:18 AM
Reposted by Dr. Peter Walentek (Walentek Lab)
So excited about this #cilia conference at the beautiful Lake Maggiore, Italy. We have a great list of speakers so far, and two amazing keynote lectures.

Get your abstracts ready, registration will open soon! 👇🏼
𝗠𝗲𝗲𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗸𝗲𝘆𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 #𝗖𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗮𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟳!

We are grateful for their participation and look forward to welcoming the cilia community on 8-12, March 2027.

Wishing you all a happy and inspiring 2026! 🎉

#Cilia #Milan
January 21, 2026 at 4:03 PM
Reposted by Dr. Peter Walentek (Walentek Lab)
𝗠𝗲𝗲𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗸𝗲𝘆𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 #𝗖𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗮𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟳!

We are grateful for their participation and look forward to welcoming the cilia community on 8-12, March 2027.

Wishing you all a happy and inspiring 2026! 🎉

#Cilia #Milan
January 21, 2026 at 9:17 AM
Reposted by Dr. Peter Walentek (Walentek Lab)
Amazing to hold the print issue of @natrevneuro.nature.com in our hands with our review highlighted on the cover.

Evolutionary connections inspired by the article & designed by Richard Tibbitts.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

@jeffcolgren.bsky.social @msarscentre.bsky.social
January 21, 2026 at 8:48 AM
Reposted by Dr. Peter Walentek (Walentek Lab)
New Paper Alert!

1982: WNT discovered
1990s: NOTCH enters the stage
2000s: “Let’s study pathways separately.”
2025: “Actually, they talk to each other.”

Welcome to the era of WNT-NOTCH crosstalk

Great collaboration with Mašek lab (CZ) and G. Collu (US)

royalsocietypublishing.org/rsob/article...
Decoding ‘Wntch’: the intertwined Wnt and Notch pathways in development and disease
Abstract. Multicellularity emerges from the ability of cells to undergo functional differentiation. One of the key mechanisms that enables this coordinatio
royalsocietypublishing.org
January 21, 2026 at 6:58 AM
Exited for the start of our HetCCI kickstart meeting at Uni Saarbrücken.
www.uni-saarland.de/forschen/het...

In this consortium, labs throughout Germany focus on investigating how heterotypic cell cell interactions shape the formation and function of a wide diversity of epithelia. 🥳🧪🔬👨‍🔬
Heterotypic Cell-Cell Interactions in Epithelial Tissues (HetCCI)
The SPP 2493 is a DFG-funded consortium of 15 research projects that address roles and mechanisms of communication between epithelial cells and their non-epithelial neighbors.
www.uni-saarland.de
January 20, 2026 at 11:23 AM
Reposted by Dr. Peter Walentek (Walentek Lab)
Paper alert: Our study led by @evapillai.bsky.social and @sudimukherjee.bsky.social showing that mechanical properties of the #brain actively shape the molecular landscape during development and #axonpathfinding is finally out! www.nature.com/articles/s41... @pdncambridge.bsky.social @fau.de @MPZPM
Long-range chemical signalling in vivo is regulated by mechanical signals - Nature Materials
Tissue stiffness mediated by Piezo1 is shown to regulate the expression of diffusive guidance cues in the developing Xenopus laevis brain, revealing a crosstalk between mechanical signals and long-ran...
www.nature.com
January 19, 2026 at 4:39 PM
Reposted by Dr. Peter Walentek (Walentek Lab)
We spy a few #zebrafish peeps as invited speakers 🤩
Cellular Interfaces reloaded: Join us for the @sfb1348.bsky.social International Meeting on „Mechanochemical signals at cellular interfaces" in Münster from May 27–29, 2026.
Registration opens in February! Limited spots – first come, first serve! More info: tinyurl.com/ypyzd23w
@uni-muenster.de
January 17, 2026 at 2:01 PM
Reposted by Dr. Peter Walentek (Walentek Lab)
Final reminder: abstract deadline today for the @bsdb.bsky.social 2026 meeting! Don’t miss it :)

👇👇👇
bsdb.org/meetings/
I am absolutely delighted to share the invited speakers for our upcoming @bsdb.bsky.social "Molecules to Morphogenesis" meeting!

Registration and abstract submission is now open - join us!

bsdb.org/meetings/

March 23-26, 2026 - UK
January 16, 2026 at 8:48 AM
Reposted by Dr. Peter Walentek (Walentek Lab)
Join us on Monday at 15:00 CET for the first @ergabiodiv.bsky.social Plenary meeting of 2026!
Hugues Roest Crollius will present an update on the progress of the French marine #genomes ATLASea programme
www.erga-biodiversity.eu/post/atlasea... #biodiversity #genomics
ATLASea: progress on sequencing marine biodiversity
Join us for the first ERGA Plenary meeting of 2026! On Monday, January 19, at 15:00 CET, Hugues Roest Crollius will present an update on the progress of the ATLASea program, which aims to unlock the p...
www.erga-biodiversity.eu
January 15, 2026 at 1:17 PM
Deadline today!
Please apply for the @cshlxeno course:

Cell & Developmental Biology of Xenopus: Gene Discovery & Disease
April 7 - 21, 2026

Application Deadline: January 16.

youtu.be/T6wu7XYOP3E?...
Frogs: A biologist’s best friend
YouTube video by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
youtu.be
January 15, 2026 at 2:04 PM
Reposted by Dr. Peter Walentek (Walentek Lab)
Congratulations, @bioimagearchive.bsky.social! This pubic data repository has received @elixir-europe.org’s CDR and EDD status! Great recognition for a great resource! 🎉
Learn more🔽
www.eurobioimaging.eu/news/bioimag...
January 15, 2026 at 9:49 AM
Reposted by Dr. Peter Walentek (Walentek Lab)
Thanks for sharing @poldresden.bsky.social it was fun talking with @elisecutts.bsky.social for @quantamagazine.bsky.social 🐸⚡️🔬
🎉PoL PI Elias Barriga @eliasbarrigalab.bsky.social was recently featured in an exciting news piece about bioelectricity research by Quanta magazine @quantamagazine.bsky.social.

Curious? Check it out below! ⚡👨‍🔬
Bioelectricity is used by epithelial tissues to single out and kill sick or struggling cells. This process, merciless as it might seem, helps keep you alive. @elisecutts.bsky.social reports: www.quantamagazine.org/cells-use-bi...
January 13, 2026 at 8:33 PM