Zak Swartz
@zakswartz.bsky.social
Faculty at Marine Biological Laboratory, starfish wrangler, camp counselor. Developmental Cell Biology & Lots of Eggs. ⭐️🐟
www.theswartzlab.org
www.theswartzlab.org
Reposted by Zak Swartz
We are thrilled to invite you to the Michael Sars Symposium 2026 - Living systems in a variable ocean, together with our co-organizers at @cbubergen.bsky.social! Mark June 4, 2026 in your calendars, and watch out for our speaker lineup reveal in the new year 🙌
December 19, 2025 at 2:54 PM
We are thrilled to invite you to the Michael Sars Symposium 2026 - Living systems in a variable ocean, together with our co-organizers at @cbubergen.bsky.social! Mark June 4, 2026 in your calendars, and watch out for our speaker lineup reveal in the new year 🙌
Reposted by Zak Swartz
Do you love quantifying animal behavior as much as we do? We have just the tool for you! Presenting #OCTRON - a pipeline that helps you create rich annotation data and enables training of custom segmentation models. Have a look, particularly if you work with non-model / invertebrate organisms!
December 23, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Do you love quantifying animal behavior as much as we do? We have just the tool for you! Presenting #OCTRON - a pipeline that helps you create rich annotation data and enables training of custom segmentation models. Have a look, particularly if you work with non-model / invertebrate organisms!
Reposted by Zak Swartz
Felt a little festive at the microscope this morning for #FluorescenceFriday 🎄
Here’s the nervous system of a juvenile sea star ⭐️
Green = acetylated tubulin, red = nuclei
Happy holidays!
Here’s the nervous system of a juvenile sea star ⭐️
Green = acetylated tubulin, red = nuclei
Happy holidays!
December 19, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Felt a little festive at the microscope this morning for #FluorescenceFriday 🎄
Here’s the nervous system of a juvenile sea star ⭐️
Green = acetylated tubulin, red = nuclei
Happy holidays!
Here’s the nervous system of a juvenile sea star ⭐️
Green = acetylated tubulin, red = nuclei
Happy holidays!
We're approaching "I'm thrilled to announce" season on the socials, with the academic job cycle progressing along. Yes, it can be rough out there - *and you are doing awesome* - whether you land that interview or not! 👍💯
Happy holidays, all ⭐🐟
Happy holidays, all ⭐🐟
December 20, 2025 at 7:37 PM
We're approaching "I'm thrilled to announce" season on the socials, with the academic job cycle progressing along. Yes, it can be rough out there - *and you are doing awesome* - whether you land that interview or not! 👍💯
Happy holidays, all ⭐🐟
Happy holidays, all ⭐🐟
Reposted by Zak Swartz
This controversy is such a rollercoaster... Yet, I'm hopeful we will come to a resolution soon-ish. People are coming up with bold new approaches (linkage, integrative phylogenomics), and while it takes inevitable time to identify their own pitfalls and artifacts, this is what progress looks like.
Some more shenanigans on the Ctenophora Porifera debate from @rcply.bsky.social academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...
Sponges, ctenophores and the statistical significance of syntenies
Abstract. Shared fusions between ancestral chromosomal linkage groups have previously been used to support phylogenetic groupings, notably sponges with cni
academic.oup.com
December 11, 2025 at 2:07 PM
This controversy is such a rollercoaster... Yet, I'm hopeful we will come to a resolution soon-ish. People are coming up with bold new approaches (linkage, integrative phylogenomics), and while it takes inevitable time to identify their own pitfalls and artifacts, this is what progress looks like.
Reposted by Zak Swartz
From an accidental discovery of hidden biology to a new framework to understanding and diagnosing rare disease. Thrilled to share the most recent work from our lab and the amazing Jimmy Ly.
wi.mit.edu/news/alterna...
wi.mit.edu/news/alterna...
Alternate proteins from the same gene contribute differently to health and rare disease | Whitehead Institute
Iain Cheeseman and colleagues reveal the underappreciated role of single genes producing multiple proteins in atypical presentations of rare disease, and present case studies of affected patients thro...
wi.mit.edu
November 7, 2025 at 4:14 PM
From an accidental discovery of hidden biology to a new framework to understanding and diagnosing rare disease. Thrilled to share the most recent work from our lab and the amazing Jimmy Ly.
wi.mit.edu/news/alterna...
wi.mit.edu/news/alterna...
Reposted by Zak Swartz
We built a targeted protein degradation–based system to mimic reproductive age-related aneuploidy in young eggs - revealing how chromosome errors associated with female infertility arise with age. 🧬✨
With @jiyeonleem.bsky.social and our team at Yale MCDB.
Read: www.nature.com/articles/s43...
With @jiyeonleem.bsky.social and our team at Yale MCDB.
Read: www.nature.com/articles/s43...
A versatile cohesion manipulation system probes female reproductive age-related egg aneuploidy - Nature Aging
To study pathways that lead to aneuploidy during aging, the authors provide a system that enables cohesion protein depletion in mouse oocytes, mimicking effects that occur during aging. They uncover a...
www.nature.com
November 4, 2025 at 1:17 PM
We built a targeted protein degradation–based system to mimic reproductive age-related aneuploidy in young eggs - revealing how chromosome errors associated with female infertility arise with age. 🧬✨
With @jiyeonleem.bsky.social and our team at Yale MCDB.
Read: www.nature.com/articles/s43...
With @jiyeonleem.bsky.social and our team at Yale MCDB.
Read: www.nature.com/articles/s43...
Come work with us!
November 4, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Come work with us!
Reposted by Zak Swartz
New preprint! Graduate student Océane Marescal leverages quiescence - proliferative hibernation - to reveal unexpected dynamics for “constitutively”-localized centromere proteins. To understand the logic of cell division, you need to consider non-dividing cells.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
The dynamics of centromere assembly and disassembly during quiescence
Quiescence is a state in which cells undergo a prolonged proliferative arrest while maintaining their capacity to reenter the cell cycle. Here, we analyze entry and exit from quiescence, focusing on h...
www.biorxiv.org
September 9, 2025 at 11:14 AM
New preprint! Graduate student Océane Marescal leverages quiescence - proliferative hibernation - to reveal unexpected dynamics for “constitutively”-localized centromere proteins. To understand the logic of cell division, you need to consider non-dividing cells.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Zak Swartz
I hope to take a PhD student in 2026 to study siphonophores. Please reach out if you are interested in applying this fall. For examples of recent lab projects see www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... and academic.oup.com/gbe/article/...
August 28, 2025 at 12:45 PM
I hope to take a PhD student in 2026 to study siphonophores. Please reach out if you are interested in applying this fall. For examples of recent lab projects see www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... and academic.oup.com/gbe/article/...
Reposted by Zak Swartz
This postdoc position is still open! Apply if you want to come work with us on asymmetric cell divisions in spiralian embryos! postdocs.stanford.edu/prospective/...
July 7, 2025 at 8:51 PM
This postdoc position is still open! Apply if you want to come work with us on asymmetric cell divisions in spiralian embryos! postdocs.stanford.edu/prospective/...
A little late with this one, but we got to go hunting for sea urchins on Gemma with the Semester in Biological Discovery (SBD) students. Thanks Captain David Bank and naturalist Scott Bennett, and Alex Megerle for the great writeup! 🌊🌊🌊
www.mbl.edu/news/close-u...
www.mbl.edu/news/close-u...
Up Close with Urchins: Undergrads Collect Lab Specimens on the Gemma | Marine Biological Laboratory
www.mbl.edu
June 3, 2025 at 1:23 AM
A little late with this one, but we got to go hunting for sea urchins on Gemma with the Semester in Biological Discovery (SBD) students. Thanks Captain David Bank and naturalist Scott Bennett, and Alex Megerle for the great writeup! 🌊🌊🌊
www.mbl.edu/news/close-u...
www.mbl.edu/news/close-u...
Love this article! Feeling pumped to share the awesomeness of echinoderms again very soon in Embryology 2025
What a fantastic essay by last year's @mblscience.bsky.social Embryology students! A perfect paean to the most wonderful science: "It's exhausting; it's exhilarating; it's Embryology."
journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
Embryology 2024: a summer like no other
Each summer since 1893, a small group of scientists from around the world have convened at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA, to work on the most exciting model ...
journals.biologists.com
June 3, 2025 at 12:29 AM
Love this article! Feeling pumped to share the awesomeness of echinoderms again very soon in Embryology 2025
We have shared detailed protocols for the expression, purification, and use of VitelloTag-Cas9 (in sea stars) on our website. We hope that this will be a useful starting place for working in your own favorite organism!
www.theswartzlab.org/tools-and-pr...
www.theswartzlab.org/tools-and-pr...
May 27, 2025 at 11:26 PM
We have shared detailed protocols for the expression, purification, and use of VitelloTag-Cas9 (in sea stars) on our website. We hope that this will be a useful starting place for working in your own favorite organism!
www.theswartzlab.org/tools-and-pr...
www.theswartzlab.org/tools-and-pr...
At last! The plasmids from our VitelloTag paper ( journals.biologists.com/dev/article/... ) are now available on Addgene: www.addgene.org/browse/artic...
We hope they might be useful for you to deliver Cas9 in your favorite organism. Stay tuned for detailed protocols on our lab website.
We hope they might be useful for you to deliver Cas9 in your favorite organism. Stay tuned for detailed protocols on our lab website.
VitelloTag: a tool for high-throughput cargo delivery into oocytes
Summary: VitelloTag, a method for transporting protein cargo into oocytes, facilitates microinjection-free CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing in multiple species.
journals.biologists.com
April 16, 2025 at 1:03 PM
At last! The plasmids from our VitelloTag paper ( journals.biologists.com/dev/article/... ) are now available on Addgene: www.addgene.org/browse/artic...
We hope they might be useful for you to deliver Cas9 in your favorite organism. Stay tuned for detailed protocols on our lab website.
We hope they might be useful for you to deliver Cas9 in your favorite organism. Stay tuned for detailed protocols on our lab website.
Another terrific Developmental Biology of the Sea Urchin & Other Marine Invertebrates is done! Thank you to all attendees for sharing your awesome science, the co-organizers for their hard work, our sponsors, and @mblscience.bsky.social for being such a great venue. Photo credit to Bob Morris 👏
April 8, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Another terrific Developmental Biology of the Sea Urchin & Other Marine Invertebrates is done! Thank you to all attendees for sharing your awesome science, the co-organizers for their hard work, our sponsors, and @mblscience.bsky.social for being such a great venue. Photo credit to Bob Morris 👏
Reposted by Zak Swartz
Honored to have given the keynote lecture at the DBSUMI meeting. Such an exciting dev bio community!
Thanks @zakswartz.bsky.social for the invitation and kind hospitality at wonderful @mblscience.bsky.social. The naturalist approach to science and rich history in this place are inspiring.
Thanks @zakswartz.bsky.social for the invitation and kind hospitality at wonderful @mblscience.bsky.social. The naturalist approach to science and rich history in this place are inspiring.
April 4, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Honored to have given the keynote lecture at the DBSUMI meeting. Such an exciting dev bio community!
Thanks @zakswartz.bsky.social for the invitation and kind hospitality at wonderful @mblscience.bsky.social. The naturalist approach to science and rich history in this place are inspiring.
Thanks @zakswartz.bsky.social for the invitation and kind hospitality at wonderful @mblscience.bsky.social. The naturalist approach to science and rich history in this place are inspiring.
Reposted by Zak Swartz
Also a blast from the past! Another preprint is now available from my first postdoc in the @arnonelab.bsky.social at @szndohrn.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
March 28, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Also a blast from the past! Another preprint is now available from my first postdoc in the @arnonelab.bsky.social at @szndohrn.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Zak Swartz
Some good news during these difficult times. Please check out our new preprint. We built a new tool to probe the origins of high oocyte aneuploidy rates at advanced female reproductive ages. This NIH funded work was led by a fantastic postdoc in the lab, Jiyeon Leem. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A versatile cohesion manipulation system reveals CENP-A dysfunction accelerates female reproductive age-related egg aneuploidy.
Female reproductive aging is accompanied by a dramatic rise in the incidence of egg aneuploidy. Premature loss of chromosome cohesion proteins and untimely separation of chromosomes is thought to unde...
www.biorxiv.org
February 28, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Some good news during these difficult times. Please check out our new preprint. We built a new tool to probe the origins of high oocyte aneuploidy rates at advanced female reproductive ages. This NIH funded work was led by a fantastic postdoc in the lab, Jiyeon Leem. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Zak Swartz
New preprint from my Postdoc in Zak Swartz’s lab at the @mblscience.bsky.social, in collaboration with Carsten Wolff and @. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
March 28, 2025 at 9:32 PM
New preprint from my Postdoc in Zak Swartz’s lab at the @mblscience.bsky.social, in collaboration with Carsten Wolff and @. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Zak Swartz
New preprint drop! Check out work from @jimmy-ly.bsky.social et al for how protein isoforms generated by alternate translation initiation create dual localization, contribute to mitochondrial function, and are mutated in disease. "Blue-tutorial" thread below.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
March 28, 2025 at 10:41 AM
New preprint drop! Check out work from @jimmy-ly.bsky.social et al for how protein isoforms generated by alternate translation initiation create dual localization, contribute to mitochondrial function, and are mutated in disease. "Blue-tutorial" thread below.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...