Courtney Lancaster
@courtneyl7a7.bsky.social
290 followers 440 following 8 posts
PhD student in the Pichaud lab OpticalBiology, LMCB_UCL | Using Drosophila to understand epithelial organisation | Fascinated by developmental biology🔬🪰🏃‍♀️
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Reposted by Courtney Lancaster
jamesbriscoe.bsky.social
Very sad news, John Gurdon has died.

A developmental biologist's developmental biologist, Nobel prize winner

His work is the foundation of much of today's dev & stem cell bio.

An inspiration to many, including me. Always asking questions & wanting the answers

www.magd.cam.ac.uk/news/profess...
Professor Sir John Gurdon FRS (1933-2025) | Magdalene College
Magdalene College is deeply saddened to announce the death of Professor Sir John Gurdon FRS, who served as Master of the College from 1995 to 2002.
www.magd.cam.ac.uk
Reposted by Courtney Lancaster
nmoris.bsky.social
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
Reposted by Courtney Lancaster
kojamf.bsky.social
Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.
Reposted by Courtney Lancaster
biig-ucl.bsky.social
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”
Reposted by Courtney Lancaster
jcellsci.bsky.social
Mario Ledesma-Terrón, Diego Pérez-Dones, David Míguez and colleagues @cbm-csic-uam.bsky.social @ifimacuam.bsky.social present OSCAR, a framework to quantify 3D stacks with high cellular density.
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article-...
Reposted by Courtney Lancaster
glover-lab.bsky.social
🚨 Excited to introduce FuChi (Fucci chicken), the first avian cell cycle reporter line. Thank you to all those who contributed to putting this paper together. I really think it showcases the power and beauty of the chick embryo as a developmental biology model. 🐥 🥚 🔬 @roslininstitute.bsky.social
Reposted by Courtney Lancaster
gamerstavernshow.com
Still remember one study where they had "AI" look at photos to diagnose cancer and it had like a 98% or 99% accuracy...

...except all the photos of actual tumors had a ruler next to them for scale. And the algorithm just got really good at spotting rulers in a photograph.
wolvendamien.bsky.social
Stop offloading cognitive tasks to "generative AI." Stop using systems w/ "AI" features either inextricably woven through them or prominently displayed at the top to nudge you into their use. Stop *Designing* "AI" tools & integrations that way. Stop building or using "AI" like this. Fucking Stop it.
AI Eroded Doctors’ Ability to Spot Cancer Within Months in Study
Artificial intelligence, touted for its potential to transform medicine, led to some doctors losing skills after just a few months in a new study.
www.bloomberg.com
Reposted by Courtney Lancaster
focalplane.bsky.social
📢New post on FocalPlane - Connecting Researchers Through Bioimaging: Reflections from UCL’s BioImage Interest Group

Courtney Lancaster @courtneyl7a7.bsky.social‬ reflects on the success of the BioImage Interest Group at UCL, offering a template for other communities.
Connecting Researchers Through Bioimaging: Reflections from UCL’s BioImage Interest Group - FocalPlane
Connecting Researchers Through Bioimaging: Reflections from UCL’s BioImage Interest Group -
focalplane.biologists.com
Reposted by Courtney Lancaster
thetransmitter.bsky.social
FlyBase, a Drosophila database, will lose a third of its team in early October because the Harvard grant that covered the employees’ salaries was canceled. Scientists warn that losing FlyBase could devastate fly research.

By @claudia-lopez.bsky.social

www.thetransmitter.org/community/ha...
Harvard University lays off fly database team
The layoffs jeopardize this resource, which has served more than 4,000 labs for about three decades.
www.thetransmitter.org
Reposted by Courtney Lancaster
giuliapaci.bsky.social
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 ⬇️
Reposted by Courtney Lancaster
bensteventon.bsky.social
Check out this work from @gserranonajera.bsky.social and Apolline Delahaye! They show how gastruloids can employ different morphogenetic strategies to set up a body axis. It nicely builds from Guillermo’s PhD work recapitulating gastrulation modes in the chick: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Courtney Lancaster
cellsdev.bsky.social
Maybe it's time we rethink the idea that development is a cell centric process? In this beautiful review, María-del-Carmen and @stramerlab.bsky.social discussed how the ECM underlies and influences many morphogenesis processes from wing unfolding to mammary gland development.
doi.org/10.1016/j.cd...
Tissue bending through localized BM growth or dissolution. Alteration in tissue morphology by intrinsic stresses in an assembling BM network. Branching morphogenesis driven by localized deposition of interstitial matrix. Asymmetric tissue expansion through anisotropic BM remodeling.
Reposted by Courtney Lancaster
tobyandrews.bsky.social
Thrilled to bits to see our latest work online in Dev Cell! 🥳

We wanted to know how cells build functional organs with precision🫀🫁📏 Here we show how coupling of cell shape and organ function fine tunes the form and contractile power of the developing #zebrafish heart 1/n

tinyurl.com/cell-stretch
Mechanochemical coupling of cell shape and organ function optimizes heart size and contractile efficiency in zebrafish
Andrews et al. demonstrate that multiscale feedback between mechanical and chemical cues builds a functional heart to support zebrafish embryonic life. Cell recruitment and organ-scale forces drive tr...
tinyurl.com
Reposted by Courtney Lancaster
amoyellab.bsky.social
🆕🧪‼️
New lab preprint!
We study how germ cells (the cells that give rise to gametes, in this case sperm) are supported by somatic (non-germ) cells of the gonad. This matters for our understanding of reproduction - without germ cell development, animals are sterile.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Somatic cells compartmentalise their metabolism to sustain germ cell survival
To ensure success in reproduction, organisms dedicate substantial resources to supporting the germline. In testes, somatic gonadal cells form a barrier that isolates germ cells from circulating nutrie...
www.biorxiv.org
Reposted by Courtney Lancaster
hhmijanelia.bsky.social
🪰 A new ‘Eyemap’ developed by a team led by Arthur Zhao & @michaelreiser.bsky.social reveals how visual information detected by the fly’s eye shows up in neurons deep in the brain. Remarkably, the eye’s shape determines how flies see motion.👁️
🔗 hhmi.news/4kSZjou
Reposted by Courtney Lancaster
mblscience.bsky.social
Scientists don’t know much about the ctenophore nervous system, but “the more we investigate, the weirder it gets,” Arenas Sabogal said. 

Sabogal peers into the animal's puzzling physiology to determine how the nervous system transforms sensations into behavior.

Read the full story: bit.ly/4nRoD14
Comb Jellies Uniquely Evolved  to Sense Their World  | Marine Biological Laboratory
In 2023, the ctenophore made a splash, surprising researchers at the MBL with its bizarre biology.    Ctenophores, also known as comb jellies, are gelatinous invertebrates that beat their iridescent c...
bit.ly
Reposted by Courtney Lancaster
ccrb27.bsky.social
A great way to end the week with some evo devo! A one day meeting hosted by @qmul.bsky.social #UKEvoDevo @biologists.bsky.social @chemamd.bsky.social
Reposted by Courtney Lancaster
frankschnorrer.bsky.social
SARCOMERES divide! Mechanism how muscles grow while contracting - daughter sarcomeres appear everywhere. Seen live, registered on our cover. Pioneered by @clementrodier.bsky.social @friedrich-group.bsky.social Ian Estabrook @ibdm.bsky.social $ by @hfspo.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
courtneyl7a7.bsky.social
Want to hear more about bioimaging and image analysis at UCL? Follow @biig-ucl.bsky.social
This is a wonderful community for those bioimaging enthusiasts!
courtneyl7a7.bsky.social
Fun part of the job - Inspiring the next generation 🧪