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Susanna Brantley

@drsusanna.bsky.social

140 followers 210 following 32 posts

Di Talia Lab postdoc @ Duke Cell Bio | PhD @ Stanford Dev Bio | microscopy, fly embryos, dabbling in beetle embryogenesis, quant bio | posts, likes, views, and reposts are my own

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Susanna Brantley @drsusanna.bsky.social · Jun 10

Excited to share the bulk of my postdocotoral work from the @ditalialab.bsky.social on how cells interpret dynamic morphogen signaling during development! Many thanks to our collaborators & coauthors @shelbyflies.bsky.social, Massimo Vergassola, Jacqueline Janssen, and Anna Chao.

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Susanna Brantley @drsusanna.bsky.social · 23d

Her interdisciplinary approach to science, her fearlessness to tackle her questions with new approaches, and certainly her style are things I can only hope to emulate. Congrats to Lucy - so well deserved!

Susanna Brantley @drsusanna.bsky.social · 23d

Which was of course the best decision. I'm certainly not biased when I say Stanford Dev Bio is the best place ever to get a PhD. Full of curious, brilliant, and supportive mentors like Lucy.

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Susanna Brantley @drsusanna.bsky.social · 23d

Lucy was the one who called me to tell me I got into her department at Stanford for grad school, and I had to say yes on the phone right then and there!

Susanna Brantley @drsusanna.bsky.social · 23d

But like all of Lucy's fascinating and impressive stories, I didn't take it as a brag, but rather my first data point that Lucy was an incredible person to know, learn more about, and be influenced by.

Susanna Brantley @drsusanna.bsky.social · 23d

When I interviewed for grad school at Stanford, it was just a few days after Lucy had won the Presidential Medal of Science, and I was greeted by a story and a photo of her with President Obama when I first walked into her office.

Susanna Brantley @drsusanna.bsky.social · 23d

As one of the many trainees influenced by Lucy Shapiro, congratulations and thank you for establishing the incredible Dev Bio department at Stanford. Thank you for being a role model, and thank you for your service to our field and the world.

Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation @laskerfdn.bsky.social · 23d

2025 #LaskerAward winner Lucy Shapiro asked: How do living organisms translate information from a linear genetic code into three-dimensional structures?
And with that, she broke open a new field. 🧪
@pnas.org
#Lasker2025 #systemsbiology

The Lasker~Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science awarded to Lucy Shapiro | PNAS

Scientists can contribute to society in numerous ways. Some scientists discover new biological principles and found entirely new fields. Some scien...

www.pnas.org

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Reposted by Susanna Brantley

Roeder Lab @roederlab.bsky.social · Aug 2

5 dynamical systems concepts every developmental biologist needs to know! This came out of the 2023 Morphogenesis Program. @pauformosa.bsky.social ‪@perez-carrasco.bsky.social‬
journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...

From genes to patterns: five key dynamical systems concepts to decode developmental regulatory mechanisms

Summary: Dynamical systems theory provides a powerful quantitative and intuitive framework to understand developmental processes. This Primer brings key concepts of this framework to the ever-growing ...

journals.biologists.com

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Reposted by Susanna Brantley

Science Magazine @science.org · Jul 21

"I can’t predict the next hiring cycle or the next election. But I can keep doing the science I love while I still have a bench." #ScienceWorkingLife scim.ag/4lXUwDa

An illustration of a woman standing at a dead end looking at different roads and buildings. Text reads: My academic job offer was rescinded. I’ll keep going—but U.S. researchers are running out of road.

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Reposted by Susanna Brantley

Emily Kolenbrander Ho @emkolen.bsky.social · Jul 1

Excited to share that our work building in vivo biosensors for receptor tyrosine kinases (pYtags!) is now out www.cell.com/cell-reports...

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Susanna Brantley @drsusanna.bsky.social · Jun 14

Oh no!! Sorry Jongmin

Susanna Brantley @drsusanna.bsky.social · Jun 13

Thank you so much!

Susanna Brantley @drsusanna.bsky.social · Jun 13

Yes! I believe I have filled out the form

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Susanna Brantley @drsusanna.bsky.social · Jun 13

These posts about my work and why it's important are reaching outside the bluesky bubble. Go do it!

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Susanna Brantley @drsusanna.bsky.social · Jun 13

I also wrote up a lay summary of the manuscript we just uploaded to biorxiv on facebook. These two interactions with my local community got tons of engagement, and I am now being featured by my old middle school on their fb page and a local news group called AllOnGeorgia.

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Susanna Brantley @drsusanna.bsky.social · Jun 13

Inspired by many folks on here and the‬ #McClintockLetters @cornellasap.bsky.social I'm super excited that my op-ed is now available in The Summerville News in Chattooga, Co. GA!

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Susanna Brantley @drsusanna.bsky.social · Jun 10

Full story here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Rapid transcriptional response to a dynamic morphogen by time integration

During development, cells must interpret extracellular signals with speed and accuracy. While morphogen gradients pattern tissues, how cells respond to dynamic morphogens remains unclear. Here, we inv...

www.biorxiv.org

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Susanna Brantley @drsusanna.bsky.social · Jun 10

But integration isn’t sufficient anywhere. In sog mutants (where BMP is low and broad), cells outside the normal domain exhibit higher than normal integrated BMP but activate less transcription.

Susanna Brantley @drsusanna.bsky.social · Jun 10

How? The transcription factor Zen modulates the signaling threshold for activation, lowering the barrier for transcription activation.

Susanna Brantley @drsusanna.bsky.social · Jun 10

We found that gene expression domains are best predicted by integrated BMP signaling over time, not instantaneous levels, enabling rapid responses to small changes in signaling levels.

Susanna Brantley @drsusanna.bsky.social · Jun 10

We made a live reporter of BMP activity coupled with MS2 reporters of target gene transcription to understand how cells convert dynamic signaling into gene expression domains.

Susanna Brantley @drsusanna.bsky.social · Jun 10

Full story here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Rapid transcriptional response to a dynamic morphogen by time integration

www.biorxiv.org

Susanna Brantley @drsusanna.bsky.social · Jun 10

Thus, cells interpret dynamic morphogen signals through the combined action of temporal integration and spatial competence, providing a framework for robust pattern formation on fast developmental timescales.

Susanna Brantley @drsusanna.bsky.social · Jun 10

But integration isn’t sufficient anywhere. In sog mutants (where BMP is low and broad), cells outside the wild type domain exhibit higher than normal integrated BMP but activate less transcription.

Susanna Brantley @drsusanna.bsky.social · Jun 10

How? The transcription factor Zen modulates the signaling threshold for activation, lowering the barrier for transcription activation.

Susanna Brantley @drsusanna.bsky.social · Jun 10

We found that gene expression is best predicted by integrated BMP signaling over time, not instantaneous levels, enabling rapid responses to small changes in signaling levels.