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The Milinkovitch-Tzika lab @lanevol.bsky.social · Sep 8

🐊 New 90‑second video: watch the digital model of a #crocodile head side‑by‑side with a stunning multi‑material #3Dprint.

▶️ Video: youtu.be/3roeSI-HBbg?...
📖 Nature Article: rdcu.be/d3dnd
🎬 Full explainer (26K+ views, multiple languages): youtube.com/playlist?lis...

From 3D Modelling to 3D Printing - The Movie

YouTube video by The LANE channel

youtu.be

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Reposted by The Milinkovitch-Tzika lab

V4SDB @v4sdb.bsky.social · Sep 6

#V4SDBMeeting2025 is family friendly & makes science attractive & accessible to our youngest participants from @sumbalovakoledova.bsky.social lab. Many thanks to Michel C. Milinkovitch @lanevol.bsky.social for the illustrative 3D printed models of 🐊 snout patterning!

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Reposted by The Milinkovitch-Tzika lab

V4SDB @v4sdb.bsky.social · Sep 6

Our invited speaker for this session is Michel C. Milinkovitch @lanevol.bsky.social from the University of Geneva @biology-unige.bsky.social, who will be presenting his lab’s multidisciplinary research into Patterning: How Reptiles Got Their Looks!
#V4SDB2025 #developmentalbiology #evodevo

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The Milinkovitch-Tzika lab @lanevol.bsky.social · Sep 8

Had a great time at @v4sdb.bsky.social 2025 in Slovakia with James Sharpe & Anne Grapin-Botton. Fantastic talks and flawless organization—huge thanks to our wonderful hosts Zuzana Sumbalová Koledová, Dušan Fabián, Marcela Buchtová & Alexandra Špirková!
v4sdb2025.img.cas.cz

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The Milinkovitch-Tzika lab @lanevol.bsky.social · Jul 11

🐊 Our multilingual video on the mechanics behind crocodile head scale patterning has now reached 25,000+ views!

Discover how skin folds—not genes—shape these stunning patterns.

🎥 Watch here: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

#CrocodileScales #Science #NaturePaper #Mechanobiology

The mechanics of crocodile head scales patterning - YouTube

www.youtube.com

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The Milinkovitch-Tzika lab @lanevol.bsky.social · Jun 23

🐢 The tortoise head is sculpted by physics and genes! Our new research shows that tortoise head scales form through two distinct processes:
👉 Chemical signaling shapes the sides
👉 Mechanical stress folds the top
🔗 cell.com/iscience/ful...
@cellpress.bsky.social @biology-unige.bsky.social

Chemical and mechanical patterning of tortoise skin scales occur in different regions of the head

Biological sciences; Zoology; Evolutionary biology

cell.com

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Reposted by The Milinkovitch-Tzika lab

Springer Nature @springernature.com · Mar 28

The distinctive pattern of scales on the face and jaws of crocodiles is formed by a precise mechanical process of skin folding, according to a OA study in @nature.com: http://spklr.io/63328fZXu
#Science #Evolution #Crocodiles

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Reposted by The Milinkovitch-Tzika lab

Biology-UNIGE @biology-unige.bsky.social · Jun 12

📻Interview du Prof. Milinkovitch @lanevol.bsky.social pour la #RTS : Les écailles de tortue se forment de deux façons www.rts.ch/audio-podcas... @genevunige.bsky.social

Les écailles de tortue se forment de deux façons

Chez les vertébrés, la formation des plumes, des poils et des écailles est généralement dictée par des facteurs génétiques moléculaires. Les écailles situées sur la tête des crocodiles font exception,...

www.rts.ch

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Reposted by The Milinkovitch-Tzika lab

Rory Cooper @rorylcooper.bsky.social · Jun 4

Excited to share our new research in @cp-iscience.bsky.social! We reveal that tortoise head scales are sculpted through two distinct developmental processes - chemical signalling and mechanical folding 🐢🔬🧪
@lanevol.bsky.social @genevunige.bsky.social

www.cell.com/iscience/ful...

Chemical and mechanical patterning of tortoise skin scales occur in different regions of the head

Biological sciences; Zoology; Evolutionary biology

www.cell.com

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The Milinkovitch-Tzika lab @lanevol.bsky.social · May 28

Hanging out with Stanislav Smirnov in 'Les Diablerets' (Switzerland). Great speakers at the workshop organised by Karsten Kruse and Jean-Pierre Eckmann. indico.global/event/9640/r...
Will we come up with a math theory of biology?

The Milinkovitch-Tzika lab @lanevol.bsky.social · May 14

Can Turing and Ising models explain lizard skin color patterns—and be reconciled? 🦎📐
We bridge microscopic cell interactions & macroscopic scale patterns across evolutionary divergent lizards.
👉 www.lanevol.org/news/article...
#EvoDevo #TuringPatterns #IsingModel #MathematicalBiology

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The Milinkovitch-Tzika lab @lanevol.bsky.social · Apr 22

🚨 We make the cover of Open Biology!
Boosting sonic hedgehog signalling in chicken embryos flips the script of skin patterning—chemical pre-patterns give way to mechanical folding.
🧬 From Turing to tissue mechanics.
🧪 ➡️ royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
#shh #DevBio @royalsociety.org

Exacerbated sonic hedgehog signalling promotes a transition from chemical pre-patterning of chicken reticulate scales to mechanical skin folding | Open Biology

Many examples of self-organized embryonic patterning can be attributed to chemically mediated systems comprising interacting morphogens. However, mechanical patterning also contributes to the emergenc...

royalsocietypublishing.org

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Reposted by The Milinkovitch-Tzika lab

PLOS Biology @plosbiology.org · Apr 14

The March 2025 issue of @plosbiology.org is live, and the cover is finger-lickin' good! Many thanks to @rorylcooper.bsky.social & @lanevol.bsky.social for this stunning cover image of a developing chick embryo wing. journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

The wing of a chick embryo at the twelfth day of incubation, with feather buds covering the entire embryonic wing.

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The Milinkovitch-Tzika lab @lanevol.bsky.social · Apr 14

Thrilled to share that our light-sheet #microscopy image has been selected as @plosbiology.org's Featured Image for March 2025!

This visualization captures the role of the sonic #hedgehog pathway in #feather morphogenesis.

🧬 Dive into the details: www.lanevol.org/news/article...

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The Milinkovitch-Tzika lab @lanevol.bsky.social · Apr 10

Also, our study, "PMEL is involved in snake #colourpattern transition from blotches to stripes," shows how a #PMEL mutation causes striped patterns in corn #snakes.
Excited to see these findings drive trait #diversification!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🐍🧬 #EvoDevo @naturecomms.bsky.social

PMEL is involved in snake colour pattern transition from blotches to stripes - Nature Communications

Corn snakes are a useful model organism for studying skin pigmentation. Here they characterize the Terrazzo morph and identify the role of PMEL in the patterning of pigmented cells in the skin, explai...

www.nature.com

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The Milinkovitch-Tzika lab @lanevol.bsky.social · Apr 10

🐍 New in Genome Biology! We show #CLCN2 is key to #colorpatterns in corn #snakes. LTR-retrotransposon mutation drives Stripe phenotype. Genomic & transcriptomic analyses reveal insights into trait diversification!
Full study: genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

Regulatory and disruptive variants in the CLCN2 gene are associated with modified skin color pattern phenotypes in the corn snake - Genome Biology

Background Snakes exhibit a broad variety of adaptive colors and color patterns, generated by the spatial arrangement of chromatophores, but little is known of the mechanisms responsible for these spe...

genomebiology.biomedcentral.com

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Reposted by The Milinkovitch-Tzika lab

Genetics & Evolution (UNIGE) @genevunige.bsky.social · Mar 24

🦖➡️🕊️ La RTS met en lumière la dernière publication de @lanevol.bsky.social sur l’évolution des plumes! Découvrez comment cette étude révèle les secrets fascinants de leur formation. 🧐✨

À lire ici 👉 rts.ch/info/science...

#science #évolution #plumes #dinosaures

Du dinosaure à l'oiseau, les secrets de l'évolution des plumes révélés dans une étude genevoise

Les plumes, essentielles à la thermorégulation, au vol et à la communication chez les oiseaux, trouvent leur origine dans des appendices plus simples, les protoplumes, présents chez certains dinosaure...

rts.ch

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Reposted by The Milinkovitch-Tzika lab

PLOS Biology @plosbiology.org · Mar 21

The Shh pathway is a key regulator of feather development. @rorylcooper.bsky.social & @lanevol.bsky.social show that inhibiting Shh during chick embryogenesis results in unbranched #feather buds, similar to those seen in some of their #dinosaur ancestors 🧪 @plosbiology.org plos.io/4bIYQCx

Sonidegib treatment arrests feather bud outgrowth and invagination. Light sheet fluorescent microscopy of nuclear stained (TO-PRO-3) chicken wings at E14 reveals the morphological effect of sonidegib treatment. Left: Control samples exhibit normal development of elongated feather buds with well-advanced follicles and visible barb ridges (white arrow). Middle: A dose-dependent effect of sonidegib treatment, with higher doses resulting in shorter feather buds and less advanced follicle development. Right: Samples treated with 300 µg sonidegib exhibit minimal feather bud outgrowth, the fusion of feather buds (white oval dotted outline), absent branching morphogenesis, and no follicle invagination (blue arrow).

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The Milinkovitch-Tzika lab @lanevol.bsky.social · Mar 21

🦖➡️🕊️ From dinosaur simple proto-feathers to bird intricate feathers? Our latest study shows that feather development is highly resilient to perturbations. 🧐✨

Read more here 👉 www.lanevol.org/news/article... #evolution #feathers #dinosaurs #birds

News

www.lanevol.org

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Reposted by The Milinkovitch-Tzika lab

Genetics & Evolution (UNIGE) @genevunige.bsky.social · Mar 18

🎙️🦖🌑 Il y a 150 millions d’années, le pelage des mammifères était sombre! Une équipe sino-belge l’a découvert, et Michel Milinkovitch (@lanevol.bsky.social) en décrypte les implications dans CQFD (RTS). Ne manquez pas son analyse! 🔎✨
Ecoutez ici: avisdexperts.ch/fr/intervent... #évolution #science

L'évolution du pelage des mammifères | Avis d’expert-e-s

avisdexperts.ch

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Reposted by The Milinkovitch-Tzika lab

Genetics & Evolution (UNIGE) @genevunige.bsky.social · Mar 13

🔬 Conférence | Oncologie de précision : la révolution de l’IA
Avec Pr. Olivier Michielin, médecin-chef, Département d’oncologie aux HUG.
📍 INGE, Rue Jean-F. Bartholoni 6, Genève — 1er étage, Les Salons
📅 Lu 24 mars, 18H30
ℹ️ Plus d'infos : inge.ch/evenements/o...

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The Milinkovitch-Tzika lab @lanevol.bsky.social · Feb 25

🧐🔬 Les écailles des crocodiles ne sont pas programmées génétiquement, mais émergent sous l'effet de contraintes mécaniques ! Découvrez comment notre étude éclaire ce phénomène fascinant dans @pourlascience.bsky.social
👉 www.pourlascience.fr/sd/biophysiq...

La formation des écailles des crocodiles est guidée par des facteurs mécaniques

Une étude révèle que l’apparition des motifs sur la tête des crocodiles ne résulte pas de la génétique, mais d’un processus purement mécanique de compression de l’épiderme.

www.pourlascience.fr

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Reposted by The Milinkovitch-Tzika lab

Rory Cooper @rorylcooper.bsky.social · Feb 7

Check out this baby crocodile emerging from its egg 🥚 🐊 And read our recent article in @nature.com to learn how compressive forces sculpt their intricate head scales 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

@lanevol.bsky.social @genevunige.bsky.social

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The Milinkovitch-Tzika lab @lanevol.bsky.social · Feb 5

🔬 Discover The LANE YouTube Channel! 🌍 Our amazing videos help you understand complex biological processes through groundbreaking research at the UNIGE. 🧬✨

Subscribe and join the journey! 📺🔔👇
📌 www.youtube.com/@thelanechan...

#Evolution #Science #Research #Biology #Innovation #LifeScience

The LANE channel

Welcome to the channel of the 'LANE' (Laboratory of Artificial & Natural Evolution): the Lab of Michel Milinkovitch at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. Our multidisciplinary team of biologists,...

www.youtube.com

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The Milinkovitch-Tzika lab @lanevol.bsky.social · Jan 23

A must read! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
A tunable metamaterial microwave absorber inspired by #chameleon’s color-changing mechanism (described in our work: www.nature.com/articles/nco...) @genevunige.bsky.social

A tunable metamaterial microwave absorber inspired by chameleon’s color-changing mechanism

Crisscross structures inspired by chameleon’s color changing mechanism achieve tunable electromagnetic response in microwaves.

www.science.org