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Stanley E. Strawbridge @stanleystrawbridge.bsky.social · Jul 1

Do you make shipments?! I’d love this for the lab!

Stanley E. Strawbridge @stanleystrawbridge.bsky.social · Jun 24

Finally, a career highlight, we made it into @cellysally.bsky.social 's #PaperThemeTune s:

bsky.app/profile/cell...

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Sally Lowell @cellysally.bsky.social · Nov 10

Strawbridge et al use genetic tricks and mathematical modelling to work out how donor ES cells displace host cells to build chimeric embryos

Do they politely converse with them via chemical signalling? Or do they just rudely push them out?

#PaperThemeTune “Push it out” by the Beta Band
#DevBio

bioRxiv Developmental Biology @biorxiv-devbio.bsky.social · Nov 9

Donor embryonic stem cells impede host epiblast specification in 8-cell stage chimeras by crowding and FGF4 signalling https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.11.08.622647v1

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Stanley E. Strawbridge @stanleystrawbridge.bsky.social · Jun 24

Also, check out the behind-the-scenes interview on my path in science, a eureka moment, and what I do when I choose to leave the lab:

🎙️ doi.org/10.1242/dev....

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Stanley E. Strawbridge @stanleystrawbridge.bsky.social · Jun 24

and thank you to funders:

@wellcometrust.bsky.social @biologists.bsky.social @ukri.org

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Stanley E. Strawbridge @stanleystrawbridge.bsky.social · Jun 24

Thanks to co-authors & host institutions:

@scicambridge.bsky.social @pdncambridge.bsky.social @cam.ac.uk @drn-sheffield.bsky.social @sheffielduni.bsky.social @uoe-igc.bsky.social @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social @mskcancercenter.bsky.social @uniheidelberg.bsky.social @univparissaclay.bsky.social

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Stanley E. Strawbridge @stanleystrawbridge.bsky.social · Jun 24

To test this, we built a quantitative model of fate specification in the embryo. It predicts a two-step mechanism:

1️⃣ Physical exclusion
2️⃣ FGF4-driven fate bias

And it even works at the level of individual embryos!

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Stanley E. Strawbridge @stanleystrawbridge.bsky.social · Jun 24

Even ESCs lacking FGF4 can push host cells into the trophectoderm, just by outcompeting them for space. But with FGF4, they also bias host cells away from contributing to the embryo.

➡️ Crowding first, then signalling.

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Stanley E. Strawbridge @stanleystrawbridge.bsky.social · Jun 24

When injected into 8-cell embryos, ESCs displace host cells from the future embryo into extra-embryonic tissues. This happens via physical crowding and, if the donor cells produce FGF4, also via molecular signalling.

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Stanley E. Strawbridge @stanleystrawbridge.bsky.social · Jun 24

🚨 New paper out in Development! 🚨

We show that donor embryonic stem cells (ESCs) reshape the developing mouse embryo, not just by what they signal, but where they push.

📄 doi.org/10.1242/dev....

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Stanley E. Strawbridge @stanleystrawbridge.bsky.social · Jun 12

I’ve been using my CoB insulated lunch bag for work ever since Biologist @ 100 in Liverpool! 🤓

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Stanley E. Strawbridge @stanleystrawbridge.bsky.social · Jun 4

10/10 Thanks to:
#MRC
@wellcometrust.bsky.social
#SãoPauloResearchFoundation
#JapanSocietyforthePromotionofScience #JSPS
#UEHARAMemorialFoundation

Stanley E. Strawbridge @stanleystrawbridge.bsky.social · Jun 4

9/10 @drn-sheffield.bsky.social @sheffielduni.bsky.social @uoe-igc.bsky.social @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social @uniofaberdeen.bsky.social @uspoficial.bsky.social ‪@lsiexeter.bsky.social @exeter.ac.uk

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Stanley E. Strawbridge @stanleystrawbridge.bsky.social · Jun 4

8/10 Thank you to all the excellent people involved! (That I can find)
@lbates.bsky.social @tazami.bsky.social

Thanks to: @scicambridge.bsky.social @pdncambridge.bsky.social @babrahaminst.bsky.social @cambiochem.bsky.social @cam.ac.uk ...

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Stanley E. Strawbridge @stanleystrawbridge.bsky.social · Jun 4

7/10 Somatic versatility
Capacitated cultures then generate neuroectoderm, paraxial mesoderm & definitive endoderm with textbook marker profiles—ready for downstream lineage studies.

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Stanley E. Strawbridge @stanleystrawbridge.bsky.social · Jun 4

6/10 Forward Progression
10-day XAV capacitation guides naïve domes → primed flats—an in-vitro window on the pre- to post-implantation transition.

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Stanley E. Strawbridge @stanleystrawbridge.bsky.social · Jun 4

5/10 Extra-embryonic power
PD03 + A83 + Y → GATA3⁺ trophoblast cysts.
LIF + ACTIVIN + CHIR → hypoblast/ExEn. Use them for blastoids or placenta work.

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Stanley E. Strawbridge @stanleystrawbridge.bsky.social · Jun 4

4/10 Hallmark naïve identity
Lines keep the classic naïve signature, form domes in t2iLGöXYaa, and map to E5/6 epiblast by bulk RNA-seq.

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Stanley E. Strawbridge @stanleystrawbridge.bsky.social · Jun 4

3/10 Mosaicism in a dish
Two triplet sets showcase natural variation:
• 161.2A/C share a Chr2q deletion, 161.2B does not.
• 255.1B/C carry Chr5 trisomy, 255.1A does not.
Study how karyotype skews lineage choice—no embryos needed.

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Stanley E. Strawbridge @stanleystrawbridge.bsky.social · Jun 4

2/10 Multiple clones per embryo
Instead of one line per blastocyst, we expanded every dome-shaped colony. Result: single embryos now come with paired, triplet or quadruplet lines—perfect for side-by-side comparisons.

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Stanley E. Strawbridge @stanleystrawbridge.bsky.social · Jun 4

1/10🧵 New preprint! 🚀
We built a resource of 20 clonal human naïve pluripotent stem cell lines from 10 blastocysts. Explore embryo-to-embryo and clone-to-clone variation in one place.
👉doi.org/10.1101/2025.06.02.657331

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Reposted by Stanley E. Strawbridge

Development, Regeneration and Neurophysiology @drn-sheffield.bsky.social · May 28

Today’s speaker in our DRN external seminar series is Dr Thorsten Boroviak (PDN, University of Cambridge) @pdncambridge.bsky.social , who will talk on early embryonic development in primates.

Host: Anestis Tsakiridis @tsakiridis.bsky.social

All welcome!

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Stanley E. Strawbridge @stanleystrawbridge.bsky.social · May 19

Thanks to Anne Wiblin and the team at abcam for the invitation to share and discuss my research today! #stemcells #development

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Stanley E. Strawbridge @stanleystrawbridge.bsky.social · May 19

It was fantastic to have @lbates.bsky.social visit last week! Thank you for sharing your exciting work!

Development, Regeneration and Neurophysiology @drn-sheffield.bsky.social · May 14

The speaker in our DRN external seminar series today is Dr Lawrence Bates @lbates.bsky.social from the University of Edinburgh @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social, presenting his work on early human development.

Host: Stanley Strawbridge @stanleystrawbridge.bsky.social

All welcome!

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Reposted by Stanley E. Strawbridge

Rory Cooper @rorylcooper.bsky.social · Apr 16

Check out our new research in @royalsocietypublishing.org's Open Biology! We experimentally induce a transition from chemical to mechanical patterning in the chicken embryo 🐣🔬 @lanevol.bsky.social 🧪

royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

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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Stanley E. Strawbridge @stanleystrawbridge.bsky.social · Apr 10

TIL, I can get excited about a -80. #StrawbridgeLab #NewPI