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Reposted by Marina Stoilova

Nat Clarke @natclarke.bsky.social · 12h

🚨 My lab is hiring at all levels!

Interested in animal origins & evolutionary cell biology?

I'm recruiting a postdoc, PhD students & a research assistant to study the molecular evolution of cell adhesion using marine invertebrates + comparative genomics.

🔗: clarkelab.com/join/

Please repost!

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Reposted by Marina Stoilova

SICB journals @sicbjournals.bsky.social · 5d

ICB Issue 3
Shedding Light on Patterns of Unconventional Expression of Opsin #Genes in Hydra vulgaris
Marina Stoilova, Natasha Picciani, @aidemm.bsky.social , Todd Oakley
doi.org/10.1093/icb/...

#cnidarians #jellyfish #anemones #cell #hydroid #science

Hydra body plan and cell types. Here is a diagram of the Hydra body plan to show the location of the basal disc, body column, hypostome, and tentacle and denote the ectodermal and endodermal cell layers in Hydra. In the endodermal layer, there are gland cells (gl), ganglion neurons (gn), and epithelial cells (ep). In the ectoderm there are sensory neurons (sn), interstitial stem cells (i), epithelial cells (ep), and nematocytes (n). The two cell layers are separated by an extracellular matrix known as mesoglea (me). Adapted from Technau and Steele (2011) and Siebert et al. (2019).

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Marina Stoilova @stoilovamarina.bsky.social · 22d

Flapocephalus is an outstanding genus name 🪱🦑🧪

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Reposted by Marina Stoilova

Kyle J McCulloch (he/him) @kypodseyepods.bsky.social · Jul 25

I am looking for a postdoc! Please share with Evo-devo-neuro-sensory people who might be interested.

We have multiple projects available so don't feel like you are not qualified to apply if you don't check every single box on the job ad!

Apply here: explore.jobs.ufl.edu/en-us/job/53...

University of Florida - Details - Postdoctoral Associate

explore.jobs.ufl.edu

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Reposted by Marina Stoilova

Kyle J McCulloch (he/him) @kypodseyepods.bsky.social · Sep 2

Resharing - Less than two weeks left until applications are reviewed - Go apply and share with anyone who might be looking!

Kyle J McCulloch (he/him) @kypodseyepods.bsky.social · Jul 25

I am looking for a postdoc! Please share with Evo-devo-neuro-sensory people who might be interested.

We have multiple projects available so don't feel like you are not qualified to apply if you don't check every single box on the job ad!

Apply here: explore.jobs.ufl.edu/en-us/job/53...

University of Florida - Details - Postdoctoral Associate

explore.jobs.ufl.edu

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Reposted by Marina Stoilova

Paulyn Cartwright @pcart.bsky.social · Aug 30

Good news! KU's IRACDA program was reinstated! We are now taking applications for postdocs. Please spread the word.

sjobs.brassring.com/TGnewUI/Sear...

Postdoctoral Researcher - University of Kansas - Job Details

Job Details: The IRACDA Program at the University of Kansas (KU) is accepting applications for postdoctoral scholarships. W

sjobs.brassring.com

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Marina Stoilova @stoilovamarina.bsky.social · Aug 27

Important nuance:

As with all bioinformatic projects, functional testing is needed to make any firm claims on what exactly opsins are or are not doing in Hydra. These results highlight some great candidates for such studies.

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Marina Stoilova @stoilovamarina.bsky.social · Aug 27

To those who made it to the end of this thread, enjoy the title slide from my very first talk where I (badly) photoshopped the Sarlacc pit onto a Hydra

Black presentation slide titled “Opsin Expression in Disparate Cell Types in Hydra Vulgaris” with an image of a Hydra with the Sarlacc pit edited over the hypostome (head/mouth)

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Marina Stoilova @stoilovamarina.bsky.social · Aug 27

What can this mean?

Opsin gene expression patterns in Hydra are more temporally and cellularly broad than expected.

Some cell types may express opsins for purposes other than light sensation, or for light sensation in non-canonically light sensitive cell types (gland cell, stinging cells)

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Marina Stoilova @stoilovamarina.bsky.social · Aug 27

(In short) We found:
1) Opsin expression in neuronal and non-neuronal cell types (including gland cells and stinging cells)

2) Opsin expression across multiple states of cell differentiation

3) Putative co-regulatory relationships between opsins and genes associated with developmental patterning

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Marina Stoilova @stoilovamarina.bsky.social · Aug 27

Hydra are freshwater relatives of jellyfish that sense and respond to light, despite lacking eyes.

To understand how, we asked:

1) What types of cells express opsin (light sensitive protein) genes?

2) When in cell differentiation are opsins expressed?

3) What genes are opsins co-regulated with?

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Marina Stoilova @stoilovamarina.bsky.social · Aug 27

First, many thanks to Dr. Natasha Picciani, @aidemm.bsky.social , and @ostratodd.bsky.social for their contribution and mentorship.

I learned and grew a lot as this project progressed (since my 1st year undergrad!!). Your time and expertise were vital to this process.

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Marina Stoilova @stoilovamarina.bsky.social · Aug 27

First, first-author paper alert!

“Shedding Light on Patterns of Unconventional Expression of Opsin Genes in Hydra vulgaris” is out and open access in @sicbjournals.bsky.social

academic.oup.com/icb/advance-...

Keep reading for some highlights in the thread below!

🦑🧪

Shedding Light on Patterns of Unconventional Expression of Opsin Genes in Hydra vulgaris

Synopsis. Opsins are G-protein-coupled receptors often expressed in neuronal photoreceptor cells and used for light detection in most animals, including cn

academic.oup.com

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Marina Stoilova @stoilovamarina.bsky.social · Aug 20

Hello I’m Marina! I study the evolution and development of visual and venom systems in jellyfish 🪼 (+ relatives).

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Reposted by Marina Stoilova

Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · Aug 19

1. The philosophy of science sometimes gets an unearned reputation as a purely academic exercise that offers little by way of concrete tools for advancing research.

This is wrong.

And today, as we grapple with how AI is changing the nature of scientific activity, it's desperately wrong.

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Reposted by Marina Stoilova

Rebecca R Helm @rebeccarhelm.bsky.social · Aug 12

The lost jellyfish art of Ilona Richter, from Anita Brinckmann-Voss's 1970 book on jellyfish of the Mediterranean Sea...
🪼🧪🌿🌊

firecracker like jellyfish from Anita Brinckmann-Voss's 1970 book on jellyfish of the Mediterranean Sea.

Wavy tentacles from Anita Brinckmann-Voss's 1970 book on jellyfish of the Mediterranean Sea.

red jellyfish from Anita Brinckmann-Voss's 1970 book on jellyfish of the Mediterranean Sea.

Orange jellyfish from Anita Brinckmann-Voss's 1970 book on jellyfish of the Mediterranean Sea.

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Marina Stoilova @stoilovamarina.bsky.social · Aug 11

Every time I see these news stories I think of my best find on Depop yet

A green t-shirt with the text “ST. LUCIE PLANT” and a drawing of a jellyfish with a mushroom cloud emerging from the top. Within the mushroom cloud are the words “NUKE THE JELLYFISH”

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Reposted by Marina Stoilova

Chris Mah @echinoblog.bsky.social · Aug 11

ha! excellent! #medusamonday h/t @drandrewthaler.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Swarm of jellyfish shuts nuclear power plant in France

‘Massive and unpredictable’ swarm entered filter drums that pull in water, Gravelines operator EDF says

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Marina Stoilova

Jake McGehee @jacobmcgehee.bsky.social · Aug 1

If anyone was wondering, the NC Association of Educators estimates that teachers will spend $1,632 of their own money on their classrooms during the 2025-26 school year. Let's help her get that closer to $0.

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Reposted by Marina Stoilova

Jake McGehee @jacobmcgehee.bsky.social · Aug 1

A friend's fiancée is a public school science teacher in NC and has an Amazon wishlist for classroom supplies! According to the NC Association of Educators, NC is the second worst state in the US for teachers spending their own money for classroom items.
www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/...

Check out my list on Amazon

www.amazon.com

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Reposted by Marina Stoilova

Brooke Fitzwater, PhD (she/her) 🐟🪱🏳️‍🌈♾️ @oceanfilly.bsky.social · Jul 24

With many postdoc grants like the NSF PRFB, Ford Fellowship, and Hanna H. Gray fellowships disappearing, I am currently looking for grants that could fund incoming postdoctoral scholars. Here is a thread of some of them 🧵

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Dr Andrew Mahon @andyantarctica.bsky.social · Jul 17

Hey everyone! @sicb-diz.bsky.social is now here! Follow them for all your invertebrate science needs! 🧪🦑🌎

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Anna Klompen, PhD @gelatinoussting.bsky.social · Jul 29

This sea anemone holds some serious stinging power around their mouth!

📷 Transgenic Nematostella where green marks developing and mature stinging cells, which are densely packed around the mouth.

🪸🧪🪸

#StunningStella #ToxinTuesday @stowersinstitute.bsky.social

Close up image through microscope of the mouth and surrounding tentacles of an adult starlet sea anemone. The green spots all around the animal are developing or mature stinging cells. The green is most dense around the mouth.

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Reposted by Marina Stoilova

Tom Iwanicki @iwanicki.bsky.social · Jul 25

In the cacophony of crap news, I recalled seeing this lil' bug. A good reminder that nature is beautiful. Here's a female Sylvan jumping spider, clearly dazzled (or maybe pissed off) at the spider-like eyes of my iphone cameras. Pick an issue, get involved, AND pay attention to the beauty all around

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Kyle J McCulloch (he/him) @kypodseyepods.bsky.social · Jul 25

Thanks Luis! Come work with marine squishies and light sensing!

Luis Santiago-Rosario, Ph. D. @saltyecoevo.bsky.social · Jul 25

This is a great opportunity! The PI is great! Apply Apply!!!

explore.jobs.ufl.edu/en-us/job/53...

University of Florida - Details - Postdoctoral Associate

explore.jobs.ufl.edu

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