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Reposted by Pierre Vanderhaeghen

James Briscoe @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social · 1d

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

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Reposted by Pierre Vanderhaeghen

Noonan Lab @noonanlab.bsky.social · 15d

Out in Cell Genomics: A comprehensive analysis of the cell-type-specific effects of CHD8 loss of function on gene expression in the embryonic and juvenile mouse cortex. Thread 🧵:
www.cell.com/cell-genomic...

Cell-type-specific dysregulation of gene expression due to Chd8 haploinsufficiency during mouse cortical development

Yim et al. use single-cell transcriptomics to elucidate the molecular outcomes of Chd8 haploinsufficiency in the mouse cortex. Their results provide insight into dynamic, cell-type-biased transcriptio...

www.cell.com

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Pierre Vanderhaeghen @vanderhaeghenp2.bsky.social · Sep 3

New from the lab: Fatty Acid Metabolism Sets the Species-specific Tempo of Cortical Development through Protein Acetylation Dynamics. Led by amazing trio: @ryo2iwata.bsky.social , Isabel Gallego, @emirerkol.bsky.social, together with @steinaerts.bsky.social , @fendtlab.bsky.social

Species-specific Rates of Fatty Acid Metabolism Set the Scale of Temporal Patterning of Corticogenesis through Protein Acetylation Dynamics

Developmental processes display temporal differences across species, leading to divergence in organ size and composition. In the cerebral cortex, neurons of diverse identities are generated sequential...

www.biorxiv.org

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Pierre Vanderhaeghen @vanderhaeghenp2.bsky.social · Jul 31

Beautiful and inspiring work from Gero Miesenböck and colleagues www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Mitochondrial origins of the pressure to sleep - Nature

Research on Drosophila neurons shows links between the need to sleep and aerobic metabolism, indicating that the pressure to sleep may have a mitochondrial origin.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Pierre Vanderhaeghen

Teresa Rayon @trayon.bsky.social · Jun 7

May has been quite the month…

The #EvoDevoConference was a blast 💥

Thanks to all participants and organizers for your engagement!

@mdiazcuadros.bsky.social @bassemh.bsky.social @vanderhaeghenp2.bsky.social

📸
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Reposted by Pierre Vanderhaeghen

Dmitri Petrov @petrovadmitri.bsky.social · Jun 3

Flybase lost all of the NIH support overnight - it is a disaster for the community. Please consider donating. I just did! www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk/give-to-camb...

Drosophila Genetic Database

The Drosophila Genetic Database, FlyBase, is on the brink of collapse due to the sudden termination of the FlyBase NIH grant, which includes salaries for 5 literature curators based at the University ...

www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk

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Reposted by Pierre Vanderhaeghen

Bassem Hassan @bassemh.bsky.social · May 7

Hot off the press:
The excellent Maheva Andriatsilavo and colleagues show how a temporal sequence of stochastic molecular mechanisms allow the emergence of stereotyped individualised neuronal circuits. Just published in Nature Neuroscience:
rdcu.be/ek010

Sequential and independent probabilistic events regulate differential axon targeting during development in Drosophila melanogaster

Nature Neuroscience - The developmental origin of behavioral individuality is unclear. The authors show that a temporal sequence of genetically encoded stochastic mechanisms explains variation in...

rdcu.be

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Pierre Vanderhaeghen @vanderhaeghenp2.bsky.social · May 14

wonderful - congratulations @debbysilver.bsky.social !!

Debby Silver @debbysilver.bsky.social · May 14

Thrilled to share our latest study out in @natureportfolio.nature.com led by the fantastically talented Jing Liu. Our study provides insight into a long standing question in biology: What molecular features make us uniquely human and how do these function? www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A human-specific enhancer fine-tunes radial glia potency and corticogenesis - Nature

HARE5, a human accelerated region enhancer, modulates cortical development by influencing neural progenitor cell behaviour, leading to an enlarged neocortex with increased functional independence betw...

www.nature.com

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Pierre Vanderhaeghen @vanderhaeghenp2.bsky.social · May 10

Fantastic opportunity for neuroscience research.
The ROGER DE SPOELBERCH Prize for a basic or clinical research project in the areas of neurodegenerative diseases or psychiatric disorders.
750.000 EUR - Deadline JUNE 30 2025.
www.fondation-roger-de-spoelberch.ch/en/roger-de-...

ROGER DE SPOELBERCH Prize | Fondation ROGER DE SPOELBERCH

Each year, the Foundation awards the ROGER DE SPOELBERCH Prize to a laureate for a clinical or fundamental scientific research project in the field of neurodegenerative diseases and certain psychiatri...

www.fondation-roger-de-spoelberch.ch

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Reposted by Pierre Vanderhaeghen

Pedro J. Goncalves @ppjgoncalves.bsky.social · May 8

Fantastic PhD opportunities at the intersection of machine learning and biology. Come join us at @vibai.bsky.social! More details at: vib.ai/en/vibai-int...

VIB.AI International PhD Call 2025

The VIB.AI International PhD Call 2025 is now open. We invite applicants from around the world to join an interdisciplinary research environment at the interface of AI, computational biology, and life...

vib.ai

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Reposted by Pierre Vanderhaeghen

Angelika Harbauer @harbauerlab.bsky.social · May 2

Join us in Engelberg, Switzerland, for an exciting #EMBO workshop on #mitochondria in the nervous system #EMBOmitoNervousSys!
Great speaker line up and opportunities for short talks from early career scientists.
Submit your abstract until May 30st!
@jcourchet.bsky.social @tatjanakleele.bsky.social

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Reposted by Pierre Vanderhaeghen

Motori Lab @motorilab.bsky.social · May 5

I'm thrilled to be co-organizing the very first EMBO Workshop bridging mitochondria and brain research - a powerhouse of science, ideas, and amazing speakers! 🧠🔬

📅 registration closes MAY 30th, so don’t wait to snag your spot!

Stay tuned - more updates about the topics and speakers coming soon! 🎙️

CRC1218 @crc1218.bsky.social · Apr 15

📢Registration open!📢
So proud to see our very own Elisa Motori co-hosting this exciting EMBO Workshop: “Mitochondria in the Nervous System”
Co-sponsored by the CRC1218! Two invited speakers of the CRC1218! Don’t miss out!

🗓 29.09.-02.10.2025
📍Engelberg, CH

👉 meetings.embo.org/event/25-mit...

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Reposted by Pierre Vanderhaeghen

Patricia Nano @prnano9.bsky.social · May 2

It’s out! The first paper from my postdoc – and first from the @bhadurilab.bsky.social – is now live @natneuro.nature.com . 🧠✨

Using a new meta-atlas generation strategy, we identified functional gene networks that more fully explain how cell types are formed in the human cortex. (1/13)

Nature Neuroscience @natneuro.nature.com · Apr 29

Parallel meta-analyses of the human cortex in development (seven datasets) and adulthood (16 datasets) generated over 500 gene co-expression networks that can describe mechanisms of cortical development, centering on peak stages of neurogenesis 🧠🧪

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Integrated analysis of molecular atlases unveils modules driving developmental cell subtype specification in the human cortex - Nature Neuroscience

Nano et al. introduce a pipeline to generate meta-atlases of the human brain from existing single-cell datasets and extract gene modules linked to cell fate specification. Perturbing these programs in...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Pierre Vanderhaeghen

Simon Fisher @profsimonfisher.bsky.social · May 2

Turns out eye colour (mainly a result of iris pigmentation) is yet another complex trait, now demystified by genomic advances. DNA variants in two neighbouring genes (HERC2 & OCA2) explain much of the blue-brown variation, but analyses of ~193k people in 2021 revealed another 50 genetic loci. 👇 7/n

Genome-wide association study in almost 195,000 individuals identifies 50 previously unidentified genetic loci for eye color

A GWAS including 192,986 European and 1636 Asian participants identifies 50 novel discrete associations with eye color.

www.science.org

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Pierre Vanderhaeghen @vanderhaeghenp2.bsky.social · May 1

Very cool study from Ikuo Suzuki lab, comparing temporal patterning in mouse and rat cerebral cortex.

Non-uniform temporal scaling of neurogenesis for species-specific dosing of cortical excitatory subtypes.

www.biorxiv.org/content/bior...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Pierre Vanderhaeghen

Seth Blackshaw @sethblackshaw.bsky.social · Apr 29

Our latest manuscript (7 years in the works) tackles the question of how diurnal ground squirrels evolved a cone-dominant retina, in contrast to the ancestral rod-dominant retina retained by virtually all other mammals./1
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Heterochronic transcription factor expression drives cone-dominant retina development in 13-lined ground squirrels.

Evolutionary adaptation to diurnal vision in ground squirrels has led to the development of a cone-dominant retina, in stark contrast to the rod-dominant retinas of most mammals. The molecular mechani...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Pierre Vanderhaeghen

Pedro J. Goncalves @ppjgoncalves.bsky.social · Apr 24

Exciting project in Parkinson's disease! Patrik Verstreken's lab (verstrekenlab.sites.vib.be) and my lab are looking for a postdoc to develop and apply ML methods to the analysis of exciting brain-on-chip data. Please spread the word!

More details at: jobs.vib.be/j/110908/pos...

Postdoc position: Computational methods for neurodegeneration research - VIB

About the labs The Verstreken Lab and the Gonçalves Lab are based in Leuven, Belgium and part of the

jobs.vib.be

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Reposted by Pierre Vanderhaeghen

Blanca Lorente-Echeverría @blancalorente.bsky.social · Mar 31

Very excited to share our new preprint together with @daniedaaboul.bsky.social, where we studied the gene regulatory code that hippocampal granule cells (GCs) use during synapse formation (1/n)

bioRxiv Neuroscience @biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · Mar 29

A dynamic gene regulatory code drives synaptic development of hippocampal granule cells https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.27.645686v1

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Pierre Vanderhaeghen @vanderhaeghenp2.bsky.social · Apr 7

With beautiful illustration of calcium imaging of human cortical neurons in visual cortex of awake transplanted mice by @benvermaercke.bsky.social @boninlab.bsky.social

The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · Apr 7

Transplanted cells offer insight into human-specific properties, such as lengthy cortical development and sensitivity to neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disease, writes @vanderhaeghenp2.bsky.social in our “Frontiers in human neurotechnology” series.

www.thetransmitter.org/human-neurot...

In vivo veritas: Xenotransplantation can help us study the development and function of human neurons in a living brain

Transplanted cells offer insight into human-specific properties, such as a lengthy cortical development and sensitivity to neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disease.

www.thetransmitter.org

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Pierre Vanderhaeghen @vanderhaeghenp2.bsky.social · Apr 7

A short Perspective on xenotransplantation to study human neuron development, evolution and disease
@thetransmitter.bsky.social
More related articles on human neurobiology coming out soon - thanks a lot to Josh Sanes for the initiative and opportunity!
www.thetransmitter.org/human-neurot...

In vivo veritas: Xenotransplantation can help us study the development and function of human neurons in a living brain

Transplanted cells offer insight into human-specific properties, such as a lengthy cortical development and sensitivity to neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disease.

www.thetransmitter.org

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Reposted by Pierre Vanderhaeghen

Emily Singer @emilysingerneuro.bsky.social · Mar 24

The latest essay in our new essay series exploring technologies for studying the human brain, guest edited by Josh Sanes.

The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · Mar 24

Single-cell approaches are already shedding light on the human brain, identifying cell types that are vulnerable in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, for example, write Ed Lein and @hongkuizeng.bsky.social in The Transmitter's human neurotech series.

www.thetransmitter.org/human-neurot...

Single-cell genomics technologies and cell atlases have ushered in a new era of human neurobiology

Single-cell approaches are already shedding light on the human brain, identifying cell types that are most vulnerable in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, for example.

www.thetransmitter.org

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Pierre Vanderhaeghen @vanderhaeghenp2.bsky.social · Mar 29

EMBOMtg Paris May 6-9
@aydoganlab.bsky.social @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social @brunetlab.bsky.social @ebisuyamiki.bsky.social @mwdorr.bsky.social @beyerlab.bsky.social @franckp.bsky.social @janereznick.bsky.social @olmedo-lab.bsky.social @perez-carrasco.bsky.social
meetings.embo.org/event/25-dev...

Developmental timing across species: From mechanisms to evolutionary insights

Like choreography, development consists of a highly ordered suite of steps and transitions. Modifying developmental tempo can affect final size and composition of tissues, as well as their plasticity…

meetings.embo.org

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Pierre Vanderhaeghen @vanderhaeghenp2.bsky.social · Mar 25

Join us in Paris in May 6-9 for an exciting EMBO Workshop on Developmental timing mechanisms and evolution. Slots still open for short talks - Registration deadline next [email protected] @trayon.bsky.social @mdiazcuadros.bsky.social

meetings.embo.org/event/25-dev...

Developmental timing across species: From mechanisms to evolutionary insights

Like choreography, development consists of a highly ordered suite of steps and transitions. Modifying developmental tempo can affect final size and composition of tissues, as well as their plasticity…

meetings.embo.org

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Reposted by Pierre Vanderhaeghen

Kaessmann Lab @kaessmannlab.bsky.social · Mar 16

How does gene regulation shape brain evolution? Our new preprint dives into this question in the context of mammalian cerebellum development! rb.gy/dbcxjz
Led by @ioansarr.bsky.social, @marisepp.bsky.social and @tyamadat.bsky.social, in collaboration with @steinaerts.bsky.social

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Reposted by Pierre Vanderhaeghen

Franck Polleux @franckp.bsky.social · Mar 6

Join us for this exciting EMBO workshop in Paris May 6-9 on a fundamental emerging question in biology: Mechanisms that control species-specific development timing (Deadline for registration fast approaching April 1).
meetings.embo.org/event/25-dev...

Developmental timing across species: From mechanisms to evolutionary insights

Like choreography, development consists of a highly ordered suite of steps and transitions. Modifying developmental tempo can affect final size and composition of tissues, as well as their plasticity…

meetings.embo.org

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