A person stands outdoors in front of a giraffe, looking up at it.

A newborn giraffe and an adult giraffe in an enclosure.

Two people examine a sample of giraffe placenta on a metal bench.

A person in a white lab coat loads samples into a machine in a lab.

Crick evolutionary biologist @margaridamcm.bsky.social is working with conservation charity ZSL to investigate an enduring mystery: how the placenta has evolved with incredible variation across species.

Read the full story: www.crick.ac.uk/news/2026-03...

Many congratulations 🙌

The Crick Magazine | Issue 2 The Crick Magazine, Spring 2026

The Crick magazine spring edition is here, with our latest discoveries and science stories.

Read about John Diffley’s mission to crack DNA replication and how a giraffe is helping scientists understand placenta evolution ➡️ www.crick.ac.uk/news-and-fea...

Huge congratulations! So well deserved!

Join #EMBOOmics which aims to showcase new technologies and formulate questions to move the systems biology field forward 👉 s.embl.org/omx26-01-bl

📥 Abstract deadline 11 September

Electrostatic properties of disordered regions control transcription factor search and pioneer activity - Nature Communications This work describes how positive charge in the peptide chain flanking the DNA-binding domain of transcription factors speeds up their search on free and chromatinized DNA, helping to explain why some ...

How do electrostatic forces impact TF search ? In joint effort with @beatfierz.bsky.social , tour-de-force from @simsakong.bsky.social who single-handedly combined in vitro SPT on DNA & chromatin, in cellulo SPT, ChIP-seq and ATAC-seq www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Beautiful and important work, David! Many congratulations

I am delighted to share that registration for the next @embo.org EMBO Cell cycle meeting is now open! meetings.embo.org/event/26-cel... .
We have an outstanding lineup of speakers and several selected talks from submitted abstracts. Look forward to welcoming you in Portugal from 5–7 October 2026!

Portrait shots of two people looking into the camera.

Two Crick group leaders are joining Cancer Grand Challenges teams to tackle big questions in cancer research.

Leanne Li leads a team studying how tumours interact with the nervous system, and Vivian Li joins a @ucl.ac.uk-led team working to rewire cancer cells.

🔗 www.crick.ac.uk/news/2026-03...

Amniogenesis in embryos and stem cell models - Nature Cell Biology This Review discusses the mechanisms underlying both cavitation and folding amniogenesis and provides an overview of the various recent stem cell-based human embryo models that have been developed to ...

Timely review on an important support tissue in development.

Thank you for highlighting our work!

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

Development builds... But it also breaks!

Planarians split to reproduce. Hydra tears open a mouth. Embryos fracture to make cavities.

Failure? No. Fracture is essential to development.

Our new review on fracture physics and its uses in development:

journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...

We wrote a protocol article detailing induction of dormancy in stem cells, embryos, and blastoids. We hope that it is useful to the community. As usual fun to work with @nicolasrivron.bsky.social, Heidar and Dhanur.

Wow. Gorgeous

Gorgeous ❤️

Wow. Beautiful

In remembrance of Peer Bork  | EMBL EMBL and its community are deeply saddened by the death of Peer Bork, the organisation’s Interim Director General.

This is such hard news to process. Such an amazing scientist and inspiration for so many of us.
www.embl.org/news/embl-an...

Many congratulations!!

Modelling co-development between the somites and neural tube in human trunk-like structures - Nature Cell Biology Makwana, Tilley et al. generate human stem cell-based trunk-like structures approximating Carnegie stage 13–14 of development. They use them to model and study the development of the thoracic and lumbar trunk.

Lovely little pre-Christmas present to see this out @natcellbio.nature.com! Some 🔥 new results in here since the biorvix incl (1) a new RARE-GFP reporter ✳️🙌, (2) additional NMP quantification 🔢, (3) no neural tube patterning on RA inhibition 🙅 etc. Enjoy! 😍 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Investigating morphogen and patterning dynamics with optogenetic control of morphogen production Benzinger et al. develop a chemo-optogenetic system for precise spatiotemporal control of morphogen production in vitro. Using light-controlled Sonic hedgehog expression, they recapitulate neural tube...

Good to see the peer reviewed version of this published

A chemo-optogenetic system for spatiotemporal control of gene expression

We use it to:

- Reconstruct SHH mediated neural tube patterning in vitro

- Measure extracellular half-life of Shh

www.cell.com/developmenta...

A Crash Course in Psychosis – with Katharina Schmack YouTube video by The Francis Crick Institute

What is psychosis and how can we treat it?

Crick group leader @kathaschmack.bsky.social explains how her lab is working to uncover new ways to treat psychosis by finding its biological roots.

youtu.be/EUb3_5ecatU

Wonderful news! Many congratulations

Full Stack Web Developer for Life Science Research

We are hiring for a web developer position, ideally with some experience in bioinformatics. This position is aimed at helping us turn our research in human genetics into useful tools. A background in either bioinformatics or web development is required.

jobs.ethz.ch/job/view/JOP...

Reconstructing Waddington’s landscape from data | PNAS The development of a zygote into a functional organism requires that this single progenitor cell gives rise to numerous distinct cell types. Attemp...

Great to see this published: Fitting dynamical landscape models to single-cell data, creating interpretable maps of cell decision making & developmental logic

Applied to neural tube patterning, we show how morphogen signals reshape landscapes and drive fate decisions

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

📣 We are moving to Barcelona to join the amazing @crg.eu and explore how centrosomes & cilia work, evolve & respond to the environment. We are looking for
PhD students www.crg.eu/en/content/t...
Postdocs gimm.pt/jobs/postdoc...
Other calls to open, also for an experienced lab manager.
Get in touch!

Development's Pathway to Independence Programme Our grants support and encourage the sharing of knowledge throughout the community by facilitating international collaboration, event attendance and the organisation of scientific meetings, conference...

Applications are open for @dev-journal.bsky.social 2026 Pathway to Independence (PI) programme, supporting postdocs applying for group leader positions:

Mentoring
Profile raising
Leadership training
Network building

Spread the word...

www.biologists.com/grants/devel...

Many congratulations 🙌 , Berta!

Many congratulations Jesse! Thrilled for you!

Combinatorial BMP4 and activin direct the choice between alternate routes to endoderm in a stem cell model of human gastrulation Inge et al. show that human endoderm originates from two converging developmental routes with distinct dynamics and efficiencies yet similar developmental potential. Combinatorial activin and BMP4 sig...

So exciting to see this in print! Ever wondered how embryonic cells know what (fate) to become during early development? In particular when they might see different signaling cues? We investigated this!

And a lovely cover from Zoe Ruiz and @oliveringe.bsky.social!

www.cell.com/developmenta...

Congratulations Sergio!