Thrilled to present our comparative study on the evolution of zygotic genome activation (ZGA)!! 🥚🧬

Amazing PhD work of @campobes.bsky.social together with @fedemantica.bsky.social and many collaborators! @melisupf.bsky.social @crg.eu. Thread below 1/15

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

These images show live embryos of animals (jellyfish, crustacean, worm, sea urchin, sea squirt, beetle) and one of animals closest single-celled relatives. They were captured taking advantage of fluorescent proteins localised on the outer membrane of cells, allowing us to observe cell outlines. 1/9

Targeting the cell membrane in established and emerging model organisms Summary: Screening a toolkit of diverse membrane-localising tags identifies candidates that efficiently localise proteins to the plasma membrane in a wide range of animals and choanoflagellates.

Finding molecular tags that localise fluorescent proteins to the cell membrane was the goal of our latest paper, now published in Development @dev-journal.bsky.social. The tags act as address labels, sending proteins to the cell membrane, where they highlight the shape and arrangement of cells. 2/9

There are just a few days (and spots!) left to apply to this EM course with a focus on marine samples 🌊 do not miss it!

We are excited to share that we are hosting a hands-on course on "Electron Microscopy of Marine Environmental Samples" 🔬🌊
📍Naples, Italy 🗓️ 8th-11th of April 2026
If you are interested, check the program below!
Registration is open until the 12th of February. We look forward to seeing you there!

New findings on genomic regulation mechanisms throughout evolution The conservation of genome regulatory elements over long periods of evolution is not limited to vertebrates, as previously thought, but also in echinoderms (invertebrates). This is one of the most not...

New findings on genomic regulation mechanisms throughout evolution | EurekAlert! www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

EMHOC 2026 preliminary program EMHOC 2026 Preliminary Program Day 1 - Wednesday, April 8th 13h00 - 14h00 Arrival and registration 14h00 - 14h15 Welcome and introduction to the course Giovanna Benvenuto, Stazione Zoologica Napoli, ...

EMHOC’s preliminary program is out. Check it out to stay updated!

Deep conservation of cis-regulatory elements and chromatin organization in echinoderms uncover ancestral regulatory features of animal genomes Nature Ecology & Evolution - Analysis of the 3D chromatin architecture and cis-regulatory elements in a sea urchin and a sea star reveals mechanisms of 3D chromatin organization in echinoderms...

Our work on the evolution of the regulatory genome of echinoderms is now out in @natecoevo.nature.com. Led by my former PhD Marta Magri, Danila Voronov & Saoirse Foley. Great collaboration of Arnone, Hinman & Maeso labs, started long time ago with our missed José Luis Gomez-Skarmeta: rdcu.be/eXX8l

Deep conservation of cis-regulatory elements and chromatin organization in echinoderms uncover ancestral regulatory features of animal genomes - Nature Ecology & Evolution Analysis of the 3D chromatin architecture and cis-regulatory elements in a sea urchin and a sea star reveals mechanisms of 3D chromatin organization in echinoderms and the long-term evolutionary dynam...

I am extremely proud and happy to announce that another paper from my PhD days has just been published in @natecoevo.nature.com on evolution of genome and gene regulation thanks to all the amazing people involved.

Check the paper out at:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Echinoderms as a paradigm to understand how genome organization shapes body plans and their evolution Animal morphology is dependent on where, when and which genes are turned on in the body and to what extent. In order to find out how species build their distinct body plans one needs to look genome an...

If you want to read more, take also a look at our blog on @springernature.com Research Communities: go.nature.com/45BwBUi

Thanks to everybody involved, especially my former and present lab members: @danivoronov.bsky.social, @perievodevo.bsky.social, @mlrusciano.bsky.social, Claudia Cuomo, Jovana Ranđelović.

We here present two new genome assemblies for S. purpuratus and P. miniata, showing they are organized in TAD-like structures that, unlike vertebrates, are not built with CTCF. We also found deeply conserved cis-regulatory modules such as the one upstream of Tbx2/3, and we functionally evaluated it.

In this work, we present Echinoderms as a paradigm to understand how genome organization shapes organismal body plans and their evolution.

Exciting news to start the new year! We’re thrilled to see this work finally out in @natecoevo.nature.com, the result of a major collaboration between my lab and the labs of Veronica Hinman and Nacho Maeso, began many years ago with the dear José Luis Gómez-Skarmeta.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Don’t forget to apply to this beautiful Electron Microscopy course at @szndohrn.bsky.social in Napoli, Italy by February 12th! 🌊 ☀️ Stay tuned for the preliminary program, in the meantime take a look here: www.szn.it/index.php/it...

Thank you!

These are the objectives we will pursue in NeurEvoFun (“Dissecting the neurosecretory brain-gut axis function and evolution: from regulome and cell identity to cellular crosstalk”).

Ricerca a Napoli, alla Stazione Anton Dohrn fondi del Mur per studiare i ricci La Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn riafferma il proprio ruolo nel panorama della ricerca internazionale. Nel terzo bando del Fondo Italiano per la Scienza, promosso dal Ministero...

Here’s the link to the full article (in Italian): share.google/LM8wrSJpJIdL...

I am deeply honored to share that my project NeurEvoFun has been awarded support from the Fondo Italiano per la Scienza (FIS), the Advanced Grant by the Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research, supporting fundamental research inspired by the ERC model. Excited for what’s ahead!

Beautiful course on electron microscopy coming soon in Naples, do not miss it!

What a nice way to end the year - last shift of 2025 on the EMBL beamline P14 on Petra III in Hamburg! With @mlrusciano.bsky.social we did x-ray imaging of sea urchin larvae and had the honor of using the synchrotron ourselves! Many thanks to Angelika Svetlove. @embl.org

In preprints: a new preprint curation initative from Development

In preprints: cell type-specific gene regulation through the lens of echinoderms

Periklis Paganos and @arnonelab.bsky.social discuss a recent #preprint by Jonas Maurice Brandenburg, David Aaron Garfield and colleagues

doi.org/10.1242/dev....

Thank you, Filippo!

Thank you!

In collaboration with @mfnberlin.bsky.social, Jack Ullrich-Lüter, Jil Carl, Anne-C. Zakrzewski, Berit Zemann, Carsten Lüter, @biodev-vlfr.bsky.social @croce-urchin.bsky.social, Tiphaine Sancerni, Maria Schauer, Oğuz Akar, @igflyon.bsky.social, @almazan.bsky.social. Thank you, all!

With @perievodevo.bsky.social, @danivoronov.bsky.social, @mlrusciano.bsky.social, @mariacocurullo.bsky.social, Filomena Caccavale, Giovanna Benvenuto.

We report high expression of vertebrates’ brain and retina genes, and a vast array of photoreceptor cells. Among those, we detect cells that express a rare combination of opsins, perhaps an ideal candidate for non-ocular vision. 👀 #ScienceAdvancesResearch @szndohrn.bsky.social @science.org

Single-nucleus profiling highlights the all-brain echinoderm nervous system A sea urchin is a head with a brain-like organization and a vertebrate-type retinal signature.

Our study, just published in #ScienceAdvances and funded by @hfspo.bsky.social, explores the post metamorphic cell composition of the sea urchin juvenile, revealing that its body is head-like. Long considered brainless creatures, they’re all brain instead!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

We discuss new research on sea urchins, how echinoderms remain relevant experimental systems in the multiomics era, and the future of the cell type evolution and development field.