I'm hiring! I have 2 open positions:

🔬 Postdoc
🧪 Research associate

We study how animal multicellularity evolved by exploring the molecular logic of cell adhesion using cell biology, 'omics, and tool-building in non-model organisms.

Come join us!

Details and application links 👇

Please repost

Pleased to announce two new publications, in Current Biology and PNAS, from outstanding postdoc Delai (Dylan) Huang, just a week before he leaves to start his new faculty position at Zhejiang University.

Even more excited — our paper is featured on the cover of Science Advances!

Huge thanks to @alexandrejan.bsky.social who took this incredible photo of a ctenophore (aka comb jelly) and the editors.

Here’s the cover 👇

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Lab is up and running! Stop by and say hi!

Efficient genome editing using CRISPR–Cas9 in reef-building corals - Nature Protocols In this protocol, the authors present straightforward and efficient methods to genetically modify corals and study gene function throughout various life-history stages using CRISPR–Cas9-based mutagene...

To increase the use of gene editing in corals, we have made a comprehensive methods paper describing the protocol. We hope this helps the field of functional genetics in corals. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🦋✂️🧬 🧪 New preprint! Led by @donyaniyaz.bsky.social CRISPR‑Cas9 knockouts of ABCG transporters across butterflies & moths reveal how pigment pathways shape color during development. #CRISPR #Lepidoptera #pigmentation
Feedback welcome 👩‍🔬
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Molecular and Cell Biology of Symbiosis | Marine Biological Laboratory This is an immersive research-based course designed to teach basic concepts, open research questions, and facilitate state-of-the-art experimental approaches in symbiosis research.

It is happening again! Consider taking our course on the Molecular and Cell Biology of Symbiosis at
@mblscience.bsky.social. Application deadline March 4th! www.mbl.edu/education/ad...

Registration is OPEN for the 2026 Santa Cruz Meeting on Developmental Biology!!! Please spread the word!

@mads100tist.bsky.social @socdevbio.bsky.social @bsdb.bsky.social @xenbase.bsky.social @isdb.bsky.social @devbiol.bsky.social @the-node.bsky.social

scdb2026.sites.ucsc.edu

New preprint from our big collaborative evolution experiment in 9 whole lakes in Alaska, written by McGill grad student @lucaseckert.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
What happens if you put a mixture of multiple source populations together to complete & evolve in multiple new lakes?

New #GENETICS report from @pcleves.bsky.social et al. shows the use of a simple electroporation protocol to introduce various genetic constructs into Aiptasia zygotes, a small sea anemone and an emerging model to study coral biology. buff.ly/5aQpQ1S

The 2026 Santa Cruz Developmental Biology Meeting website is LIVE!!! Go see the incredible list of scientists who will be speaking at the meeting next summer! (...and check the site early next year for info on registration and abstract submission.)

scdb2026.sites.ucsc.edu

Epithelial cell extrusion underlies starvation-induced cell loss in a sea anemone Epithelia likely predate the last common animal ancestor, yet the evolutionary origin and environmental regulation of epithelial remodelling remain poorly understood. Here, we show that extensive, sta...

Beautiful work. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Nice congrats!

An endosymbiotic origin of the crimson pigment from the lac insect | PNAS Symbioses with microorganisms expand the genetic and metabolic repertoire of many insects. The lac insect Kerria lacca (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha) ...

www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...

New paper from the lab. Molecular characterization of the symbiont-containing organelle with proteomics and reverse genetics in Aiptasia and coral.

Happy to share the Biodiversity Cell Atlas white paper, out today in @nature.com. We look at the possibilities, challenges, and potential impacts of molecularly mapping cells across the tree of life.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

How do microbes become permanent partners? 🌊🔬🦠 Check out our new study published in Current Biology showing how cyanobacterial genomes evolve step-by-step into endosymbionts of diatoms. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
@currentbiology.bsky.social @mehrshmali.bsky.social

Before today, I would have never known it was possible to run DNA extractions and PCR without a lab. Who knew that a molecular bio bento box could facilitate bringing the lab into the field? I’m very excited to see how our hornwort Cyanobacteria community sequencing turns out later this week.

We're Hiring! Assistant Professor of Immunology and Molecular Medicine in MCB. Learn more and apply online:
aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05096

This surprisingly relaxing footage is from SIX MILES under the ocean – and it’s the deepest ecosystem yet discovered

Congrats!

This is figure 3, which shows amniote footprints.

A paper in Nature reports the discovery of fossilized claw prints thought to belong to an amniote on a slab of rock from Australia dated to about 356 million years ago, suggesting that the origin of amniotes is earlier than expected. go.nature.com/4jm5XTP #Paleosky 🧪

Molecular and Cell Biology of Symbiosis | Marine Biological Laboratory This is an immersive research-based course designed to teach basic concepts, open research questions, and facilitate state-of-the-art experimental approaches in symbiosis research.

It is happening again! Consider taking our course on the Molecular and Cell Biology of Symbiosis at
@MBLScience. We extended the deadline for
applications to Apr 14, 2025. www.mbl.edu/education/ad...

The Cleves Lab The Cleves Lab researches the molecular, cellular, and developmental basis of how intracellular beneficial microbes invade and persist in animal cells to form symbiosis. They use ecologically critical...

It’s live! Check out the Cleves Lab website and learn how the lab uses ecologically relevant cnidarian models to gain key insights into how microbial symbiosis and its breakdown impact animal biology and health, driving new coral conservation efforts. 🪸🎉

@pcleves.bsky.social
www.cleveslab.org

Save the date 📅: The PhD Summer School on Host-microbe Symbioses is taking place from 6-19 of July in Oeiras, Portugal.
Registration is opening soon!
Learn more 👉 gimm.idloom.events/phd-summer-s...

@gimmfoundation.bsky.social @moorefound.bsky.social
@crc1182.bsky.social #CIFAR #CBR

#protistsonsky

Neural crest of Xenopus embryos labelled with nuclear GFP

Lets put this back in the feed and see if there is anyone else who who'd like to be added.

We are getting your future grad students ready, and plan on writing a book one day…maybe.

go.bsky.app/RnHK313

I would love to be added

The allure of fluorescence in the ocean YouTube video by MBARI (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute)

A video we made at @mbarinews.bsky.social explaining some functions of #fluorescence in the ocean, and how #bioluminescence is different… but related.
🦑🧪🌊
m.youtube.com/watch?v=whbe...