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

I am honored to have been involved in this super cool open-science project. Thanks, Michalis!

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

New blog post: I got tired of having repetitive arguments explaining why I think it’s OK to be skeptical of LLMs for coding, so I wrote six and a half thousand words on the topic that I will be referring people to from now on.

www.b-list.org/weblog/2026/...

Congrats 👏🏻 all! ♥️

In animals with large genomes, finding cis-regulatory elements can be very challenging. Enhancers can be located tens/hundreds of kb away from their target promoters. We face this challenge in Parhyale, with >3 Gbp genome.
We just published a preprint describing how we are tackling this problem. /1

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!

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. 

We mourn the passing of Peer Bork, EMBO Member since 2000: www.embl.org/news/embl-announcements/...

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!

Comparative transcriptomics reveal the common anteroposterior molecular blueprint of adult bilaterian guts Bilaterian guts share conserved embryonic patterning, but how does this relates to adult gut organization? This study uses transcriptomic analyses across five species to reveal conserved transcription...

Vey cool lookibg paper! journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

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...

It’s great to see this finally out; congrats to all - especially @danivoronov.bsky.social! 👏🏻

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...

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!

Bacterial diversity within the accessory nidamental gland of a Hawaiian bobtail squid (E. scolopes), showing Alphaproteobacteria (magenta), Verrucomicrobia (yellow), and Flavobacteriia (green). CREDIT: Nidhi Vijayan

Hawaiian bobtail squid maintain distinct microbiota in different organs, including bioluminescent bacteria in their light organs, by deploying immune factors with tailored expressions in each niche. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/QxLo50XPnyS

Decoding cnidarian cell type gene regulation - Nature Ecology & Evolution This study reconstructs the gene regulatory networks that define cell types in the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis, providing a valuable resource for comparative regulatory genomics and the evoluti...

Lovely Xmas gift 🎄—our paper is out today in @natecoevo.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...! Huge thanks to everyone who made it possible, especially @aelek.bsky.social and @arnausebe.bsky.social

so cool, congrats Marta!

The "Electron Microscopy Hands-On Course" returns for its 2nd edition in April 8-11, 2026, at the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn in Naples, Italy. Explore the course overview and start your application here:
www.szn.it/index.php/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....

Glad to see our phoronid genome study featured on the cover of @currentbiology.bsky.social! It shows how genome structure can be used to test competing hypotheses of nested topology and how derived structural changes provide evidence for monophyly.

www.cell.com/current-biol...

Bizarre Creature With 'All-Body Brain' Challenges What We Know About Evolution of Nervous Systems What other animals have we underestimated?

Bizarre Creature With 'All-Body Brain' Challenges What We Know About Evolution of Nervous Systems

Cover of book titled The Tree of Life: solving science's greatest puzzle.

My book 'The Tree of Life' is published in the USA and Canada today.

Available as book, on kindle and as audio.

I would be really grateful for reposts.

www.amazon.com/Tree-Life-So...
www.amazon.ca/Tree-Life-So...

I love it!

I am extremely happy to have contributed to this. Proud of @perievodevo.bsky.social & Jack! 👏🏻

I am beyond excited to share that my postdoc project @szndohrn.bsky.social and the @arnonelab.bsky.social is now available in #ScienceAdvances @science.org. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...