Phylogenomic mixture models outperform homogeneous and partitioned models Abstract. Significant advances have been made in resolving the tree of life, but many nodes remain debated. The last two decades saw the emergence of mixtu

Very nice and timely paper on phylogenomic model choice.
Strong evidence that mixture models outperform homogeneous and partitioned approaches, with CAT-GTR showing robust performance across conditions.
Highly relevant for difficult phylogenetic problems. academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...

Gene regulatory networks: from correlative models to causal explanations - Nature Reviews Genetics In this Perspective, Maizels and Briscoe discuss the limitations of current models of gene regulatory networks and outline solutions to harness data abundance without compromising explanatory power.

Gene regulatory networks: from correlative models to causal explanations www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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/...

Final version @nature.com of our paper describing unconventional multicellular development in a choanoflagellate inhabiting an extreme environment. A ton of new data since the first @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social preprint (which we've kept updating).

A brief 🧵 (carried over from the old place)

Nel caso vi interessi: 90 minuti su occhi, origine ed evoluzione… e altre cose. Sì, solo 90 minuti 😊

In case you are interested: 90 minutes on eyes, origin and evolution… and other things. Yes, just 90 minutes.. 😊

(yes it is in italian e grazie a A Brain Pod per l'invito)

lnkd.in/dMc3V2qP

Figure showing 3 panels,(A) a picture of annelid Capitella teleta on black background, (B) a cladogram with major biological model organisms showing the phylogenetic position of C. teleta and (C) schematics of the 10 chromosomes of C. teleta

New from @chemamd.bsky.social lab @qmulsbbs.bsky.social Collab with Elaine Seaver, @baxevanislab.bsky.social @neva-meyer.bsky.social @abhinavsur.bsky.social

New chromosome-level assembly for Capitella teleta 🪱

academic.oup.com/gbe/advance-...

#DevBio
#WormWednesday
@genomebiolevol.bsky.social

The molecular evolution of vertebrate organs Nature Ecology & Evolution - This Review discusses recent advances in the molecular evolution of vertebrate organs, including rates of evolution of organs and cell types, molecular mechanisms...

Our internal organs are evolutionary marvels. New technologies are transforming our understanding of the evolution of vertebrate organs. You can find more by reading here:
rdcu.be/e5EgU
#EvoBio #EvoDevo 🐟🦎🐢🦇🐊🦜

Clonal-aggregative multicellularity tuned by salinity in a choanoflagellate - Nature The choanoflagellate Choanoeca flexa forms motile and contractile cell monolayers purely clonally, purely aggregatively or through a combination of both processes depending on environmental condi...

Salinity tunes mode of multicellularity in a tidepool choanoflagellate www.nature.com/articles/s41... - paper in @nature.com

Postdoc Opening! 🚨
Thrilled to (belatedly!) share that I’ve received @hfspo.bsky.social grant in collaboration with @KatherinaPetrou "Plant-like solar tracking in a photosymbiotic animal."
We are hiring a Postdoc to join the team
@bristolbiosci.bsky.social!
Apply👇
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQO766/r...

Predatory aggression evolved through adaptations to noradrenergic circuits - Nature Noradrenergic circuits support and balance aggressive behavioural states in predatory nematodes, distinguish predatory from non-predatory nematode species and are associated with the evolution of comp...

Why do some worms graze on bacteria while others hunt and kill?
Our study, published today in Nature, reveals how predatory aggression evolved in nematodes.
Led by @gunizgozeeren.bsky.social and @leoboeger.bsky.social across the @jameslightfoot.bsky.social and @monikakscholz.bsky.social labs.

Thank you Iñaki!

Thank yuo Omaya!

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...

Thank you Nacho!

Thank you Anna!!1

Thank you Arnau!

thank you Steve! Hope to see you soon.

There's still time to apply to be a 2026 @dev-journal.bsky.social Pathway to Independence fellow

For those about to apply for their first independent academic position, the programme offers

- mentoring
- leadership training
- profile rising
- networking

journals.biologists.com/dev/pages/pi...

Grazie Giacomo!

thanks Pawel!

Thanks you!!

Un viaggio all’origine dei sistemi nervosi Il nuovo progetto GRNevo, finanziato con un grant FIS-3 Advanced da 1,9 milioni di euro, studierà come si formano i neuroni durante lo sviluppo in specie animali molto distanti tra loro: dal moscerino...

Thrilled to share that I’ve been awarded a FIS-3 Advanced Grant (ERC-inspired) to study the evolution of neurogenic GRNs.
Recruiting soon: 4 postdocs + 3 PhDs
Press release in Italian — to decolonise scientific language 😄
magazine.unibo.it/it/articoli/...
Email me if interested in joining the lab

Independent origins of spicules reconcile paleontological and molecular evidence of sponge evolutionary history Sponges have a cryptic Ediacaran history because ancestral sponges were soft-bodied and had low fossilization potential.

Sponges are notoriously difficult to understand in evolutionary biology terms. I think this paper is a big step forward : www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

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

Check out our new paper!
@imperialsci.bsky.social

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...

Excited to share the final version of our study on Nematostella cell type regulatory programs. Part of our @erc.europa.eu StG project, this was a challenging 5-year effort extraodinarily led by @aelek.bsky.social and @martaig.bsky.social.

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...

Coexisting With Humans: Genomic and Behavioral Consequences in a Small and Isolated Bear Population Abstract. Climate and land use change have increased human–wildlife interactions, potentially reducing wild species density and prompting behavioral adapta

Apennine brown bear #genomic diversity - comparing whole #genome resequencing data from Apennine, Central European, and North American brown bears academic.oup.com/mbe/article/... #biodiversity #genomics

Want to carry a PhD in London, in one of the best Universities in the world?

We have two calls for PhD students to join our lab at Imperial College. Deadline January 12th. More details for applications in the link below. Feel free to keep in touch!

Out now: we’re happy to share our new preprint on CroCoNet (Cross-species Comparison of Networks), a framework for robust comparative network analyses.
👉 doi.org/10.1101/2025...