2026 Waddington Medal Winner - James Briscoe - BSDB - British Society for Developmental Biology We are very pleased to announce that this year’s Waddington medal winner is James Briscoe. His fundamental discoveries have helped shape our understanding of of how morphogens work, and he has played ...

Honoured and overwhelmed to receive the 2026 Waddington Medal. Science is a team effort, and I've been fortunate to work alongside exceptional people asking hard questions. Thank you to the BSDB and to everyone who has been part of the journey.

bsdb.org/2026/03/24/2...

A cellular basis for the hourglass pattern in vertebrate embryogenesis Nature Communications - The developmental hourglass has long been seen at the level of embryos. By zooming in to single cells, this Perspective shows that mid-embryonic conservation arises from...

I am thrilled to share our new publication in @natcomms.nature.com showing that the vertebrate developmental hourglass has a cellular basis. We asked whether this embryonic pattern is already evident at the level of cells, the building blocks of complex organisms.
rdcu.be/e70XT

Hierarchical lineage architecture of human and avian spinal cord revealed by single-cell genomic barcoding The formation of neural circuits depends on the precise spatial and temporal organisation of neuronal populations during development. In the vertebrate spinal cord, progenitors are patterned into mole...

Thrilled to share my main postdoc work with @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social

We used genomic barcoding + scRNAseq in chick & human embryos to reveal a lineage architecture that reshapes how we understand neural tube development & cell fate decisions
🧵👇

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

🎙️En motiu del #DiaMundialDelsAnimals, al #PRBBPodcast #LaMareDeLaCiència parlem amb @jorgelazaro.bsky.social d' @embl.org, que ha creat un petit zoo de cèl·lules mare 🧬 per entendre com es desenvolupen els embrions en diferents espècies… inclosos els humans!

🎧Escolta’l aquí 👉https://tuit.cat/y31xe

Derivation of embryonic stem cells across avian species - Nature Biotechnology Embryonic stem cells for chicken and seven other avian species are derived.

Finally .. incredible much awaited wok on deriving avian naive ESCs

“Derivation of embryonic stem cells across avian species”

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

Preprint alert!
We combined microfluidics, proteomics, and RNA-seq to map spatiotemporal protein expression during mouse somitogenesis and found a novel regulatory strategy: dynamic antagonistic gradients fine-tune signalling strength.

doi.org/10.1101/2025...

I'm happy to share that I recently started a postdoctoral position in the labs of @lab-turner.bsky.social and @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social at the Francis Crick Institute. Stay tuned for some marsupial development!

In preprints: a new preprint curation initiative from Development

In preprints: robust segmentation clock outputs via cell cycle and synthetic coupling

Here, @jorgelazaro.bsky.social and @ebisuyamiki.bsky.social discuss two #preprints looking into the mechanisms regulating somitogenesis through cell- and tissue-level couplings:
doi.org/10.1242/dev....

Jorge and I wrote an introductory article highlighting two HOT new preprints on the segmentation clock!

In preprints: robust segmentation clock outputs via cell cycle and synthetic coupling The segmented body plan of vertebrates becomes apparent during development, when two bilaterally symmetrical rows of somites emerge along the body axis. This process, known as somitogenesis, occurs se...

In this "In preprints" piece, we highlight recent work from the @sonnenlab.bsky.social and Kageyama labs exploring novel mechanisms and tools involved in cell- and tissue-level couplings during somitogenesis. Congrats to the authors! @dev-journal.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1242/dev....

Thrilled to announce that I am looking for a Research Technician/Assistant to join my lab @imbavienna.bsky.social. Please consider applying if you’re enthusiastic about #devbio #stemcells #teamwork and excited to help shaping a new lab!

Thankful for any retweet! 🫶

imba.onlyfy.jobs/job/l6u2m980

Congratulations!!

Great opportunity and amazing mentor. Do not think twice!

We’re looking for PhD students to join the lab! 🧫🧑‍🔬
Curious about how metabolic processes shape patterning and morphogenesis? Enthusiastic about stem cell models for human development? - Then apply through the VBC PhD program! training.vbc.ac.at/phd-program/

‼️Deadline: April 15‼️

Thank you for this extensive review! I really enjoyed reading it.

Latest work:

Review on the evolvability of vertebral number, and the developmental processes underpinning it

Written by Callum Bucklow, @bertaverd.bsky.social, and myself

Check it out here: doi.org/10.32942/X2K...

Kristina Stapornwongkul is joining IMBA! The Stapornwongkul lab will study how the nutritional environment and metabolic processes influence embryonic development—an emerging research area with broad implications for both fundamental biology and biomedical applications. Welcome, Kristina!

Incredible news! Congrats Kristina!

Very happy to see this out. We observed that different metabolic pathways act as selective modulators of developmental tempo instead of affecting it globally. Congrats to Mitsuhiro for all the hard work!

We thrilled to see our latest study led by @jeremie-subrini.bsky.social now out in @science.org 🔬

What are the specific functions of each Y-chromosome gene in fertility ? We generated and studied 13 Y-gene KO mouse models to find out! 🧬

www.science.org/doi/full/10....

We wrote this for the #SpemannMangold organiser centennial meeting #Freiburg 🙏 It is about whether early embryos should be on top 👆or at the bottom👇of the #hourglass🤔(and other issues)🤓 #InHoxWeTrust 🤟pegasus.epfl.ch/

CTCF-dependent insulation of Hoxb13 and the heterochronic control of tail length | PNAS Mammalian tail length is controlled by several genetic determinants, among which are Hox13 genes, whose function is to terminate the body axis. Acc...

The difference in the number of caudal vertebrae (tail length) is most likely controlled by the time it takes until trunk extension stops. This has been nicely addressed here: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

I like to think that the conserved number of pre-caudal vertebrae in mammals is connected to the scaling between the segmentation clock period and the overall developmental tempo. Allochronic scaling produces similar number of segments.

Thorough study comparing the vertebral formula of more than 388 tetrapod species. The relationship between Hox expression and vertebral identity is not trivial, specially in birds. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

The case against simplistic genetic explanations of evolution Summary: Extreme traits in animals, from the origin of limbs to the loss of tails, capture public attention. This Review argues that scientists should not seek simple explanations for how they evolved...

Please read and share this ⬇️

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

My first post on @bsky.app. So happy to announce that our work has been published in Development by @biologists.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1242/dev....

Also a big thanks for "The people behind the papers" article as well! doi.org/10.1242/dev....

2nd edition of the EMBO Workshop on Dev timing & evolution will take place in Paris.

6-9 May 2025. Save the date!!!

coming-soon.embo.org/w25-105

Thanks to the Ebisuya lab for such a wonderful PhD defense celebration!