Rory Cooper

Developing scales on the head of a shark embryo, stained with YoPro1 iodide (labelling cell nuclei) and imaged with light sheet microscopy 🦈🔬🧪

Its the small-spotted catshark (Scyliorhinus canicula)!

Shark embryos of four different developmental stages, growing outside of their eggcases 🦈 🧪

🧬🇬🇧 UK Evo-Devo Starter Pack go.bsky.app/SgRdF9T

Thanks Peter, really appreciate it!

Had a lovely time at the Northern England Developmental Biology meeting on Thursday, and UK Evo Devo on Friday. Great to hear about the fascinating ongoing #DevBio research in the UK and beyond!

UK EvoDevo 2025 poster by Giacomo Mogglioli. Drawings show the development of the tea cup.

UK EvoDevo is happening today!

We'll try to answer the eternal question, which came first the tea cup of the egg? ☕🥚

Sponsored by @biologists.bsky.social @novogene-europe.bsky.social @genewiz.bsky.social @royalsocietypublishing.org @qmul.bsky.social

Here's a tortoise embryo developing inside its egg. Check out our new article in @cp-iscience.bsky.social to learn how molecular and mechanical systems sculpt their intricate head scales 🐢🧪
www.cell.com/iscience/ful...

Embryonic chimeras: donors in, hosts out

Read this Research Highlight showcasing work from @stanleystrawbridge.bsky.social, Alexander Fletcher, Jennifer Nichols & co.

doi.org/10.1242/dev....

@scicambridge.bsky.social
@drn-sheffield.bsky.social
@uoe-igc.bsky.social
@edinburgh-uni.bsky.social

Chemical and mechanical patterning of tortoise skin scales occur in different regions of the head Biological sciences; Zoology; Evolutionary biology

🐢 The tortoise head is sculpted by physics and genes! Our new research shows that tortoise head scales form through two distinct processes:
👉 Chemical signaling shapes the sides
👉 Mechanical stress folds the top
🔗 cell.com/iscience/ful...
@cellpress.bsky.social @biology-unige.bsky.social

Thanks very much!

Head scales of the Sulcata tortoise, imaged with light sheet microscopy. Our new study in @cp-iscience.bsky.social reveals that their emergence is controlled by both chemical cues and mechanical forces. Read the full article here 🐢🔬🧪
www.cell.com/iscience/ful...

This is the skull of a tortoise embryo imaged with light sheet microscopy. Check out our new article in @cp-iscience.bsky.social to learn how both chemical signalling and mechanical forces sculpt their intricate head scales 🐢🔬🧪
www.cell.com/iscience/ful...

Thanks Kyra!

Chemical and mechanical patterning of tortoise skin scales occur in different regions of the head Biological sciences; Zoology; Evolutionary biology

Excited to share our new research in @cp-iscience.bsky.social! We reveal that tortoise head scales are sculpted through two distinct developmental processes - chemical signalling and mechanical folding 🐢🔬🧪
@lanevol.bsky.social @genevunige.bsky.social

www.cell.com/iscience/ful...

It's finally here! Great start of the summer. We got our latest preprint from @chemamd.bsky.social in @qmulsbbs.bsky.social @qmulse.bsky.social, showing evidence of developmental system drift in the specification of dorsoventral (belly vs back) axis in annelids 🪱🪱🪱
#DevBio #EvoDevo

‼️10 days left to register and submit your abstract!! Come and join us to help relaunch the UK EvoDevo meetings. An exciting day with friends and good science!

Register and submit your abstract here 👉🏻 eshop.qmul.ac.uk/conferences-...

Teeth first evolved as sensory tissue in the armored exoskeletons of ancient fish, fossil scans find Anyone who has ever squirmed through a dental cleaning can tell you how sensitive teeth can be. This sensitivity gives important feedback about temperature, pressure—and yes, pain—as we bite and chew ...

New paper from the lab: Our teeth arose as sensory organs on the outside of the body of ancient jawless fish.!! Congrats to Yara Haridy and the team!
Background and video: phys.org/news/2025-05...
Open Access Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
News and Views: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Exacerbated sonic hedgehog signalling promotes a transition from chemical pre-patterning of chicken reticulate scales to mechanical skin folding: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... @lanevol.bsky.social‬ @rorylcooper.bsky.social‬ #OpenBiology #DevBio #biophysics

Collage of the five different header images, shown from top to bottom. Image descriptions: 1. Zebrafish lymphatics by Daniel Castranova. Lymphatic vessels shown in blue and neutrophils shown in orange in the head of a double transgenic juvenile zebrafish. 2. Catshark by Rory Cooper. Cleared and alizarin and stained hatchling catshark embryo. 3. Preimplantation mouse embryos by Markus Schliffka. Different stages of mouse preimplantation development from the zygote to the blastocyst, with nuclei in cyan and actin in grey. 4. Zebrafish retina by Gonzalo Aparicio. Retina from a 72hpf zebrafish embryo. Photoreceptor marker shown in red, while gfap:eGFP (a Muller cell marker) is shown z-depth pseudo-coloured. 5. Mouse embryo by Evan Bardot. Cleared E12.5 embryo labelled with antibodies against Cntn2 (green) and ColIV (magenta). Generated in Collaboration with James Muller.

Have you noticed the rotating header images on our site? They're winners of a competition we ran in 2021. Thank you @gaparicio.bsky.social @rorylcooper.bsky.social @zebrafish007.bsky.social @ebardot.bsky.social & Markus Schliffka for the images!

Give us a visit: thenode.biologists.com

Exacerbated sonic hedgehog signalling promotes a transition from chemical pre-patterning of chicken reticulate scales to mechanical skin folding | Open Biology Many examples of self-organized embryonic patterning can be attributed to chemically mediated systems comprising interacting morphogens. However, mechanical patterning also contributes to the emergenc...

ICYMI, our new work in @royalsocietypublishing.org's Open Biology shows how mechanical forces can drive patterning. By altering growth & material properties of the chicken embryo's skin in vivo, we induce a shift from molecular to mechanical patterning 🐣 🧪
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Exacerbated sonic hedgehog signalling promotes a transition from chemical pre-patterning of chicken reticulate scales to mechanical skin folding | Open Biology Many examples of self-organized embryonic patterning can be attributed to chemically mediated systems comprising interacting morphogens. However, mechanical patterning also contributes to the emergenc...

🚨 We make the cover of Open Biology!
Boosting sonic hedgehog signalling in chicken embryos flips the script of skin patterning—chemical pre-patterns give way to mechanical folding.
🧬 From Turing to tissue mechanics.
🧪 ➡️ royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
#shh #DevBio @royalsociety.org

We are recruiting new PhD students!

Are you interested in tissue mechanics and how size in animals is controlled? Then join us for an exciting PhD at the interface of developmental biology, biophysics and computational modelling.

Check our webpage for more detail:
lsi.exeter.ac.uk/groups/harma...

Hatchling chicken leg showing precisely patterned scales

This is the leg of a hatchling chicken, showing their precisely arranged scales 🐣. Read our new article in @royalsocietypublishing.org's Open Biology to learn how they develop, and how we can mechanically transform them into a pattern of brain-like folds! 🧪
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Exacerbated sonic hedgehog signalling promotes a transition from chemical pre-patterning of chicken reticulate scales to mechanical skin folding | Open Biology Many examples of self-organized embryonic patterning can be attributed to chemically mediated systems comprising interacting morphogens. However, mechanical patterning also contributes to the emergenc...

Check out our new research in @royalsocietypublishing.org's Open Biology! We experimentally induce a transition from chemical to mechanical patterning in the chicken embryo 🐣🔬 @lanevol.bsky.social 🧪

royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

The wing of a chick embryo at the twelfth day of incubation, with feather buds covering the entire embryonic wing.

The March 2025 issue of @plosbiology.org is live, and the cover is finger-lickin' good! Many thanks to @rorylcooper.bsky.social & @lanevol.bsky.social for this stunning cover image of a developing chick embryo wing. journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Great to see our chicken wing image featured on the cover of @plosbiology.org 🐣🔬! To learn more about how these feathers develop, check out the full article here ⬇️🧪
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

@lanevol.bsky.social @genevunige.bsky.social

This microCT image shows shark skin denticles— small tooth-like scales capable of reducing drag and improving hydrodynamics 🔬🦈 🧪

Sounds great, looking forward to seeing your work!

This is the head of a chicken embryo after 16 days of development, imaged with light sheet microscopy 🐣🔬🧪