EMBL DB unit

✨At this week's DB seminar, Cyril Cros, a postdoc in the Arendt group @embl.org, presented his work on integrating single-cell and electron microscopy datasets of a marine worm. This approach combines molecular and structural data to provide new insights into cellular organization and function 🪱

Yesterday, EMBO Press hosted a #webinar "Peer review in practice: Insights from EMBO Press editors" part of a pilot project in collaboration with EMBL, aimed at encouraging the engagement of postdocs in the #PeerReview process. 🧪 #LifeSciences #research

Recruitment for the EMBL International PhD Programme is officially open! 🔊

At EMBL, we train young scientists to become skilled and creative future leaders in academia, industry and other sectors. Start your career in the life sciences with us!

🔎 Read more here:
tinyurl.com/4jdt2ra5

📣 Please spread: we’re hiring a Lab Manager! It is a critical position in our new lab. As our lab moves to Barcelona and joins the @crg.eu, we’re looking for a Lab Manager to help build the lab and set the lab atmosphere.
🔗 Apply here 👉 recruitment.crg.eu/content/jobs...

✨ At this week's DB seminar, Magdalena Schindler @lena-schindler.bsky.social, a postdoc in the Petridou group @nicolettapetridou.bsky.social @embl.org, presented her work on how cell cycle synchrony affects tissue-level mechanical transitions at the onset of morphogenesis in zebrafish embryos 🐟 🔬

Do not miss Camilla's talk tomorrow!

The call for Health + Life Science Alliance post doctoral fellowships has just opened: lnkd.in/dw9zxKSN.

Joint with my group @embl.org , Victoria Ingham Uni. Heidelberg, and Felix Hol at Radboud Univ., we are exploring how climate and chemistry shape mosquito behaviour for next-gen. vector control

✨We kicked off 2026 with a great seminar by Sapna Chhabra, postdoctoral fellow in the Aulehla group at the DB unit @embl.org. Sapna shared her research on how medaka fish embryos robustly segment their body axis in the presence of temperature changes 🐟 🔬 #DevelopmentalBiology #TemperatureRegulation

We are pleased to be a media partner for the @embl.org @embo.org Symposium - Biological oscillators: rhythms and synchronisation across scales #EESBioOsc
Abstract submission: 14 Jan 2026
Registration (On-site): 10 Feb 2026
Registration (Virtual): 17 Mar 2026
bit.ly/49mgD2Q

Want to join #EESCollectivity on site but haven’t registered yet? You can still submit an abstract for a poster presentation, so hurry up – you only have until 13 January! ➡️ s.embl.org/ees26-01-bl

Very much looking forward to next week's Metabolism in Development and Physiology seminar with @lempradllab.bsky.social & @diegosainzdelamaza.bsky.social! Two exciting topics, one powerhouse model system 🪰!

Join us! Register here for the zoom link: forms.gle/Y8QzucogKKrZ...

@floravincent.bsky.social @aikmi.bsky.social @justinmcrocker.bsky.social @isabellagraf.bsky.social @nicolettapetridou.bsky.social @jordivangestel.bsky.social @hanhtkvu.bsky.social @laura-rustarazo.bsky.social @sorayazwahlen.bsky.social @ymeiborg.bsky.social @simonknoblich.bsky.social

What a year it's been at the DB unit @embl.org! 2025 brought us hard work, exciting discoveries, and numerous initiatives that advanced our science. As we wrap up this year, we want to wish everyone a restful and joyful winter break.
We'll be back in 2026, ready for new challenges. See you then! 🎉

🎓 Congratulations to Victoria Witte from the Arendt group @embl.org who has defended her PhD thesis titled “A single cell transcriptomics investigation of the adult Platynereis dumerilii mushroom bodies” #DevelopmentalBiology

Well done Paco Majic @hhydrochaerus.bsky.social, Santi Herrera and colleagues 👏

Schematic of limb regeneration in axolotl, with growth controlled by two oppositely oriented morphogen gradients (SHH, FGF8).

Axolotl can regrow lost limbs, matching their body size. How? Our new theory-experiment paper in @pnas.org proposes how oppositely oriented morphogen gradients scaling with animal size promote proportional growth. Great collaboration with @tatianasg.bsky.social @cmcb-tud.bsky.social

Generative epigenetic landscapes map the topology and topography of cell fates | PNAS Epigenetic landscapes were proposed by Waddington as the central concept to describe cell fate dynamics in a locally low-dimensional space. In mode...

Very happy to share our 'Evoscape' paper, now published in PNAS ! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

🎓Congratulations to Adriaan Meiborg @ymeiborg.bsky.social, from the Vu group @hanhtkvu.bsky.social @embl.org who has defended his PhD thesis titled “A single-cell view of Schmidtea mediterranea growth dynamics” #DevelopmentalBiology

Congratulations, Ina! 🎉

🎉 Congratulations to Idoia Quintana @idoiaeu.bsky.social on receiving an ERC Consolidator Grant! Exciting research ahead.
#ERCCogGrant #Research

✨ This week's DB seminar was presented by Sosuke Fujita a postdoc in the Ikmi group @aikmi.bsky.social @embl.org. His research focuses on the role of neuropeptide signaling in development and regeneration using Nematostella as a model organism #devbio #regeneration #cnidarians

🎄 Day 3 of the 24 Days of Development ✨🧬
The yolk sac, the oldest extra-embryonic membrane, plays a key role in early nutrient transfer 💛🎁. Mouse yolk sac organoids reveal its function as a choriovitelline placenta and maternal-fetal exchange hub 🌟 doi.org/10.1016/j.yd...

Two heads are better than one, unless you’re a land planarian trying to find some grub. FORCE pilot project - check!

Video credit: Daniel Stoga

#nightscience
#WormWednesday
@hanhtkvu.bsky.social
@aikmi.bsky.social @embldbunit.bsky.social
@martaalvarez.bsky.social

Development's Pathway to Independence Programme Our grants support and encourage the sharing of knowledge throughout the community by facilitating international collaboration, event attendance and the organisation of scientific meetings, conference...

Applications are open for @dev-journal.bsky.social 2026 Pathway to Independence (PI) programme, supporting postdocs applying for group leader positions:

Mentoring
Profile raising
Leadership training
Network building

Spread the word...

www.biologists.com/grants/devel...

🎄 Day 2 of the 24 Days of Development ✨🧬
This study uncovers a key role for foxl2l in zebrafish sex differentiation. 🐟 Loss of foxl2l blocks meiosis, causes germ cells to accumulate, and results in complete female-to-male sex reversal. ❄️🔍🌟
doi.org/10.1016/j.yd...

🎄 Day 1 of the 24 Days of Development ✨🧬
This study shows how different fixation methods (PFA vs. TCA) change what researchers can visualize in chicken embryos using HCR or IHC. 🔍🐣🔬 doi.org/10.1016/j.yd...

✨This week at the DB Unit Seminar @embl.org, Gabriel Gastelum Urbina @gabyga16.bsky.social, a postdoc in the van Gestel Group @jordivangestel.bsky.social, presented her work on how predation shapes microbial community dynamics in soil #predation #microbialecology #microbialdynamics

We are hiring!

Interested? Apply here: go.mbl.edu/AS1887

SAVE THE DATE! Stoked to organize the 2026 Santa Cruz Developmental Biology Meeting with @rashmi-priya.bsky.social, @lowelab.bsky.social, and Shelbi Russell. Come learn about Biomedicine, Biomechanics, and the Biosphere, August 24-28, 2026. Registration dates, etc., coming soon! Please RT

Next Monday, 24th November at 2:30 PM (UK), we are welcoming two ERCs: Meng Zhu @zhumeng123.bsky.social (Harvard University) and Alex Plum @alex-plum.bsky.social (University of California San Diego). Don't forget to subscribe to our mailing list to receive the Zoom link! Hope to see you all! :)