Eva Pillai

The brand new website of the Bischoff lab

... together with my SciArt Gallery :)

So excited to share this as a new junior PI:

My brand-new lab website! 🎉🪰🌀
www.bischofflab.com

Please pass it on to young, motivated researchers looking for PhD positions 😊

And for the #FluorescenceFriday community: don’t miss the SciArt Gallery!

#CellBio #DevBio #PhDjob #PhDposition #Science

How do new centromeres evolve while staying compatible with the division machinery?

Discover it in our new Nature paper! We show centromeres transition gradually via a mix of drift, selection, and sex, reaching new states that still work with the kinetochore.

👉 doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09779-1

Congratulations Romain!! 🪰💥

In this week's DB unit seminar @embl.org, Eva Pillai @evapillai.bsky.social , a postdoc in the Arendt, Diz-Muñoz @diz-lab.bsky.social and Brunet groups @thibautbrunet.bsky.social , shared insights on the role of cell surface mechanics in multicellularity, using choanoflagellates as a model organism

NEW pub in @science.org 🥳

Is it sponges (panels A & B) or comb jellies (C & D) that root the animal tree of life?

For over 15 years, #phylogenomic studies have been divided.

We provide new evidence suggesting that...

🔗: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

An Asgard archaeon with internal membrane compartments

Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!

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

Asgard archaea are full of surprises, this time we found (tiny) microtubules (snapshots of microtubule evolution?!) - Check out our new paper on the cytoskeleton of Lokiarchaeum ossiferum: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

🚨Our collaboration with @centriolelab.bsky.social & @gautamdey.bsky.social is out today in @cp-cell.bsky.social
We show that #Expansion #Microscopy is a broad-spectrum modality for Euks, enabling 3D phenotypic maps rooted to phylogeny.
#ProtistsOnSky #SciComm #SciSky

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Exciting day for the lab: our 1rst paper is officially out in @currentbiology.bsky.social 🥳 Wonderful collaboration wt @gautamdey.bsky.social showing how Cryo-ExM achieves consistent immunostaining in diverse diatoms, from the lab and the natural environment 1/n
#ProtistsOnSky
tinyurl.com/2zxaund7

Glorious images and beautiful science! Congratulations to all, and what a hallowed date to get a paper out ;)

Beautiful autumn morning @embl.org Heidelberg

The evolutionary origins of synaptic proteins and their changing roles in different organisms across evolution Nature Reviews Neuroscience - Recent studies have shed further light on the evolutionary origins of chemical synapses, In this Review, Colgren and Burkhardt explore how ancient proteins were...

First neurons didn’t appear overnight. We trace their roots to ancient secretory cells - showing how lifestyle & behavior shaped the evolution of first synapses.🧠🌊 #Evolution #Neuroscience

Our latest in @natrevneuro.nature.com
Link: rdcu.be/eMX3E

@jeffcolgren.bsky.social @msarscentre.bsky.social

Wow!! That is spectacular!!

Latest from ours: www.cell.com/cell-reports...

This is two stories in one: a case study/cautionary tale on developing genetic tools in new organisms, and the first hint at a gene regulatory network for choanoflagellate multicellular development (which turn out to involve a Hippo/YAP/ECM loop!) A 🧵

Deeply saddened by Sir John Gurdon’s passing. A pioneer in developmental biology and Nobel laureate with endless curiosity and humility (I’ll never forget the day he asked me -then a student- to teach him a protocol in the institute bearing his name!). Elegant science, fabulous hair… truly a legend!

Automatic filament tracing in 3D data is now only a few clicks (or one macro) away! In the amazing #BigTrace FIJI plugin by @ekatrukha.bsky.social 🤩

My workflow will be to autotrace and then manually correct the autotraces, reducing the time for our tracing significantly!

🤯🤩

Flagellar gliding in choanoflagellates Freire-Delgado and Brunet discover a new mode of cell motility in choanoflagellates, the closest relatives of animals. Under mild confinement, choanoflagellate move over surfaces without cell deformat...

New short paper from our lab @currentbiology.bsky.social, in which we discover of a new mode of cell motility for choanoflagellates: flagellar gliding. www.cell.com/current-biol... - A 🧵

🧠🦈Excited to present our latest work🧠🦈Interested in brain evolution? And shark embryos? Then read on… Our work sheds light on the deep origins of our brain’s most complex regions.

Congratulations Bruno!!! This is some beautiful science 🤩

Beautiful story that combined mechanobiology, evolution, and the power of fly (opto)genetics to make sense of the cephalic furrow. It was a pleasure writing the News & Views. No doubt this is still just the beginning for the field of mechano-evo-devo! Hats off to all involved

How did life get multicellular? Five simple organisms could have the answer Single-celled species that often stick together in colonies have researchers rethinking the origin of animals.

For some three billion years, unicellular organisms ruled Earth. Then, around one billion years ago, a new chapter of life began

go.nature.com/3JyRV4S

Want to acquire #ExM images like this and help us understand the true extent of cytoskeletal diversity across the tree of life? This position might be for you!

embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j...

With @dudinlab.bsky.social
@embl.org @biology-unige.bsky.social @moorefound.bsky.social

Mechanochemical coupling of cell shape and organ function optimizes heart size and contractile efficiency in zebrafish Andrews et al. demonstrate that multiscale feedback between mechanical and chemical cues builds a functional heart to support zebrafish embryonic life. Cell recruitment and organ-scale forces drive tr...

Thrilled to bits to see our latest work online in Dev Cell! 🥳

We wanted to know how cells build functional organs with precision🫀🫁📏 Here we show how coupling of cell shape and organ function fine tunes the form and contractile power of the developing #zebrafish heart 1/n

tinyurl.com/cell-stretch

Paper accepted!!

Our new paper on structure and growth of Porpita porpita - rdcu.be/etcY6 . Like Velella and Physalia, this is a colonial cnidarian that floats at the surface of the Ocean. The whole colony arises form a single embryo through clonal growth that gives rise to many specialized bodies.

Morphogenesis & Organogenesis!
Part 1 (full) in the comments 👇

Comment if you'd like to be added (regardless of age or career stage!)

Please post your own biology-related starter packs using #BioStarterPacks

🧬🔬🪰🐟🐁🌱

Me too!

1/27 We have a new paper out! Turns out that snowflake yeast have been hiding a secret from us - they've evolved a (very!) crude circulatory system. Not with blood vessels or a heart, but through spontaneous fluid flows powered by their metabolism. 🧪🔬

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

How did life begin, and why does it matter today? Excited to have contributed to this ASM @asm.org report, supported by @MooreFound, exploring 3 key steps in Earth’s history - from simple cells to complex life- and what it means for future science.
Read more: asm.org/reports/earl...