RobertoFeuda

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...

Opportunities Please feel free to contact me if you are interested in projects and future funding opportunities. If you want to discuss  opportunities , please remember to send me: a CV a short paragraph on your...

Also have a few other projects available (ranging from ecology/behaviour to genomics and neuroscience) for applications through the NERC and BBSRC Doctoral Training programs, some details here www.shmontgomery.co.uk/opportunitie... but feel free to get in touch!

YouTube video by Marginalia Review of Books The Creativity of Life: A Conversation with Naomi Moris, Part 1

In the summer (you can tell by the shirt) I had a fabulous conversation about embryology and stem cells with @nmoris.bsky.social at the Crick Institute. Here's the first part of it.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WB0...

Adenine DNA methylation associated with transcriptionally permissive chromatin is widespread across eukaryotes - Nature Genetics Long-read sequencing in 18 unicellular eukaryotes reveals that 6mA is widespread across eukaryotes and is enriched at transcriptionally permissive regions, which are also marked by H3K4me3.

Out today, our take on 6-methyladenine #6mA evolution in Eukaryotes @natgenet.nature.com. We asked a simple question, is really DNA 6mA common across the eukaryotes? The answer is "yes" if you're a unicellular eukaryote 🦠, not so if you're multicellular 🐝🌱🍄. www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/9

Our study on the role of LTR5HS and SVAs in regulation of human neural crest migration is now published as peer-reviewed paper on @molsystbiol.org!
Congrats to first author brilliant postdoc Laura Deelen, and all the authors involved! @imperialsci.bsky.social
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

Happy to share Jialin's first publication. She did a great job exploring the transition to land in animals. Co-supervised by the great Jordi Paps and me and in collaboration with Davide Pisani and @phil-donoghue.bsky.social

Convergent genome evolution shaped the emergence of terrestrial animals - Nature Comparisons of 154 genomes from 21 animal phyla and outgroups have been used to reconstruct ancestral adaptation to life on land across 11 distinct terrestrialization events, revealing strong evidence for convergent genomic evolution across the animal kingdom and recurring periods of terrestrial colonization.

Nature research paper: Convergent genome evolution shaped the emergence of terrestrial animals

go.nature.com/4i0i61w

Just gonna put this here for now
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
bsky.app/profile/jlst...

In preprints: multiomics of low temperature acclimation in the era of intensifying temperature fluctuations In a warming world, all life forms – endotherms and ectotherms alike – are finding their homeostasis being challenged. The environmental change is challenging at all stages of life. How different orga...

Working in a biomed institute, its natural to think about health & medical impact of dev bio but there's more to dev bio

Agriculture is dev bio (plant growth, livestock breeding)

And dev bio is important to understand environment & climate impact. See e.g:

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

Monoaminergic neurons share transcriptional identity across Bilaterian animals The evolutionary conservation of cell types over deep time has long been theorised but remains difficult to demonstrate. Monoaminergic neurons, which produce molecules such as serotonin and dopamine, ...

A productive month for the lab — between new preprints and papers!

Monoaminergic neurons evo and devo www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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

Opsin evolution in plankton
academic.oup.com/gbe/article/...

Mosquito Cell Atlas (small contrib.)
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...