Maurice Elphick

Molecular and neural basis of pleasant touch sensation A neuropeptide and spinal neural circuit that encode and transmit pleasant touch sensation have been identified.

Molecular and neural basis of pleasant touch sensation | www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Are you a computational postdoc or even in the last year of your PhD and you want to set up your own lab? Want to work in one of the most multi-disciplinary and multi-national institutions in the world? Want to be a leader in understanding biology - molecules up? Apply below!

Evolution of neurohormone function revealed by actions of kisspeptin-type peptides in an echinoderm - BMC Biology Background The neurohormone kisspeptin regulates reproductive maturation and function in mammals by stimulating hypothalamic production and release of gonadotropin-releasing hormone. However, little i...

KISSPEPTIN FUNCTION REVEALED IN AN INVERTEBRATE - Congrats to @tabindaislam.bsky.social whose first PhD paper was published today in BMC Biology. Thank you to co-authors @luisguerra.bsky.social & Dean Semmens and to our funders - @leverhulme.ac.uk BBSRC & IsDB.

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

A celebration of the career of Chris Faulkes After nearly three decades at Queen Mary, Professor Chris Faulkes retires as a cherished teacher, researcher, and mentor. Renowned for his pioneering work on naked mole-rats and mammalian social evolu...

My friend and colleague @moleratsarego.bsky.social has retired, and I wrote this short piece about his amazing career. (Also, molerats are amazing). www.qmul.ac.uk/sbbs/news/it...

Congratulations to Tabinda Islam @tabindaislam.bsky.social who successfully defended her PhD thesis today. Thank you to examiners David Wilcockson and Leo Guasti.

Please join us for the 12th European Conference on Echinoderms, which will be held at University College London from Monday 13th July to Friday 17th July 2026. The deadline for submitting an abstract is Monday 2nd February 2026. www.euroechino.net

Confocal microscopy image of a juvenile sea star (Patiria miniata) viewed from the oral side. The animal has a five-armed, star-shaped body with a central nerve ring. The nervous system is labeled in green, forming radial nerve cords extending into each arm, and cell nuclei are labeled in red throughout the animal. The image appears against a black background and has a holiday-ornament-like appearance.

Felt a little festive at the microscope this morning for #FluorescenceFriday 🎄

Here’s the nervous system of a juvenile sea star ⭐️

Green = acetylated tubulin, red = nuclei

Happy holidays!

Method of the Year 2025: electron microscopy-based connectomics - Nature Methods A large network of interconnected neurons serves as the basis of brain function and of behavior. Methodological advances have enabled the reconstruction of large-scale and even whole-brain connectomes...

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

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

Single-nucleus profiling highlights the all-brain echinoderm nervous system A sea urchin is a head with a brain-like organization and a vertebrate-type retinal signature.

Our study, just published in #ScienceAdvances and funded by @hfspo.bsky.social, explores the post metamorphic cell composition of the sea urchin juvenile, revealing that its body is head-like. Long considered brainless creatures, they’re all brain instead!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The website for the 12th European Conference on #Echinoderms (London, July 2026) has gone live today. I am pleased to be involved as a member of the organising committee. Please spread the word: www.euroechino.net

LondonEvoDevo meeting's website

Come join the #LondonEvoDevo network half day meeting, hosted at @ucl.ac.uk on Friday November 7th, 2025. Submit your abstract by Oct 27th (or your interest in joining) here: forms.gle/TRbdrCkQTcY2.... Friendly vibes and free registration. More info here: londonevodevo.co.uk.

Chema Martin, wearing a dark blue sweater and green trousers, presents his work in front of a seated audience. Behind him, parts of a slide is visible on a screen. It shows a schematic of a planktonic larva.

It was fantastic welcoming back Chema Martin @chemamd.bsky.social from @qmulsbbs.bsky.social at the Centre today 👏 He shared with us his latest work on spiralian larvae evolution, with fascinating insights on the timing of gene expression during development. Thank you for visiting us!

Thrilled to share that the lab has been awarded a @wellcometrust.bsky.social Discovery Award to keep exploring the evolution of 6-methyladenine #6mA in Eukaryotes. We'll open postdoc (3️⃣) and tech (1️⃣) positions to start in 2026, please share with candidates or reach out if you’d like to join us.

BBC Two - Secrets of the Brain, Series 1, Episode 1 Jim Al-Khalili reveals how the staggeringly complex human brain evolved.

🧪 I have a new TV offering: a 2-part Horizon special on BBC2 going out on 29th Sep and 6th October. It is called Secrets of the Brain. See
See www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Now Hiring! Whitney Laboratory Assistant/Associate Professor in Marine Bioscience
Apply & More Info - explore.jobs.ufl.edu/en-us/job/53...
We seek a creative, collaborative scientist whose research harnesses or advances cutting-edge tools. Please help spread the word & reach out with any questions!

From Neuropeptides to Toxins: Illuminating the Origins of Venom Complexity in Cone Snails https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.26.678268v1

Congratulations to Oğuz Akar who was awarded the title of Doctor in Philosophy in Cell and Biology yesterday!

We are recruiting at @qmul.bsky.social
Please spread the word and encourage applications from potential applicants with relevant expertise.
qmul-jobs.tal.net/vx/mobile-1/...

CLEM-Reg: an automated point cloud-based registration algorithm for volume correlative light and electron microscopy - Nature Methods CLEM-Reg automates the three-dimensional alignment of volume correlative light and electron microscopy datasets by leveraging probabilistic point cloud registration techniques for fast and accurate re...

Super happy to see CLEM-Reg out in @natmethods.nature.com! A short thread on the algorithm behind it and how to try it out for yourself🧵(1/9)

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

Black square with the writing 'Queen Mary University of London Shortlisted for University of the Year' written on it in white, along with the Time Higher Education Awards 2025 logo in gold and white

Queen Mary is delighted to be a ‘University of the Year’ finalist in the #THEAwards!

And we're so proud Professors @larschittka.bsky.social and @alastairhackney.bsky.social have been shortlisted for Outstanding Research Supervisor of the Year. @timeshighered.bsky.social

tinyurl.com/ebe8yx23

The genomic origin of the unique chaetognath body plan - Nature Genomic, single-cell transcriptomic and epigenetic analyses show that chaetognaths, following extensive gene loss in the gnathiferan lineage, relied on newly evolved genes and lineage-specific tandem ...

After nearly twenty years in the making, our attempt at understanding what makes the chaetognath phylum so unique has finally been published! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
with #LauraPiovani @dariagavr.bsky.social @alexdemendoza.bsky.social @chemamd.bsky.social and others /1

Repressive cytosine methylation is a marker of viral gene transfer across divergent eukaryotes Abstract. Cytosine DNA methylation patterns vary widely across eukaryotes, with its ancestral roles being understood to have included both transposable ele

Happy to see our latest work out in @molbioevol.bsky.social. We revisit the evolution of 5-methylcytosine across neglected eukaryotic supergroups, establishing an ancestral repressive role silencing genome invaders, both transposons and viral elements👾: academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-... 🧵 1/7

Functional analysis of ligand-gated chloride channels in a cnidarian sheds light on the evolution of inhibitory signalling γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is the predominant inhibitory transmitter in the vertebrate nervous system. Fast inhibitory signalling is mediated by type A GABA receptors (GABAARs), which form pentameric ...

Very interesting paper that provides new insights into the evolution of ligand-gated chloride channels.

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

Centre for Evolutionary and Functional Genomics QMUL Faculty of Science and Engineering Research Centres

www.seresearch.qmul.ac.uk/cefg/

Here in @qmulsbbs.bsky.social at @qmul.bsky.social we are seeking to appoint (deadline for applications 17th August 2025) a Reader (Associate Professor) in EVOLUTIONARY GENOMICS to join the QMUL Centre for Evolutionary & Functional Genomics. Please spread the word.
qmul-jobs.tal.net/vx/appcentre...

Great to be at #ICCE19 in Sendai Japan with Nayeli Escudero Castelan, Tabinda Islam and Kite Jones presenting our research on neuropeptide signalling in echinoderms.

“On the tendency of Species to form Varieties” paper by Wallace and Darwin originally published in the Journal of the Linnean Society of London, Zoology. Read on 1st July 1858 at the Society.

Portrait of Darwin (1809-1882) commissioned by the Society in 1883 which can be found in the Society’s Meeting Room.

Portrait of Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913).

Today marks a special anniversary for us. On July 1, 1858, the theory of evolution by natural selection was first presented at a Linnean Society meeting. Papers written by Charles Darwin & Alfred Russel Wallace were read, shaping a groundbreaking idea still powering science today: buff.ly/uBdX7N1

Congratulations Pedro. Much deserved.

I am grateful to have been promoted to the highest rank as Research Professor (ICREA) following my récent 5-year evaluation-a meaningful milestone at the end of my academic path. 🥂🥂