Xantha Karp

Yay, congrats, @irinakitop.bsky.social !!

1/4 Our preprint “Modulation of the RNase P/MRP complex and mitochondrial ribosome enhances cytosolic ribosome coordination and sustains longevity” is now live @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social 📄 #agingbiology #ribosome 👉https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.23.707525v1

🪱Worm-friends! Join us this summer in Madison for the C. elegans topic meeting(s) - MAPSS *and* DevCell 🪱

Early birds get the you-know-what, and the early registration deadline is THIS FRI: conferences.union.wisc.edu/ceaging/

It's buy-one-get-one, and who out there doesn't love a deal?? 🙌

Super cool! Great work @ashih-cd.bsky.social.

Pablo Picasso created a figure with light, 1949. Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection.

In Gjon Mili’s photographs of Pablo Picasso drawing with light, you see the figure because the camera integrates time.

Inspired by long-exposure photography, Dante Ashih, an undergraduate in my lab, built the Wormtrails Python package to make it easier to see recent C. elegans behavior.

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Congratulations!!

Here's our paper showing that collagens contribute to the final shape of the reproductive system in C. elegans

doi.org/10.1016/j.ma...

I have had a few people ask me who Mark is - it’s Mark Edgley! He used to be the curator of the CGC. Did you know that the CGC was at the University of Missouri before? Take a look at this Research Resources issue from the NIH in 1986. #celegans

The Dream and MEC NuRD complexes reinforce SPR-5/MET-2 maternal reprogramming to maintain the germline-soma distinction Abstract. The proper coordination of transcription factors, ATP dependent chromatin remodelers and histone modifications is essential for tissue specific g

Excited to Share Our New Publication in #GENETICS!

academic.oup.com/genetics/adv...

Check out our new publication of our research exploring how the DREAM and MEC NuRD complexes reinforce SPR 5/MET 2 maternal reprogramming to safeguard proper developmental cell fates in C. elegans.

We in the C. elegans community are lucky to have the #wormfeed. Big shout out to @microbeminded.bsky.social for creating such a wonderful gathering place.

And you can pin the wormfeed to your homescreen: bsky.app/profile/did:...

Big Event Today

MAHA INSTITUTE PRESENTS
Reclaiming Science: The People's NIH
with Dr. Jay Bhattacharya

January 30, 2026
12:00–5:00pm
Registration Starting at 11:00am
The Willard Hotel
The Crystal Room
1401 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20004

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Congratulations!!

A stress-dependent postembryonic role for the core CPA factor CFIM-1 in germline integrity Abstract. Post-transcriptional processing of pre-mRNAs by alternative polyadenylation (APA) generates a diversity of transcript isoforms at the 3’ untransl

I am pleased to share our latest paper on the role of the alternative polyadenylation factor CFIM-1 (NUDT21) in C. elegans germline development. academic.oup.com/genetics/adv...

The Caenorhabditis Genetics Center Curated Special Collections: a guide to protein degradation systems Abstract. The Caenorhabditis Genetics Center is launching a new website feature—“Curated Special Collections”—designed to help researchers navigate the eve

The Caenorhabditis Genetics Center Curated Special Collections: a guide to protein degradation systems

academic.oup.com/genetics/adv...

Congratulations to all!!

Yuyan Xu

The project was led by my amazing grad student, now Dr. Yuyan Xu. This was beautiful and longstanding collaboration with Sahana Gangadharan and Maedeh Seyedolmohadesin in @vivekvenkatachalam.bsky.social lab. We also had important contributions from Jun Liu and @monikakscholz.bsky.social lab. 2/

Friends! I am so happy to share our new preprint!

Hydrogen peroxide has been the most common reactive chemical threat to life forms since the Great Oxygenation Event 2.5 billion years ago.

How do animals like C. elegans sense it fast and escape?

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

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Epigenetic silencing is a barrier to editing the X chromosome using the SEC-based CRISPR/Cas9 knock-in protocol in C. elegans #micropublication #biology #data #caltechlibrary #Celegans #Genomic #Methods #NewFinding #Methodology https://micropublication.org/journals/biology/micropub-biology-001974

#Celegans folks - What is your experience this year with the NIH? I'm troubled that a trainee was told that our work is too "NSF'y" just because we are using worms to address foundational questions. This might have been just one PO, or it might be evidence of a major shift in NIH priorities. ??

Opposing roles for lipocalins and a CD36 family scavenger receptor in apical extracellular matrix-dependent protection of narrow tube integrity Summary: Lipocalins and SCARBs are lipid transporters that influence susceptibility to infection and disease. This study shows that lipocalin and SCARB mutations affect the organization of a protectiv...

Lipocalins and Scavenger Receptors affect the luminal matrix that prevents narrow tubes from collapsing - now in press in Development! #aECM #Celegans

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

New research in #G3journal shows the regulation of hlh-2 transcription during the Notch-mediated lateral specification of the anchor cell in #Celegans hermaphrodite gonad. buff.ly/XabuH8o

a close up of a brown surface with a few spots ALT: a close up of a brown surface with a few spots

The appropriations bill that includes NIH is being finalized.

The Senate bill includes a bipartisan amendment from Senators Capito (WV) and Baldwin (WI) limiting multi-year funding of grants.

The House version does not and OMB has issued a veto threat if the House includes such language.

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I Tried to Be the Government. It Did Not Go Well. My five-month quest to monitor the weather, track inflation, and inspect milk for harmful microorganisms

Check out this story! Atlantic writer Alexandra Petri visited my lab and played with some fruit flies and human organoids as she wrote about experiencing things that were affected by government cuts.

www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

Congrats!!

I'm so excited that @christ3na.bsky.social 's paper describing temporal control of photoreceptor development in human organoids is out at Genes and Dev and we got the cover!

genesdev.cshlp.org/content/40/1...

genesdev.cshlp.org/content/40/1...

Worm Webs and Wormstuff Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes in a lab notices a phenomenon that has been under the noses of researchers for a long time but ignored as a distraction. After more careful observations, replications, a...

We noticed that a plate of C. elegans worms, under starvation conditions, forms stable living spatial structures, which we dub "worm webs". These webs seem to be scaffolded by an excreted substance from living or dead worms, which we dub "wormstuff". www.focolab.org/post/worm-we...

Epidermal cell fusion promotes the transition from an embryonic to a larval transcriptome in C. elegans Highlighted Article:eff-1–mediated cell fusion drives transcriptomic progression from an embryonic to larval state in the C. elegans epidermis, without which developmental progression is delayed.

Happy to announce the publication of our foray into studying what happens to the transcriptomes of nuclei when cells fuse to form a syncytium. More to follow in the coming few years.

One really wonderful thing about the Company of Biologists is that's it's free to publish there for my university!

Protocol for single-nucleus RNA sequencing of adult C. elegans neurons Single-nucleus sequencing, specifically, remains the gold standard for characterizing difficult-to-dissociate cell types, such as neurons in complex b…

We have had a lot of requests for the protocol for single-nucleus RNA-seq of adult C. elegans neurons that our lab developed - I hope that you find this helpful! 🧪 #Celegans www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Now in print: tour de force mitonuclear epistasis study in C. elegans.
Start to finish, vision and execution, 100% Tuc Nguyen @tuchmnguyen.bsky.social

The commitments in the SAFE Labs Handbook.

A new community-driven lab handbook for reducing conflict and creating more positive and equitable work environments gets strong support from a survey of 200 researchers.
buff.ly/K7CGFLV