Jake Cornwall-Scoones

Group photo of Workshop attendees

Thank you to organisers Alex Dunn, @zevgartner.bsky.social, @adrianjacobo.bsky.social and Matthew Kutys and everyone who joined us for our Workshop on New Technologies for Studying and Reprogramming Development.
#BiologistsWorkshops
biologists.com/workshops

It's always special when you find your own paper in the table of contents of the journal 😍

"The cis-regulatory logic integrating spatial and temporal patterning in the vertebrate neural tube" -> Now out in its final form

www.cell.com/developmenta...

MultiSite Assembly of Gateway Induced Clones (MAGIC): a flexible cloning toolbox for use in vertebrate model systems Summary: A comprehensive suite of Gateway-compatible plasmids for in vitro and in vivo transgenesis in vertebrate model systems has been developed, together with a relational, modifiable, open-source ...

New paper from the lab on a new Gateway compatible toolkit for transgenesis in eukaryotes, led by former technician Will Gillespie.

Open access @dev-journal.bsky.social

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

How can we organize current theoretical approaches for developmental biology - from information to dynamical systems & GRNs - into a common framework?

We propose to think along Marr's 3 levels: computational problem, algorithm, implementation

Check out our review:
arxiv.org/abs/2510.24536

Hierarchical lineage architecture of human and avian spinal cord revealed by single-cell genomic barcoding The formation of neural circuits depends on the precise spatial and temporal organisation of neuronal populations during development. In the vertebrate spinal cord, progenitors are patterned into mole...

Thrilled to share my main postdoc work with @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social

We used genomic barcoding + scRNAseq in chick & human embryos to reveal a lineage architecture that reshapes how we understand neural tube development & cell fate decisions
🧵👇

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

Hierarchical lineage architecture of human and avian spinal cord revealed by single-cell genomic barcoding https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.24.684328v1

We are looking forward to spending the next two days discussing INTERESTING THINGS at our workshop on Generative Biology: new approaches to study developmental design principles #GenBio25

Thanks to my excellent coorganisers @jcornwallscoones.bsky.social & @dbenzinger.bsky.social & all participants

En route to Brighton—for the 1st time—for the @royalsociety.org Generative Biology meeting organised by @jcornwallscoones.bsky.social, @dbenzinger.bsky.social & @cellysally.bsky.social. Happy to chat about @dev-journal.bsky.social, @the-node.bsky.social & @biologists.bsky.social. Also have freebies!

Happy to share the last version of our story @currentbiology.bsky.social on the role of interfacial tension in mechanical cell competition led by @leovalon.bsky.social and Alexis Matamoro Vidal
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

I wrote something on developmental biology and disability and put it up on the node last night:

thenode.biologists.com/developmenta...

I've been nervous to share because some of it veers a bit personal but they are thoughts that won't stay quiet. Would love to know what people think about it!

Really excited to share our latest work led by @mattiaubertini.bsky.social and @nesslfy.bsky.social: we report that cohesin loop extrusion creates rare but long-lived encounters between genomic sequences which underlie efficient enhancer-promoter communication.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A🧵👇

🚨 Excited to introduce FuChi (Fucci chicken), the first avian cell cycle reporter line. Thank you to all those who contributed to putting this paper together. I really think it showcases the power and beauty of the chick embryo as a developmental biology model. 🐥 🥚 🔬 @roslininstitute.bsky.social

Development does not happen in isolation! Material properties, geometry, stiffness, fluid flows...can all steer how development unfolds. If you’re exploring these kinds of questions, we’d love to see your work @dev-journal.bsky.social
More info below ⬇️

Gene Network Organization, Mutation, and Selection Collectively Drive Developmental Pattern Evolvability and Predictability The historical order in which mutations appear during evolution determine the evolutionary trajectory of gene regulatory networks and influence how developmental patterns change and diversify over tim...

Fresh from the press💥 We asked what happens when you evolve gene regulatory networks computationally at scale. Do general principles of GRN evolution jump out? Is the process predictable? Read on to find out @prxlife.bsky.social @crick.ac.uk @ucl-ipls.bsky.social 👉 journals.aps.org/prxlife/abst...

1/3 After 6+ years at @crick.ac.uk I split my last cells and hung up my lab coat! Thank you to the brilliant community from fellow PhDs/Postdocs, LOAs, STPs, academic training team and to all past/present @santoslab.bsky.social members. My Crick journey would not have been the same without you all!

Can a single cell learn? Even without a brain, some microbes show simple forms of cognition. Can this basal cognition be engineered? Check our new paper with @jordiplam.bsky.social on the minimal synthetic circuits & their cognitive limits. @drmichaellevin.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Beautiful work led by @oliveringe.bsky.social. It was great fun to be involved with this project.

See Ollie’s paper and thread 👇

Investigating morphogen and patterning dynamics with optogenetic control of morphogen production Morphogen gradients provide the patterning cues that instruct cell fate decisions during development. Here, we establish an optogenetic system for the…

Our latest: We developed a chemo-optogenetic system for precise spatiotemporal control of morphogen production. Using dual light + small molecule control of Sonic Hedgehog production, we recapitulated neural tube patterning in vitro & measured spread of Shh

🧵

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A switch to non-proliferative growth sustains Drosophila wing development during the early pupal stage Using precise tissue volume quantification, El Marzkioui, Gaugué, et al. show that wing primordia continue to grow during the early pupal stage, a phase of increased cell volume driven by insulin/IGF ...

Our new paper is out in @currentbiology.bsky.social! Using 3D reconstructions and volume measurements in Drosophila wing primordia, we show that growth can be uncoupled from cell proliferation and uncover a new time window for growth arrest.
With @leopoldlab.bsky.social
www.cell.com/current-biol...

How the functional architecture of the zebrafish heart is shaped during development

📹 @tobyandrews.bsky.social et al @rashmi-priya.bsky.social
lab @crick.ac.uk in @cellpress.bsky.social Developmental Cell

➡️ bpod.org.uk/archive/2025...

Thrilled to share the first story from my postdoc! 🎉 A wonderful experiment + simulations collaboration. In the Drosophila wing, we find that 3D cell shapes affect signalling range and fine-tune developmental patterning www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Thread below ⬇️

Apply by Friday! 👇

Beautiful work from @tobyandrews.bsky.social @rashmi-priya.bsky.social. It was a joy to collaborate on the modelling here.

Check out Toby’s paper and thread 👇

8 days left to submit an abstract!

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

New KITP Program! #MORPHO26

Geometry and Intercellular Interactions in Morphogenesis of Animals and Plants

Dates: 7/20/2026 - 8/20/2026

We wrote this introductory review on how concepts from dynamical systems can help us understand developmental biology, hope it’s useful to somebody! It was a lot of fun to put together, and great to collaborate with brilliant colleagues across theory and experiments

We’re excited to announce that Naomi Moris @nmoris.bsky.social will join us in Oct

Don’t forget to register before the 15th August for a chance to give a short talk

Talk submissions can be received only after confirmation of registration (link 👇) so sign up ASAP if you’re interested in presenting

Beautiful work from @isazhang.bsky.social @joadelas.bsky.social @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social. An honour to have played a small part

Barcoded Rabies In Situ Connectomics for high-throughput reconstruction of neural circuits Sequencing of oligonucleotide barcodes holds promise as a high-throughput approach for reconstructing synaptic connectivity at scale. Rabies viruses can act as a vehicle for barcode transmission, than...

1/ Mapping synaptic connectivity between individual neurons is extremely laborious. We developed BRISC, a new method that makes it possible to map inputs onto 100s of neurons in the same animal in a matter of weeks! Led by Alex Becalick and @antblot.bsky.social. 🧵

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