Bruce Appel

Immensely proud of our CU Pediatrics Dev Bio colleagues!
@cupediatrics.bsky.social

We've had a great collaboration with Dr. Elena Alberdi's group at the Achurcarro Basque Center for Neuroscience for which we got to host two terrific grad students, Adhara and Uxue, for 4 months each. Our first joint publication is now out!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

Luuli has been a terrific colleague and friend. It was a true pleasure and privilege to serve on her thesis committee!

This has the most information I have been able to learn about the situation at NIH. Unfortunately, the chaos, worry, and hold-up on grant reviewing and awards seems even worse than I had thought.

Big congrats to this year's awardees!

Basic science matters more than ever - the awardees represent key aspects of what makes #devbio a central biomedical research endeavor of widespread impact. Applause!

This is awesome! Congrats, Syed, well-deserved!

Great to see collaborations such as this "develop" between the Section of Developmental Biology @cupediatrics.bsky.social @cuanschutz.bsky.social and our friends @colorado.edu. Looking forward to many more!

Belated congrats on starting your faculty position and lab!

Congratulations to Dr. Peter Dempsey, Professor in the Section of Developmental Biology, for recieving the 2025 Pediatric Gastroenterology & Developmental Biology Section Research Mentor Award from the American Gastroenterological Association! #devbio 🧪

Future work using our zebrafish model could reveal the underlying mechanisms by which low DHA status leads to neurodevelopmental abnormalities. These studies will also provide foundational support for maternal interventions that improve infant eye & brain health.

We found that low DHA status during development is associated with an abnormal eye phenotype. We also showed that even morphologically normal siblings exhibit dysregulated vision and stress response gene pathways.

We created a novel DHA-deficient larval zebrafish model using a two “finned” approach. This included: 1) disrupting elovl2, a critical gene in the DHA biosynthesis pathway with CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing, and 2) feeding mothers a DHA-deficient diet.

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an omega-3 fatty acid crucial for vision & brain development, is lacking in Western diets. How does low DHA status impact neurodevelopment at the cellular & molecular level? With help from a zebrafish model, we can fill this knowledge gap and improve infant health.

Our first manuscript on maternal nutrition and development, which was driven entirely by postdoc Katie Ranard, is now out. @cudevbio.bsky.social #devbio doi.org/10.1016/j.jl...

Love the super creative work from my Dev Bio colleagues JP and Santos. I would never be able to master IU electroporation, but, wow, the things people who have skills can do with it! #devbio 🧪

Postdoc Austin Adkins noticed that mutant zebrafish he had inherited behaved oddly in their tanks. So he turned them into a new research project. Great demonstration of serendipity and creativity at today's Dev Bio Section meeting. #devbio #zebrafish 🧪

Thanks! It’s been awhile since we had a cover!

UCHSC became CU Anschutz Medical Campus. Moved out to the old Fitzsimmons base and went through a couple rounds of “rebranding”, hence the name change. Huge place now, you likely wouldn’t recognize it.

Looking for place to do PhD studies? Molecular Biology Graduate Program is a great place for that. Check it out. Deadline is December 1st.

This just out from grad student Samantha Bromley-Coolidge with help from Regis University undergrad Diego Iruegas. By the way, Regis has an awesome neuroscience program. If one of their students applies to your grad program, give them a close look!
authors.elsevier.com/a/1k7nr14Yy4...

Sure, study section can be a be a grind but there is a huge perk - the chance to connect with special former students who have relocated to DC. Here with the incomparable Alex Hughes and Nick George. #myelin 🧠🧪

Love to see the results of great collaborations between my wonderful colleagues (and hoping I might get picked for the team next time….)!

Hey, I think I see some myelin on that lineup! 🧠

Not sure how this Bluesky thing is gonna work out for me. I could easily ignore that other platform - now I have a new diversion from grant reviewing….🧪

For any of you aiming to advance your biomedical scientific training or pursue your research career among fabulous colleagues in a wonderful part of the world, check us out! 🧪

I encourage y’all to check out this work from @emilybateslab.bsky.social. I still remember the first time I heard Emily talk about her fly work that led to this - at a regional SDB meeting in Salt Lake City about 12 years when she was still at BYU. It’s been great to watch the story unfold.

Here is an enthusiastic plug for the journal Differentiation, edited by Drs. Crystal Rogers (@rogerslabucd.bsky.social), Rosa Uribe, and Loydie Jerome-Majewska. We just had a very pleasant and unusually (for these days) quick reviewing and proofs experience.

Well, for perspective, once upon a time it was “the stamps…the stamps…and the envelopes….OMG, where are my stamps?” But, yeah, I get it, I just spent a good bit of time this weekend clicking away.

Just encouraged a publicity person to get our department on Bluesky, and we will be working to get our Section and grad programs on, too. Shout out to @cuhmggp.bsky.social and @kellydsullivan.bsky.social for leading the way. Please consider doing the same at your institutions if you haven’t already.

Oh, goodness, for a long time I was a leftist, then as I aged I became a full-on justifier. I kinda feel that it looks better, particularly with image placement.