Zerina Balic

Marsupial single-cell transcriptomics identifies temporal diversity in mammalian developmental programs Menchero et al. generate a single-cell transcriptomic atlas in the opossum and show rapid progression of transcriptional programs in specific tissues relative to morphological landmarks. This shift in...

Thrilled to share that our latest work on marsupial heterochrony is now online at @cp-devcell.bsky.social @cellpress.bsky.social @lab-turner.bsky.social @crick.ac.uk We used scRNAseq to understand the asynchronous progression of developmental programmes in marsupials www.cell.com/developmenta...

🐣✨ TUJ1 staining reveals the forming trigeminal ganglion in a chick embryo! Image taken by Rocio Márquez from @pstrobl.bsky.social lab, where they investigate how neural crest and placode cells communicate during the formation of this sensory structure 🔬🧪
#FluorescenceFriday

A checklist for designing and improving the visualization of scientific data Nature Cell Biology - Creating clear and engaging scientific figures is crucial to communicate complex data. In this Comment, I condense principles from design, visual perception and data...

I gave in! After students asking for it, I now made a simple figure design checklist.
To help all scientists w/o graphic skills create clear, accessible, and truthful charts!
-> Out in @nature Cell Biology: rdcu.be/erwl4

#DataVisualization #PhD #SciComm

Thx for review @bethcimini.bsky.social + 2

Neural crest induction requires SALL4-mediated BAF recruitment to lineage specific enhancers Neural crest induction begins early during neural plate formation, requiring precise transcriptional control to activate lineage-specific enhancers. Here, we demonstrate that SALL4, a transcription fa...

New paper from my group is out. We demonstrate that cranial neural crest (CNCC) induction requires the transcription factor SALL4 to physically recruit the BAF chromatin remodeller at CNCC-induction enhancers as early as at the neuroectodermal stage:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Super fun to se my photo on the cover of the latest issue of Developmental Dynamics. Sox10 expression in a common wall lizard embryo in somite stage 37 visualized with in situ hybridization. #EvoDevo #NeuralCrest #DevBio
Read the paper here: doi.org/10.1002/dvdy...

A RUNX2 GFP reporter is expressed prior to osteochondral differentiation and models Metaphyseal Dysplasia with Maxillary Hypoplasia and Brachydactyly (MDMHB) https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.15.654100v1

Modeling tissue-resident macrophage development from mouse pluripotent stem cells Tissue-resident macrophages (TRMs) are innate immune cells that participate in tissue development, homeostasis, and immune surveillance. Extensive efforts have been made to recapitulate TRM developmen...

Excited to share our latest manuscript, a collaboration with @justinperryphd.bsky.social led by Weill Cornell Neuroscience PhD student @annbaako.bsky.social. Ann developed a new, improved mouse PSC model for studying tissue-resident macrophage differentiation.

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

Modeling tissue-resident macrophage development from mouse pluripotent stem cells https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.01.651743v1

Big congratulations to my amazing lab mate Rachel on her successful thesis defense!!

Big congratulations to my amazing lab mate Rachel on her successful thesis defense!!

New study shows genetic variation affects DNA #hypomethylation & imprint deregulation in naïve PSCs. Genetic variants may be potential biomarkers for epigenetically stable PSCs. ow.ly/aCVY50VilVY

@isscr.org @gairdnerawards.bsky.social @sickkidsvs.bsky.social

Genetic variation modulates susceptibility to aberrant DNA hypomethylation and imprint deregulation in naive pluripotent stem cells Pluripotent stem cells are susceptible to acquiring detrimental epigenetic abnormalities, posing a hurdle to their safe use in biomedical applications. Using pluripotent cells with defined genetic backgrounds, Stadtfeld and colleagues show that genetic variation is a major driver of epigenome stability and identify candidate regulators. These findings will enable novel approaches to stabilize the epigenome of pluripotent cells in culture.

Our collaborative project with Matthias Stadtfeld and Jason Mezey labs has now been published. We examined how genetic variation impacts regulation of DNA methylation at the control regions of imprinted genes in naive pluripotent stem cells.

www.cell.com/stem-cell-re...

Why Are Cats Such a Medical Black Box? Many aspects of feline health remain a mystery, even to experts. Our cat-owning reporter learned this the hard way.

You know how until recently drugs were mostly tested only in men? And they had to change regulations to include women (and btw they are trying to turn those back...)

Turns out? Same is true for CATS and dogs! Most vet work is in DOGS. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/11/s... by @emilyanthes.bsky.social

A single neuron (white) shown with 5,600 of the axons (blue) that connect to it. The synapses that make these connections are shown in green. The cell body (central core) of the neuron is about 14 micrometers across.

In Science, researchers detail a nanoscale-resolution reconstruction of a millimeter-scale fragment of human cerebral cortex, giving an unprecedented view into the structural organization of brain tissue at the supracellular, cellular, and subcellular levels. scim.ag/3FvpAKy #BrainAwarenessWeek

Agree and thank you for doing this important work, @labonnelab.bsky.social!

Listen here: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/o...

An elliptical galaxy (upper left) and a spiral galaxy (lower right) are connected by a stream of drawn-out gas. Two significant bright blue blobs of star formation are visible on the outskirts of the spiral galaxy, and another extends away from the center of the elliptical. A long tail is visible extending from the spiral galaxy.

NEW HUBBLE IMAGE SHOWING TWO GALAXIES INTERACTING 🤩

image of the livestream

LIVE STREAM UP!

m.twitch.tv/standupforsc...

When you've been in the cell culture hood all day and finally get to take off your gloves:

Researchers have developed a model to study why sensory neuron axons regenerate differently.
buff.ly/4ijksHC

Paper out !!🥳big thanks to all authors @marliesoomen.bsky.social @diego-rt.bsky.social @kaessmannlab.bsky.social @jonathangoeke.bsky.social @lorenzamottes.bsky.social & 'bluesky-less'

Lots of interesting new TE (& genes) biology

Data fully browsable💻 👉 embryo.helmholtz-munich.de/shiny_embryo/

A Vaccine For Pancreatic Cancer Continues To Show Promise In a small trial, nearly half of pancreatic cancer patients who received an mRNA vaccine for the disease had no relapse three years later.

In a small trial, nearly half of pancreatic cancer patients who received an mRNA vaccine had no signs of relapse after three years.

Dr. Vinod Balachandran from @mskcancercenter.bsky.social joins us to discuss the results and what they could mean for cancer treatment.

A stylized image of a chicken neural tube with nuclei in pink, and two types of alpha tubulin in white and yellow. The neural tube is circled by a heart.

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

A photo collage showing women engaged in various scientific activities, with the words "Happy International Day of Women and Girls in Science!" in the center. From top left corner clockwise: holding an axolotl tank, holding a horseshoe crab, looking into a tank, working in the lab, sitting near computer monitors, reaching into a tank with seagrass, measuring elevation in a marsh, sitting in front of a microscope

Happy International Day of Women and Girls in Science! 🔬🧬

To the amazing women and girls in STEM, both in the MBL community and around the world—we support and celebrate you today, and all days.

📷: Dee Sullivan, Daniel Cojanu, Tom Vierus, Kelsey Chenoweth

Familial confounding in the associations between maternal health and autism - Nature Medicine Using national registry data from Denmark, 30 maternal diagnoses linked to offspring autism were identified with most associations attributable to family-level factors rather than direct causal effects of maternal diagnoses.

Using national registry data from Denmark, 30 maternal diagnoses linked to offspring autism were identified with most associations attributable to family-level factors rather than direct causal effects of maternal diagnoses, according to a paper in Nature Medicine. 🧪

Top view of a larval zebrafish brain. Anterior pointing up. 3D projection that has been flattened. Pseudo-colored for depth.

Dorsal view of a larval zebrafish brain. Credit to @clairewyart.bsky.social. #ZebrafishZunday 🧪

The new science of menopause: these emerging therapies could change women’s health Researchers are exploring how to prolong ovarian life and revisiting hormone replacement therapy — a once routine treatment that has fallen out of favour.

Few medical options are typically presented to people going through menopause, but t outlook for managing it is now starting to change. A feature in Nature outlines the emerging therapies, which includes a relook at hormone replacement therapy. #Medsky 🧪

Photo of Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde.

This is the face of courage and compassion. Thank you Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde for speaking truth to power on behalf of the marginalized.

Neuroscientists need to do better at explaining basic mental health research The knowledge gap between scientists, health-care professionals, policymakers and people with mental health conditions is growing, slowing the translation of basic science to new treatments.

A challenge for basic scientists is to guarantee that the future generation of health-care professionals and policymakers understands the importance of addiction and mental health research.

By Omar Abubaker, @karlakaun.bsky.social, @ericjnestler.bsky.social

bit.ly/42oULRu

#neuroskyence