Zerina Balic

Hi bsky!

How do cells coordinate fate with migration during development? 🐣 Turns out EMT doesn't just drive cell behaviour changes... it actively primes BMP signalling competence, creating a reciprocal coupling that drives collective invasion!

(@bensteventon.bsky.social lab)

tinyurl.com/2ncc8zap

Our next episode features Dr. @tvierbuchen.bsky.social from @mskcancercenter.bsky.social

Tune in tomorrow to hear about his work on next-generation models of #BrainDevelopment. 🧠

📣 Paper alert!

I am delighted that our paper exploring the impact of Neanderthal-derived variants on the activity of a disease-associated craniofacial enhancer has been published in Development today!
journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...

Fig. 1. EMT dynamics in developmental models.

Fig. 2. A hypothetical model of EMT dynamics.

Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition or EMT is an integral part of development in animals. In this beautifully illustrated review from the lab of Magali Suzanne, they describe and compare and contrast the cellular mechanism of EMT across the different model organisms.
doi.org/10.1016/j.cd...

I'm really happy to announce that my two main postdoctoral works have been published in the same issue of Developmental Cell! First, the final form of the mouse cortical organoid protocol (tinyurl.com/bddfmx8n), which I recently presented at Development presents (tinyurl.com/36udcpme) and…

A mouse organoid platform for modeling cerebral cortex development and cis-regulatory evolution in vitro: Developmental Cell www.cell.com/developmenta...

Enhancer remodeling by OTX2 directs specification and patterning of mammalian definitive endoderm Correct patterning of emerging tissues in the developing embryo is essential for the formation of functional organ systems. Using genetic tools for controlled protein depletion, Ee et al. identify the...

Excited to share our new study in @cp-devcell.bsky.social dissecting how the brain-associated transcription factor OTX2 drives anteriorization of the mammalian gut by enhancer remodeling using stem cell-based models. #development #enhancers #patterning #stemcells

www.cell.com/developmenta...

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:

Very happy about this terrific special issue of Science Advances on women's health. Great work by the team! @science.org. www.science.org/toc/sciadv/c...

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!