Aissam Ikmi's Avatar

Aissam Ikmi

@aikmi.bsky.social

Group Leader @EMBL. We study the design principles of "early" animals using cnidarians.

353 Followers  |  171 Following  |  8 Posts  |  Joined: 03.12.2024  |  1.6966

Latest posts by aikmi.bsky.social on Bluesky

Cool! Phenotyping a land planarian begins.

04.12.2025 08:16 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Ectopic head regeneration after nervous system ablation in a sea anemone Via genetic ablation of neurons, Mazloumi Gavgani et al. show that the nervous system is essential for defining axial polarity during whole-body regeneration in the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis.

Our paper on the role of neurons in Nematostella head regeneration is now out at @currentbiology.bsky.social Big thank you to all collaborators, it was a pleasure!

Ectopic head regeneration after nervous system ablation in a sea anemone: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...

18.11.2025 10:00 β€” πŸ‘ 92    πŸ” 39    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 4
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Only a few days left for abstract submission at the brand new EMBO|EMBL Symposium Collectivity in living systems: emergence, function and evolution. We have stellar speakers in cell, animal collectives & beyond @priscaliberali.bsky.social @icouzin.bsky.social @ricardsole.bsky.social

Join us!

07.11.2025 08:42 β€” πŸ‘ 25    πŸ” 15    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 3
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Our Special Issue on Lifelong Development #LifelongDevSI is now complete!

Guest edited by Meri Huch and Mansi Srivastava, it contains 26 research and review-type articles.

On the cover: the dorsal vasculature of an adult zebrafish's first gill arch. See Preußner et al. doi.org/10.1242/dev....

03.11.2025 16:35 β€” πŸ‘ 22    πŸ” 6    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1

Also in #LifelongDevSI :
β–ͺ️Editorial
β–ͺ️Hypothesis on phenotypic plasticity
β–ͺ️2 interviews with our guest editors
β–ͺ️3 Reviews
β–ͺ️17 Research Articles and Reports
β–ͺ️3 Techniques and Resources

Full table of content: journals.biologists.com/dev/issue/15...

03.11.2025 16:35 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Great having you at @embl.org, Michel! Inspiring science, great discussions, and a fantastic perspective on quantitative evo-devo.

03.11.2025 15:27 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Had the pleasure of working with @mohannad-dardiry.bsky.social to rethink what it means to develop for life. Many thanks to @dev-journal.bsky.social! @embl.org #LifelongDevSI

31.10.2025 11:24 β€” πŸ‘ 17    πŸ” 8    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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Latest from ours: www.cell.com/cell-reports...

This is two stories in one: a case study/cautionary tale on developing genetic tools in new organisms, and the first hint at a gene regulatory network for choanoflagellate multicellular development (which turn out to involve a Hippo/YAP/ECM loop!) A 🧡

05.10.2025 10:35 β€” πŸ‘ 243    πŸ” 101    πŸ’¬ 10    πŸ“Œ 10
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Finally, the excellent postdoc work of Emmanuel Haillot is out, where he dissected the integration of Wnt, MAPK and Notch signaling in defining mesoderm and endoderm identities in the diploblast Nematostella. Strikingly similar to sea urchins. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

29.08.2025 21:04 β€” πŸ‘ 56    πŸ” 22    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 1

Want to help us image and understand those incredible samples Felix just collected at UBC - and many more?

2 more days to apply!

embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j...

#ExM #PlanetaryCellBiology

πŸ§ͺπŸ§¬πŸ”¬πŸŒπŸŒ±πŸ¦ 

22.08.2025 19:58 β€” πŸ‘ 20    πŸ” 17    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Want to acquire #ExM images like this and help us understand the true extent of cytoskeletal diversity across the tree of life? This position might be for you!

embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j...

With @dudinlab.bsky.social
@embl.org @biology-unige.bsky.social @moorefound.bsky.social

07.08.2025 18:12 β€” πŸ‘ 105    πŸ” 55    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 2
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Latest paper elifesciences.org/articles/107... closes an important cycle in our efforts to study regeneration: week-long recordings allow us to observe the behaviour of cells during the entire course of regeneration in a crustacean leg – bright objects in movie are fluorescent nuclei of cells. 1/6

08.08.2025 17:39 β€” πŸ‘ 142    πŸ” 50    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 3
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drive.google.com/file/d/1CLIx...

08.08.2025 06:37 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Ctenophores possess a unique aboral organ that acts as a multisensory center, controlling complex behaviors. We’ve now created a ctenophore model integrated with our 3D volume EM data. Puts it into perspective.

Check out our recent work here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

#ctenophores #volumeEM

07.08.2025 08:18 β€” πŸ‘ 73    πŸ” 22    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 2
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Depletion of a neural cell adhesion molecule disrupts both epithelial and germ layer identity in sea anemone embryos Assembly of cells into epithelial layers marks the early steps of tissue organization and embryonic development in most animals. Although several conserved proteins are known to be essential for epith...

our unexpected results on the importance of a neural cell adhesion molecule in sea anemone epithelialization and gastrulation are just posted in the following preprint.

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

06.08.2025 05:27 β€” πŸ‘ 12    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Here our latest work on how morphogens trigger tissue phase transitions to tune their own length-scales and time-scales - An exciting collaboration with @zhvas.bsky.social @dianakhorom.bsky.social Bernat Corominas-Murtra and heroic experiments by the incredible @cami-autorino.bsky.social @embl.org

11.06.2025 17:24 β€” πŸ‘ 36    πŸ” 8    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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The anti-neural role of BMP signaling is a side effect of its global function in dorsoventral patterning In Bilateria with centralized nervous systems (e.g. in vertebrates or arthropods), the minimum of the BMP signaling activity gradient defines the position of the central nervous system. BMP-dependent ...

The last part of @paulknabl.bsky.social 's PhD is now available at www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Paul showed that BMP signaling is active in the diffuse nervous system of the sea anemone Nematostella and the box jellyfish Tripedalia. Moreover, suppression of BMP signaling in Nematostella leads...

09.06.2025 08:57 β€” πŸ‘ 30    πŸ” 14    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 1

Looking forward to catching up with you in Puerto Rico!

02.06.2025 13:51 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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We thought we were just studying mesoglea biogenesis…Turns out Nematostella has been hiding a sophisticated backup pressure valve! Work driven by the talented PhD student Soham Basu! @embl.org‬ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

28.05.2025 10:45 β€” πŸ‘ 61    πŸ” 19    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 6

Congrats, Joaquin!

11.02.2025 18:50 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Thanks, Joaquin!

09.02.2025 17:04 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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The evolution of shape diversity through the lens of physicsβ€”explored in our new paper! A fruitful collaboration between our lab @EMBL, Salbreux’s lab @unige & others, led by @BailleulRichar1β€”now independent at @ENS_ULMβ€”& Nicolas Cuny. bit.ly/3WRqdEa

09.02.2025 12:39 β€” πŸ‘ 125    πŸ” 42    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1
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EMBL scientists have used sea anemones to study how animals restore their shape following major injuries.

The results show how, in regenerating animals, systemic molecular and cellular changes help in regaining the original shape. πŸͺ„

www.embl.org/news/science...

πŸ§ͺ #MolBiol

29.11.2024 16:05 β€” πŸ‘ 29    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

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