Cody Limber

One of my favorite parts of writing is remembering that the perfect citation exists and even remembering what one of the figures looks like but not remembering any of the key words that make finding the paper possible

This is incredible, congrats!! 🎉

Finally, if you’ve got a gene you’re interested in and want to know what cell types it’s expressed in, let me know!! AND if you think this work sounds really cool and interesting, I’ll be looking for postdocs next fall so let’s chat!

This work shows how we can connect development, morphology, and evolution. By tracing feather cell development and understanding feather cell type evolution, we can better understand how one of nature's coolest novelties - the feather - evolved!

A tree where the tips are different feather cell types

And finally, we made an evolutionary tree of feather cell types. Our tree, which is congruent with the evo-devo model of feather evolution, tells a new story about the homology of feather cells with the layers of the epidermis.

A circular plot showing signals coming from the marginal plate with their associated receptors in other cell types

Third, we looked at cell-cell signaling pathways and found that cell types only function in development of the feather play important roles in signaling the cells that eventually form the feather.

An image of a multicolored UMAP plot with RNA velocity arrows showing developmental trajectories

Second, we mapped developmental trajectories with RNA velocity. We find three trajectories corresponding to the sheath, the barb ridge, and the basal epithelium. This finding implies that the different layers of the skin develop on their own trajectories.

Some example in situ hybridizations on feather cross sections

First, we created a cell atlas for developing feathers. We used in situ hybridizations for marker genes and found that we can actually identify feather cell types based on their transcriptome profiles which should be helpful to anyone interested in using single cell sequencing on feathers!

Genetic Characterization of the Cell Types in Developing Feathers, and the Evolution of Feather Complexity We used single cell sequencing to investigate the cell types of developing chicken feathers. From these data, we are able to describe the transcriptional profile of feather cell types, look at their ....

My feather cell type paper is finally out! doi.org/10.1111/ede.... We’ve packed a ton of stuff into this paper but I’ll go through some highlights in this thread!

Archival artist rendering of a variety of birds and their feathers.

🪶 Feathers are complex, each one an elegant structure crafted through millions of years of evolution. As habitats shrink and climates continue to warm, understanding the why and how of colorful bird feathers could help us better protect them into the future: go.nhm.org/feathers-work

I'll be there!!

Presenting tomorrow at #Evol2025, swing by to hear about feathers, cell types, and a little teaser about pigmentation patterns!

This is super useful!! Any recommendations for places to go birding?

I hope to take a PhD student in the coming application cycle. Please reach out if you are interested in joining our lab in EEB at Yale, especially if interested in working on the natural history/ phylogenetics/ morphology/ population biology/ development/ genomics of siphonophores. dunnlab.org

*curbstones