Robert Kozol

😍

ICYMI… From the lab of Chung-Der Hsiao at Chung Yuan Christian University 🇹🇼 🐟

Can't believe that our pre-print on the evolution of iridescence in swordtails was covered by @elearlybird.bsky.social on the TWiEVO podcast! I love the suggestion to rename the endogenous foamy retrovirus to "sparkle pony" -- what do you think @nadiahaghani.bsky.social?
bsky.app/profile/elea...

Wonderful new global initiative for the fish community 🐟 To follow more news on this, follow @shoalbase.bsky.social 🧪

So happy this is out. Was great to play a small part in this new story!

Elevated DNA damage without signs of ageing in the short-sleeping Mexican cavefish offers a unique model to study sleep, DNA repair, and ageing.
buff.ly/6VrO19l

Nice microPublication reporting methods to image C. elegans egg laying under a coverslip www.micropublication.org/journals/bio...

Zebrafish are an excellent model for studying the development and function of blood and lymphatic vessels. Research in zebrafish has even led to treatments for lymphatic disorders in people. This image, taken using a powerful microscope that uses lasers to illuminate the fish, shows blood vessels (magenta) and lymphatic vessels (green) in the eye and head of an anesthetized, 6-week-old, transgenic zebrafish. Credit: Daniel Castranova, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH

#KnowYourZDM: In 2019, a 10-year-old patient w/ a life-threatening lymphatic disorder was losing hope. Zebrafish to the rescue! Scientists created zebrafish with the same gene mutation and found a melanoma drug that fixed the fish. Then, doctors used the same drug on the patient to save his life! 🧪

So this happened today.

Zeke turned 4 in September. We’ve been working on walking for a couple of years. Today he not only took his first real steps on his own - he did at least 10 yards!!

Such a huge moment for him!! 🥹

Will do! I already spied Schier and Engert holding down the front row all morning.

At Zebrafish Neurobiology 2025 all week in Cold Spring Harbor. If you are here, reach out and say hi! I am a multi-species fish PI that studys evolution of the brain and would love to chat! My student, Agniva Sinha, has a poster on Saturday and I have the last talk of the conference!

Rosa Uribe posing in a group photo with Dallman Lab, University of Miami.

Rosa Uribe posing for a photo with Athula Wikramanayake at University of Miami.

It was a splendid experience getting to visit University of Miami and @zfishlady.bsky.social!

Fundamental biology is going strong there and I was impressed by the wide range of science going on! The trainees are super friendly and I had a blast. Thank you! 🐟🐠🧪 #zebrafish #devbio

Insertion of an invading retrovirus regulates a novel color trait in swordtail fish For over a century, evolutionary biologists have been motivated to understand the mechanisms through which organisms adapt to their environments. Coloration and pigmentation are remarkably variable wi...

I am so excited to share new work on a TE insertion that regulates iridescence in swordtails, led by fantastic grad student @nadiahaghani.bsky.social and with help from many coauthors! In a time that has been so difficult to navigate, this & other projects have kept my spirits up: shorturl.at/NE65A

Sensory processing reformats odor coding around valence and dynamics Extracting relevant features of a complex sensory signal typically involves sequential processing through multiple brain regions. However, identifying the logic and mechanisms of these transformations...

Excited to share my most recent postdoctoral work in the Jeanne lab @yaleneuro.bsky.social !

“Sensory processing reformats odor coding around valence and dynamics”
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

We ask: how is a sensory code transformed across multiple stages of processing to inform behavior?

Rosalind Franklin and the damage of gender harassment Spurred by a recent report on sexual harassment in academia, our columnist revisits a historical case and reflects on what has changed—and what hasn’t

Thinking only of Rosalind Franklin today, and what was stolen from her (and so many other female scientists alongside her).

[Job]
Aquaculture Research Associate, Knaut and Torres-Vazquez Labs, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY

#zebrafish

6 ways evolutionary medicine can transform our health Evolutionary medicine is an emerging interdisciplinary field with huge potential to improve human health and tackle a broad scope of major health challenges.

1. Map evolutionary diversity to hack biomedical innovation
2. Revolutionize cancer therapy
3. Target the development of antimicrobial resistance
4. Address Anthropocene-related diseases
5. Support healthier behaviors
6. Improve pandemic responses
by Barbara Natterson-Horowitz & Dan Blumstein!

September in preprints - the Node Welcome to our monthly trawl for developmental and stem cell biology (and related) preprints. The preprints this month are hosted on bioRxiv – use these

Want to catch up on all the #DevBio, #StemCell (& related) preprints that came out in September?

Check out our September #preprint list👇
thenode.biologists.com/september-in...

A positive feedback loop promotes the active internal state of the C. elegans egg-laying circuit How do neural circuits switch between distinct patterns of activity, known as “internal states”? Prashad et al. describe how PVW neurons, which lack any identified neurotransmitter, generate one of th...

A positive feedback loop promotes the active internal state of the C. elegans egg-laying circuit

www.cell.com/current-biol...

From MRI to Ozempic: breakthroughs that show why fundamental research must be protected Nature - In these financially straitened times, funders must recognize that great discoveries often arise from work that was looking for something completely different.

Funders must recognise that great discoveries often come from studies that seeks to advance knowledge for its own sake

go.nature.com/3X5lbUg

Your drugs and your genes may not play nicely together. A UCHealth project aims to find out in advance. A biobank that is a partnership between UCHealth and the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus looks for drug-gene interactions.

A great article in @coloradosun.com about the Colorado Center for Personalized Medicine's Biobank, a collaboration with @uchealth.bsky.social that has now delivered more than 1M clinical results.

Helpful methods to improve #killifish research 🐠

🔗 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Evolutionarily conserved transcriptional regulators control monoaminergic neuron development To what extent conserved developmental programs specify homologous cell types is a central question in biology. Here, we address this by focusing on reconstructing monoaminergic neuron development in ...

New preprint out! Evolutionarily conserved transcriptional regulators control monoaminergic neuron development.
We uncover how ancient regulatory programs orchestrate the neurons that produce serotonin and dopamine across 550 million years of evolution.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...

The evolution of cavefish odor perception shifts fish response from avoidance to approach when exposed to alarm and death odors. An animals survival is dependent on activating the correct behavioral circuit in response to a sensory stimulus. These stimuli include environmental odorants that evoke positive approach behavior and ...

I am happy to report that the lab has its first preprint! We looked at odor perception in cavefish and found a strong attraction to ancestrally negative odors, including appetitive behavior and brain activity when smelling death!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Our latest study on the neurobiology of collective behavior is now posted as a preprint, led by UCSD PhD student Jo-Hsien Yu @anitajhyu.bsky.social @ucsandiego.bsky.social @danionella.bsky.social

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

Dear Director Bhattacharya: I listened to more of your conversation with Glenn Beck. You made a number of statements that are false and misleading. You have considerable responsibilities in your current position and need to live up to them. You dismiss critics of President Trump's comments at the press conference by saying: "I think the key point here is something called "Trump Derangement Syndrome".

A new email to Director Bhattacharya this morning.

1/n

A multisensory, bidirectional, valence encoder guides behavioral decisions A key function of the brain is to categorize sensory cues as repulsive or attractive and respond accordingly. While we have some understanding of how sensory information is processed in the sensory pe...

How is valence computed in the brain? Check out our new preprint about a single cell that integrates excitatory and inhibitory input across modalities according to valence and impacts behavioral decisions. An exciting collaboration across many labs. Enjoy reading!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Want to image the adult zebrafish brain? Here's a nifty design that I made with the help of a talented master's student, Corey Steinhauser.

Supporting files here!
morgridge.org/research/lab...

Reminder starting in October NIH NOFOs won’t be posted in the Guide for grants and contracts.

Tips on how to search for opportunities & set up a subscription for custom searches here: grants.nih.gov/news-events/...

Heritage Foundation Uses Bogus Stat to Push a Trans Terrorism Classification By inflating numbers and narrowing definitions, Heritage promotes a false link between transgender identity and violence in its push for the FBI to create a new terrorism category.

By inflating numbers and narrowing definitions, Heritage promotes a false link between transgender identity and violence in its push for the FBI to create a new terrorism category. www.wired.com/story/herita...