Maximilian Staps

Whats better than "publish or perperish" and "publish high or perish"?
"publish high as a first or last author or perish" !
Sometimes I feel like the people who invent these metrics have never actually done academic research.

Hierarchical lineage architecture of human and avian spinal cord revealed by single-cell genomic barcoding The formation of neural circuits depends on the precise spatial and temporal organisation of neuronal populations during development. In the vertebrate spinal cord, progenitors are patterned into mole...

Thrilled to share my main postdoc work with @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social

We used genomic barcoding + scRNAseq in chick & human embryos to reveal a lineage architecture that reshapes how we understand neural tube development & cell fate decisions
🧵👇

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

Extremely important K+ and Ca2+ indicator development work in these papers.

🏆 First Prize – DevBio Art Contest 🖼️
“A Model Meeting” by Karla Akari Garcia
Inspired by The Quaker Meeting, this watercolor honors animal research models, from mouse to axolotl, that have advanced developmental biology 🎨 A tribute to science’s often unsung heroes. #DevBioArt

Ran et al. generated a retinal regeneration model and a tumor model using targeted integration in X. tropicalis (PNAS). Kagawa et al. provide a step-by-step protocol for knock-in targeted integration in X. laevis (DGD). www.xenbase.org/xenbase/doNe... #science #devbio #xenopus #frogs

Strong promoters are mutationally robust Mutational robustness is the persistence of a phenotype upon mutation. It facilitates molecular evolution and has been characterized in a variety of biological systems, but studies of prokaryotic prom...

A fun little side project I've been working on with @stepadenisov.bsky.social , Mato Lagator, and Andreas Wagner: "Strong promoters are mutationally robust". Briefly...

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

Screenshot of the original published figure (left) and the corrected figure (right). In the left photo we see tumors in a grid of 5 columns and 6 rows. Two sets of tumors are marked by me with blue and green boxes respectively. In the right photo the duplicated tumors are just left out.

Hey @tandfresearch.bsky.social, - you should not allow authors to address photoshopped tumors by just leaving out the photoshopped tumors. This paper was 1 year old at the time of correction. Where are the originals?
Horrible editorial decision.
#ImageForensics

Figure 2. Overview of N6-methyladenosine (m6A) decay pathways. m6A acts as a destabilizing mark on mRNA.

"m6A in the coding sequence: linking deposition, translation and decay"
by Kathi Zarnack (@zarnack-group.bsky.social) & colleagues

"This review explores [m6A in] mRNA decay, with a focus on the newly discovered CDS–m6A decay (CMD) pathway..."

Read it here:
authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...

Durable epigenetic silencing with a TALE-based editor - Nature Biotechnology Transient expression of a transcription activator-like effector (TALE)-based epigenetic editor demonstrates durable therapeutic silencing in non-human primates.

Durable epigenetic silencing with a TALE-based editor #NBTNV - @stanleyqilab.bsky.social go.nature.com/4q3YvRE

Protest gegen die Chatkontrolle: So geht Demokratie Der Etappensieg bei der Chatkontrolle ist das Verdienst einer quicklebendigen Zivilgesellschaft, die es geschafft hat, in klugen und unerwarteten Bündnissen die Wichtigkeit des Themas allen vor Augen ...

Der Etappensieg bei der #Chatkontrolle ist das Verdienst einer quicklebendigen Zivilgesellschaft, die es geschafft hat, in klugen und unerwarteten Bündnissen die Wichtigkeit des Themas allen vor Augen zu führen. Zeit, dafür Danke zu sagen.

netzpolitik.org/2025/protest...

On #WorldMentalHealthDay, let's take a moment to pause and reflect 💚

Working in life sciences often means juggling a lot at once, and it's okay to seek support. Talking to colleagues, friends, or a professional is a strength, not a stigma.

#ItsOkayToAskForHelp #MentalHealthDay

Lost Science is a new NYT series of accounts from scientists who have lost their jobs or funding. You can send your story to the Times here www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/c...

Don't forget the "Do you own research" fraction of "independent thinkers" who "don't just trust the main stream" and all the other people who would rather drink bleach because some person on the internet told them then consulting a medical doctor.

u know who are skeptics
scientists are skeptics

being anti-science is not being a skeptic

Quick question to the scientific hive mind: does anybody has some tips how to best transport live, adherent cells for 45 min from one lab to another?

Maybe, but there is this notion that, as long as ppl deliver a lot of data, everything goes. Also, most underestimate the impact of a well maintained microscope on image quality

TK: Authors did not reply or replied that they did not care if the paper would be retracted - they just needed it to graduate.
Retaliation: we received lots of spam after retracting papers.
We learned that paper mills can abuse peer review system. Do not rely on author-suggested reviewers.
#PRC10

Top: Transgenic expression of PdgfraΔK-EGFP (cyan) in nkx3.1:Gal4; UAS:NTR-mCherry (magenta) background at 56 hpf. mCherry+ EGFP+ cells are mostly restricted in the dorsal or ventral regions of the trunk. A transverse view of a 50 μm region centered on the dashed line is shown on the right, with the neural tube (nt) and notochord (n) outlined by dotted lines. Bottom: Model for how the migration of sclerotome-derived cells is regulated by chemoattraction mediated by Pdgfab/Pdgfra signaling. (A) In wild-type embryos, nkx3.1+ (cyan) sclerotome-derived cells express the receptor Pdgfra (magenta), while the medial somites express the ligand Pdgfab (orange) in response to Hh signaling. pdgfra+ sclerotome-derived cells undergo extensive migration toward both the notochord in the medial trunk and the fin fold. (B) In pdgfra−/− mutants (pdgframRFP/mRFP and pdgfraref/ref), nkx3.1+ sclerotome-derived cells fail to migrate in any direction and remain in their original location in the ventral and dorsal parts of the somites. (C) In pdgfab−/− embryos, pdgfra+ sclerotome-derived cells fail to migrate toward the notochord, although migration toward the fin fold remains unaffected. (D) In pdgfab−/− embryos with mosaic pdgfab expression, nkx3.1+ sclerotome cells can migrate toward the ectopic pdgfab-expressing cells, either medially around the notochord or ventrally toward the yolk extension. When the pdgfab source is located near or in the notochord, it can completely rescue the migration of nkx3.1+ sclerotome cells toward the notochord. These diagrams depict a 2-somite region located above the yolk extension of a zebrafish embryo at 48 hpf. nt: neural tube; n: notochord.

What guides fibroblast precursors' migration from the #sclerotome during vertebrate development? @penghuang031.bsky.social &co show that this is driven by #PDGF -mediated chemoattraction, enabling their differentiation into specialized #fibroblast subtypes @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/3HTZ92Y

Assuming their PI cares about such things...

Agree. Don't know why it's so hard for some people to clean up after themselves. Sometimes I feel more scientist should learn how damn expensive this stuff is

Being friends with the head of our imaging facility, I learned that 9 out of 10 times blurry images at the 20x air objective are not the result of a damaged lens but of a fine crust of immersion oil on or within the objective.

The easiest way to get good looking fluorescence microscopy figures is to just do fine-tube them in photoshop! Silly PhD students spending years learning to create good figures. Beginners!
Huang et al. 2020 (DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2020.116650) shows us how it's done!
pubpeer.com/publications...

Postdoc in Structural Biology of RNA processing complexes Postdoctoral positions in structural biology of macromolecular complexes are available in the laboratory of Dr. Eva Kowalinski at the EMBL Grenoble, France. We are looking for highly motivated and amb...

Postdoc positions in structural biology of RNA processing complexes.

An ERC-funded position will dissect pre-mRNA processing pathways in the infective organism Trypanosoma brucei. An ANR-funded position will characterise large complexes in RNA modification.

Details: tinyurl.com/postdoc-RNA-...

Essay mills shamelessly advertising on the academia feed. CC @keithwilson.eu

RMBase v3.0: decode the landscape, mechanisms & functions of RNA modifications
The Encyclopedia of RNA Epitranscriptome

More than m6A
"73 RNA modifications of 62 species"

bioinformaticsscience.cn/rmbase/

@narjournal.bsky.social 2024
academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

Scientists from our department 'Cardiac Development and Remodelling' discovered, that RBPMS and RBPMS2 regulate cell division and function during heart development, ensuring that the heart grows and matures correctly. Read the full paper in 'Developmental Cell' ➡️ lnkd.in/efwafKkE

Please consider eliminating your paywall on articles containing important information relevant to our current scientific crisis.

NSF halts grant awards while staff do second review Action comes after DOGE team arrives at science agency

The National Science Foundation has put a cork in its grantmaking pipeline after billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency set up shop at the agency this week. scim.ag/4iowX4t

Light sheet microscopy Light sheet microscopy is a technology that enables near-isotropic imaging of large biological specimens over time. It opens new avenues to study biological processes with unprecedented imaging speed…

The @embo.org practical course on #lightsheet #microscopy is back!

Join us in #Dresden for 2 weeks with #your #samples, try the complete line-up of #lightsheet microscopes, tackle big data image analysis, sample prep, OA hardware & much more

Apply now!

Repost 🙏

meetings.embo.org/event/25-lsm

🤔