Joanna Smeeton

Thank you Kevin for all that you have done to get our community schooling together online. I really appreciate all your hard work and engaging posts!! See you over on the Slack channel to keep the conversations going.

Figure taken from MacRae & Peterson (2015): How suitable are zebrafish for discovering human drugs? Although zebrafish enable in vivo studies on a large scale, questions remain about how relevant the findings are for drug discovery. Recent studies have begun to elucidate the degree of conservation between humans and zebrafish, which share 82% of disease-associated targets and a large number of drug metabolism pathways (as illustrated by the mass spectrometry of metabolic by-products). Zebrafish physiology is often well conserved (sometimes more so than rodent physiology); for example, cardiac electrophysiology (illustrative electrocardiogram (ECG) tracings from each organism are shown). Several compounds discovered in zebrafish screens have been shown to exhibit similar effects in rodent models and humans, including eight out of ten compounds tested by our groups. m/z, mass to charge ratio.

Due to their aquatic environment, #zebrafish are perfect for small molecule drug screens. Many drugs have been repurposed for novel treatments such as COX inhibitors in leukemia & glucocorticoids in long QT syndrome. For more, read this Nature review ($): doi.org/10.1038/nrd4... #ZebrafishFunFacts 🧪

Revascularization of coronary endothelial cells during zebrafish heart regeneration. Credit to @harrisonlab.bsky.social. #ZebrafishZunday 🧪

Some exciting news! NCBI has finished the annotation pipeline for our new #zebrafish reference sequence GRCz12tu:
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/refseq/annot...

This is a big step up in data depth and quality and should be super helpful going forward.

We are excited to announce our next issue of #NewsSplash has been published! To keep up with all the latest #zebrafish news, be sure to check it out here: www.izfs.org/newssplash/n...

Congratulations Olena!!

Congratulations Peter!!

Linocut portrait of biochemist and medical researcher Maud Menten (1879-1960) with the Michalis-Menten equation in blue and a histology image in pinks and purples in the background.

Happy birthday to Canadian medical researcher & #biochemist Maud Menten (1879-1960). 🧪🐡👩🏼‍🔬 #histscj Not only was she an author of Michaelis-Menten equation for enzyme kinetics, she invented the azo-dye coupling for alkaline phosphatase, 1st example of enzyme histochemistry, still used in imaging of 🧵

4 smiling research scientists

Heading back to NYC full of fresh ideas and new questions to explore after a wonderful visit with the fantastic faculty and trainees @cuanschutz.bsky.social Thanks again for the invitation to share our work on craniofacial joint regeneration!

Abstract submissions for the 19th IZFC are now open! Registration to the conference is required to submit an abstract. Register and submit here today! www.izfs.org/education/19...

NIH slashes overhead payments for research, sparking outrage and lawsuit Move to cut indirect cost rate to 15% could cost universities billions of dollars

Breaking news: 22 states are suing to block NIH’s cutting of indirect costs.

See our updated story on the Friday night news and its aftermath. scim.ag/4hTJQ6v

These opening sessions talks were exactly what I needed after the week we have had.

ORS President at a podium in front of a screen showing the word Community

"We need eachother more than ever before" #ORS2025

1. Today the NIH director issued a new directive slashing overhead rates to 15%.

I want to provide some context on what that means and why it matters.

grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

ZFIN is now on Bluesky!

White House pauses all federal grants, sparking confusion The Trump administration has put a hold on all federal financial grants and loans, affecting tens of billions of dollars in payments.

I think some people hear “grants” and think that without them, scientists and government workers just have less stuff to play with at work. But grants fund salaries for students, academics, researchers, and people who work in all areas of public service.

“Pausing” grants means people don’t eat.

Our Ears Share a Common Ancestry with Fish Gills The genes that build the cartilage of fish gills were repurposed to build the cartilage in mammals’ outer ears

Nice article in Scientific American about our work on outer ear evolution and a complimentary study from the lab of Maksim Plikus on role of unique lipids in mammalian ear cartilage. www.scientificamerican.com/article/our-...

Figure 1 (A) Example images illustrating a major delay in initiation of bone mineralization in sox10 mutants between 3 and 7 dpf revealed by Alizarin Red staining. Some mineralization is present by 5 dpf but never achieves control levels before lethality at 8 dpf.

Sox10 is required for systemic initiation of bone mineralization

Read this #OpenAccess Research Article by Stefani Gjorcheska, Lindsey Barske & co. @cincyresearch.bsky.social :
https://journals.biologists.com/dev/article/152/2/dev204357/365396/Sox10-is-required-for-systemic-initiation-of-bone

2025 ORS Tendon Section: 3 Minute Thesis competition We invite you to apply to give a short presentation (think “elevator pitch” or short TED talk) to share your thesis research/concept to your peers! This contest is designed for you to communicate your...

Are you a trainee in the @orssociety.bsky.social Tendon Section, and are the presenting author on an abstract at this year's meeting? If you are going to be at the annual meeting, sign up to compete in the 3-minute-thesis competition! $$ prizes will be awarded! forms.gle/WneTNbVpuECP...

Slow-motion videos reveal tree frogs making some of the most dramatic landings in nature.

Learn more: scim.ag/4gTAurn

Season 3 is here! Hear about our thoughts on season 2, and what we look forward to in season 3! From live streams to live panels at massive gaming conventions, 2024 was so incredible! 2025 is already shaping up to be an amazing year for the podcast, so be sure to tune in!

Thanks Kevin!! I hope so too!!!

Yaaaas! Thank you! I'm so proud of this work and of Maria who led the team effort. #proudPI

Thanks Gage!!

📢🧪For your holiday travel reading, check out our new pre-print! Using a new joint resection injury model, we describe an innate regeneration program in adult #zebrafish that reestablishes all major synovial joint cell types, including lubricated articular cartilage. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Quote about not admiring quietly. Let’s tell each other, and celebrate each other’s successes.

My WISMAC co-chair and partner in crime Kimberly Kho sent me this. It reminded her of Sharon Reimold who recently passed. We celebrate Sharon’s vision and leadership.

Also a reminder that in science, it’s important we celebrate each other’s victories and awesomeness now and openly. Be generous.

Check out how #neuralcrest cells 🔬 migrate (animal= #zebrafish, white cells=sox10+, start=10 somites stage, anterior=top)

To help connect researchers in the #osteoarthritis #musculoskeletal and #ortho fields, @kelseyhcollins.bsky.social and I have started an MSK Research Starter Pack. It’s early days, but please me know if you want to be added!

go.bsky.app/DJVukXR

Alcian blue and alizarin red staining of the jaw of an adult zebrafish. Mouth to the left.

The latest recording of the Bristol Zebrafish Zoom Talks (#BZZT) is now available to watch on our Slack Pro tankspace. The fishy talk from @smeetonlab.bsky.social is titled, ““Decoding progenitor activation in new models of joint cartilage and ligament regeneration in zebrafish.” Go watch! 😊

Back in Crump Lab we did some nice imaging with @smeetonlab.bsky.social #zebrafish 😍