Tom Baden

Ohh.... #biology #lego

We are so lucky in the UK to have access to this unique funding stream, which emphasises bold but ‘quirky’ ideas that are essentially unfundable elsewhere. Key is also the sustained support (up to 5years) because it takes time to do things properly 🙏🏽 .

The @leverhulme.ac.uk was the first to support this new direction of the lab, for example funding first author @gkafetzis.bsky.social ‘s PhD, and by centrally chipping in to various exciting evo directions over the years.

Happy to see how our collab. paper on the origin of the vertebrate eye is tickling the public interest. Our ongoing shuffle from systems neuro to evo-neuro over recent years continues to be a delight! We are supported by various funders, but I want to point out one in particular: @leverhulme.ac.uk

The molecular evolution of vertebrate organs Nature Ecology & Evolution - This Review discusses recent advances in the molecular evolution of vertebrate organs, including rates of evolution of organs and cell types, molecular mechanisms...

Our internal organs are evolutionary marvels. New technologies are transforming our understanding of the evolution of vertebrate organs. You can find more by reading here:
rdcu.be/e5EgU
#EvoBio #EvoDevo 🐟🦎🐢🦇🐊🦜

Do you: Have a strong interest in science? A passion for journalism and writing? Our paid 3-month internship might be for you! We are looking for talented candidates from all backgrounds, especially those traditionally underrepresented in publishing. Applications close 9 March 2026.

Calling all budding science writers!

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Deadline: 9 March 2026

Full info here: springernature.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Spring...

#PaidInternship #Internship #Journalism

🚨JOB alert🚨

We have three (yes, THREE) 🌟lectureships🌟 advertised in the School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol.

Broad remit, including #AnimalBehaviour & #GlobalChangeBiology

⏱️Deadline: 8th March 2026
🙏Please circulate widely

😊Come join us!

Full #job details: tinyurl.com/y3us95rc

From our new paper out now in @currentbiology.bsky.social: www.cell.com/current-biol... w/ @neurofishh.bsky.social @gkafetzis.bsky.social @denilsson.bsky.social

Looking across animals, the vertebrate eye is an obvious outlier. Why is it so different that other highly visual animals?

The Rise of Eyes Began With Just One

Thanks for highlighting this!

Here some news coverage to
go with it: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/23/s...

The Rise of Eyes Began With Just One

Vision Science makes the front page of NYT!!
featuring work from @neurofishh.bsky.social and @denilsson.bsky.social with comments from Berkeley's own @karthikshekhar.bsky.social
#visionscience

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/23/s...

Out now in @currentbiology.bsky.social!

A dive into the deep history of vertebrate vision, together with @mikebok.bsky.social, @neurofishh.bsky.social and @denilsson.bsky.social

Photo credit : Vasilis Karkalas

JOB ALERT! Lecturer in Biological Sciences Come and join us in the world class Life Sciences Building at the University of Bristol! Closing date: Sunday 8 March

JOB ALERT! Lecturer in Biological Sciences Interested in our research areas? Click the link in our bio to discover more! Closing date: Sunday 8 March

JOB ALERT!

We are excited to announce that we are recruiting three new academics at lecturer level!

Click the link below for more info on how to apply, and don’t forget to explore our research themes too!

We look forward to receiving your applications!

www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...

an actual answer, i suspect, can only come from lamprey physiology

Im thinking that the earliest vertebrate eyes were very small, so SACs also would have been small. too small, perhaps, to usefully compute actionable ds. retinotopy however is presumably preexisting trait of the projection system (RGC). so sacs sharpening that is plausible even on weak effects

We are recruiting three new lecturers!

Read on if you'd like to bring your passion for biology to @bristolbiosci.bsky.social at @bristoluni.bsky.social and join our team of ambitious, creative, inclusive and collaborative researcher–educators:

www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...

You mean mouse-like DS? Yes, in particular 2 recentish papers, www.nature.com/articles/s41... and www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Conserved outside mammals? Is that shown? DS signals in RGCs, sure, but necessity of SACs for this DS? Also in baby zebrafish, SAC not obviously DS and satb2 RGC only go DS in juveniles, but DS signals exist before that, hinting at non-SAC mechanisms? At any rate, much to still discover I am sure :)

so what’s the evolutionary ‘original’? adult DS, or this? plausible hypothesis: SACs are for organising the retina in development, DS-use is derived? Heresy I am sure (ducks)… I think all verts have SAC, but do all verts have SAC dependent DS?

Research Group Leader Do you want to lead groundbreaking research in computational biology? Join us at EMBL-EBI! EMBL's European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) is seeking talented and highly-motivated scientists to jo...

We are hiring for group leaders again — EBI is a great place to start your research group!

embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/EMBL/job/Hin...

How does a predator sense its prey?
🪱The nematode Pristionchus pacificus preys on other nematodes, but how it detects them in its environment? That is what we have been exploring :

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

For this new year, we are proud to announce the launch of Spikeling v3 !

Spikeling is an Open-Source neuroscience education platform that brings a patch-clamp-style electrophysiology workflow into the classroom.

#Neuroscience #OpenScience #OpenHardware #Education

@mmaravall.bsky.social @leonlagnado.bsky.social @sussexneuro.bsky.social

I’ve been using Spikeling in teaching and outreach for the past 4 years, and it’s been a really effective way to make neuroscience concepts more approachable and engaging.

Hands-on tools like this really help move neuroscience teaching forward 🧠⚡

Have a look 👇

My collaborator at University of Copenhagen, Anders Garm, is looking for a 3 year postdoc to work on bioluminescence, neurobiology and ecology of ctenophores. More information here:
candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationI...

1/10 New preprint on bioRxiv
Nanodiamonds for spatial resolution benchmarking in two-photon microscopy

We introduce nanodiamond-based phantoms as a robust, reusable alternative to bead–agarose samples for PSF calibration.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Do direction and orientation preferences form maps in the mouse superior colliculus (SC)?
We examined how motion and orientation tuning are organized in SC neurons and their retinal inputs—and how the retinal topography is transformed by collicular circuits.
tinyurl.com/mr2zt5rm

🧵👇

Thanks for your brilliant talk! Come for the ants, stay for ‘juicy’ evolutionary principles :)

Had a great visit to @sussexneuro.bsky.social and @neurofishh.bsky.social today. Such a pleasure to chat with a bunch of clever and interesting folks, see a menagerie of interesting creatures and see the sea.

Ending my #FluorescenceFriday with this beautiful avian retina image depicting the beautiful stratification in the avian eyes.
This is where complexity meets art.
#retina #avian #bird #plexiformlayer

really very nice :)