Nicholas Bellono

Meet the sensory biologist studying an “invisible” language Dr. Rebecka Sepela’s research is uncovering the role of microbes in creating a chemical language that connects all organisms

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Rebecka Sepela Receives L’Oréal USA For Women in Science Fellowship - Harvard University - Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology MCB postdoctoral fellow Rebecka Sepela has been selected as one of the 2025 L’Oréal USA For Women in Science (FWIS) Fellows, a prestigious honor recognizing early-career scientists whose […]

Rebecka Sepela Receives L’Oréal USA For Women in Science Fellowship 🧠 🧪🧬 #AcademicSky #higherEd
www.mcb.harvard.edu/department/n...
@nbellono.bsky.social @rachellegaudet.bsky.social @dulaclab.bsky.social @naoshigeuchida.bsky.social @cryptogenomicon.bsky.social @harvardbrainsci.bsky.social

Anastasiia Sukalskaia Awarded Swiss National Science Foundation Fellowship - Harvard University - Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology Postdoctoral fellow Anastasiia Sukalskaia has received a prestigious Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) Postdoc.Mobility Fellowship, which will support her research in the lab of MCB’s Nicholas ...

Anastasiia Sukalskaia Awarded Swiss National Science Foundation Fellowship 🧠 🧪🧬 #AcademicSky #higherEd
www.mcb.harvard.edu/department/n... @nbellono.bsky.social @rachellegaudet.bsky.social @dulaclab.bsky.social @naoshigeuchida.bsky.social @neurovenki.bsky.social @snsf.ch

Bellono Lab Research Featured on Two September Cell Covers - Harvard University - Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology Two recent studies from the MCB lab of Nick Bellono will be featured on the cover of Cell this month, highlighting the lab’s ongoing exploration of unconventional model […]

Bellono Lab Research Featured on Two September Cell Covers 🧠 🧪🧬 #AcademicSky #higherEd
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Sea slugs steal foreign chloroplasts for photosynthesis and starvation resistance. Photo by Anik Grearson. #evolution #symbiosis. #cellbiology. @cellpress.bsky.social

A yellow octopus with tentacles and suckers akimbo

🎉It’s #CephalopodWeek! Our annual celebration of all things octopus, squid, and cuttlefish 🐙🦑 To kick things off: A new study looks into how octopuses use the suckers on their arms to “taste” harmful microbes on surfaces they touch.

buff.ly/PhTxTnr

Octopuses sense environmental microbiomes to drive predatory and parental behaviors. Artwork by Lily Soucy. #evolution #sensation #microbiome @cellpress.bsky.social

Wendy Valencia Montoya – Bridging Natural History and Molecular Biology - Harvard University - Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology By the time Wendy  Valencia Montoya arrived at Harvard, she had already lived in tents deep in the Amazon, crisscrossed Europe to study evolutionary biology, and uncovered genetic […]

Wendy Valencia Montoya – Bridging Natural History and Molecular Biology 🧪 🧬 #AcademicSky #higherEd
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Ryan Nett Named Pew Scholar for Innovative Research on Plant-Derived Molecules - Harvard University - Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology MCB faculty member Ryan Nett has been named a 2025 Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences, one of 22 early-career scientists selected nationwide for their promising and innovative […]

Ryan Nett Named Pew Scholar for Innovative Research on Plant-Derived Molecules 🧪 🧬 #AcademicSky #higherEd
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Carolyn Elya Receives Prestigious Klingenstein Fellowship in Neuroscience - Harvard University - Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology MCB congratulates Carolyn Elya, Assistant Professor of MCB and affiliate of the Center for Brain Science, on receiving a Klingenstein Fellowship Award in Neuroscience. This competitive early-career aw...

Carolyn Elya Receives Prestigious Klingenstein Fellowship in Neuroscience 🧪 🧬 #AcademicSky #higherEd
www.mcb.harvard.edu/department/n...
@zombiflied.bsky.social @rachellegaudet.bsky.social @dulaclab.bsky.social @neurovenki.bsky.social @naoshigeuchida.bsky.social @harvardbrainsci.bsky.social

Solar-Powered Thieves: New Study Uncovers Animal Organelle That Sustains Photosynthesis from Stolen Chloroplasts - Harvard University - Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology They look like crawling leaves, but these sea slugs are anything but ordinary. MCB Professor Nick Bellono calls them “the weirdest animal we’ve ever studied”—a bold claim from […]

Solar-Powered Thieves: New Study Uncovers Animal Organelle That Sustains Photosynthesis from Stolen Chloroplasts 🧠🧪 #AcademicSky #higherEd
www.mcb.harvard.edu/department/n...
@nbellono.bsky.social @rachellegaudet.bsky.social @naoshigeuchida.bsky.social @neurovenki.bsky.social @dulaclab.bsky.social

Corey Allard and Amy Lee discuss curious "solar-powered" animals that steal and maintain foreign chloroplasts for photosynthesis and starvation resistance. @harvardcellbio.bsky.social, @danafarbernews.bsky.social.
news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...

‘Wildest thing’: solar-powered slug steals chloroplasts and stores them for emergencies Marine creatures house contraband structures in special organelles, which the animal raids for food in times of need.

‘Solar-powered’ sea slugs have specialized depots in their cells that store photosynthetic equipment looted from algae

https://go.nature.com/3TMCgR7

Corey Allard et al asks how “solar-powered” slugs maintain stolen chloroplasts from their diet for photosynthesis and starvation resistance. @cellpress.bsky.social, @harvardmcb.bsky.social, @harvardmed.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Specific molecules produced by bacteria in rotting food can activate these sucker sensors, causing octopuses to discard food or eggs that would make them or their offspring sick.

Learn more: scim.ag/3G8Kv6Z

Eight Arms to Taste Your Microbiome

Octopuses’ 8 Arms Snoop on the Microbial World @nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/17/s...

Octopuses Use Microbial Signals to Guide Complex Behaviors - Harvard University - Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology A new study published in Cell from the lab of MCB faculty member Nick Bellono reveals that octopuses detect microbial cues on surfaces to distinguish prey and eggs […]

Octopuses Use Microbial Signals to Guide Complex Behaviors
🧠🧪 #AcademicSky #higherEd
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Microbiomes shape our biology from gut-brain, skin, immunology, and more. Here, Rebecka Sepela et al explores octopus “taste by touch” sensation to ask how environmental microbiomes drive animal behavior. @cellpress.bsky.social, @mblscience.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

These Fish Use Their Legs (Yes, Legs) To Taste New research into a strange fish known as the sea robin finds that leg-like appendages can “taste” prey buried in the sand.

Your legs may help you get around, but what if they could also help you sniff out a snack? That’s a trick achieved by a fish called the sea robin.

Recently, researchers reported that those legs are also chemical sensing organs that can taste for prey buried under the sand.

Illustration shows a brown-spotted fish with big fins and weird little legs coming out its underside. The fish is eating a clam. Text reads "Sea Robin Legs Double as Tongues. Written by Andrea Tamayo and Maria Temming, Illustrated by JoAnna Wendel"

I also recently published this comic as well with Science News Explores, about SEA ROBINS and their TONGUE-LEGS. Written by Andrea Tamayo and Maria Temming. #sciart #sciencecomic

www.snexplores.org/article/sea-...

Congrats to the 2025 JCC Symposium Poster Presentation Award Winners: Dr. Xinyu Ling, Dr. Pablo Villar, and Dr. Zhuoning Zou!!!

Lab’s latest: (mouse) mums grow their guts during pregnancy and lactation: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Questions and answers from our own Corey Allard allardlab.hms.harvard.edu on his labs quest to discover new biology and reveal conserved and fundamental principles that operate across biological systems and impact human health. hms.harvard.edu/news/fish-le...

Brittany Walsh Receives 2025 FAS Dean’s Distinction Award - Harvard University - Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology Brittany Walsh, Research Assistant for the Bellono Lab, has been named a 2025 recipient of the FAS Dean’s Distinction Award, one of Harvard’s highest staff honors. The award […]

Brittany Walsh Receives 2025 FAS Dean’s Distinction Award. #AcademicSky #higherEd
www.mcb.harvard.edu/department/n... @zombiflied.bsky.social‬ @rachellegaudet.bsky.social @dulaclab.bsky.social @neurovenki.bsky.social @naoshigeuchida.bsky.social @jeeyunc.bsky.social @microbiometcell.bsky.social

Carolyn Elya Named a 2025 Searle Scholar - Harvard University - Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology The MCB Department is delighted to announce that MCB Assistant Professor Carolyn Elya has been selected as a 2025 Searle Scholar. This prestigious award recognizes exceptional young faculty […]

Carolyn Elya Named a 2025 Searle Scholar #academicsky #SciComm 🧬 🧪
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MCB’s Daniel Cardozo Pinto and Wendy Valencia Montoya Named 2025 Harvard Junior Fellows - Harvard University - Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology Harvard has named Daniel Cardozo Pinto and Wendy Valencia Montoya as two of its newest Junior Fellows, joining the prestigious Society of Fellows this year. They will begin […]

MCB’s Daniel Cardozo Pinto and Wendy Valencia Montoya Named 2025 Harvard Junior Fellows
www.mcb.harvard.edu/department/n... @dcardozopinto.bsky.social @naoshigeuchida.bsky.social @rachellegaudet.bsky.social @dulaclab.bsky.social @harvardoeb.bsky.social