Kirsty Wan

RETRACTED: Integrative phylogenomics positions sponges at the root of the animal tree Determining whether sponges or ctenophores root the animal tree has important implications for understanding early animal evolution. Here, we examined support for these competing hypotheses by constru...

This is a beautiful case of how real science happens & serious scientists work. Kudos to both set of authors: “This has been a humbling experience, but one that speaks to the self-correcting nature of the scientific endeavor.” www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Final reminder 📢 We are looking for a #philbio or #philphysics postdoc for an interdisciplinary project exploring the boundary between living and nonliving systems through the lens of self-organization & active matter 👇 www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jo... #philjobs #philsky #HPS #devbio Please share!

Here is a myxomycete plasmodium that I isolated off a wet leaf onto the bottom of a vented flask. Realtime phase microscopy.
#ProtistsOnSky

Thank you @mollyherring.bsky.social for the stunning showcase 😍

Like what you see? Come ExM with us! Let’s flood the internet with microbial marvels 🦠

#ProtistsOnSky #MicroEvoSky 🧪🔬🌍

@dudinlab.bsky.social @centriolelab.bsky.social @moorefound.bsky.social @embl.org @erc.europa.eu @embo.org

"but he said overall, the money available to researchers was set to increase with "more emphasis on commercialisation".

How many times... FUND CURIOSITY-DRIVEN SCIENCE...

Then impact and commercialisation will come...

🙄😬😱

The most beautiful #snail ever to exist!
Many #marine snails go through an early life stage called #veliger, wherein they drift along with the #plankton before settling onto the sea floor as an adult. We call this, #sparkles

#blackwater #blackwaterdiving #mollusk #gug

What were the first animals? The fierce sponge–jelly battle that just won’t end For almost two decades, scientists have debated whether sponges or comb jellies are the first animal lineage. Now some are calling for a more harmonious approach.

The last word on Ctenophores versus Sponges (not).
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Poster of the EM course in Naples with marine samples. The Electron Microscopy Hands-On Course: sample preparation and imaging of marine environmental samples arises from a very strong and active collaboration between the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn and the EMBL in Heidelberg. The aim of the course is to provide a theoretical and practical training on electron microscopy starting from the basics to the preparation of samples with high pressure freezing and image acquisition using TEM and SEM.

If you are interested in electron microscopy, registration is still open for the

"Electron Microscopy Hands-On Course: sample preparation and imaging of marine environmental samples"

at Stazione Zoologica in Naples.

WIth great teachers from Naples […]

[Original post on biologists.social]

Amazing to hold @lottepedersen.bsky.social & my @jcellsci.bsky.social Special Issue on #Cilia and #Flagella in all its glossy glory & muscle-engaging brain-boosting weight! So much fabulous content from the community! Fab cover @centriolelab.bsky.social 🥰🥰 journals.biologists.com/jcs/pages/ci...

⏰ Deadline extension for #EESBioOsc ⏰

You now have until 14 January to submit your abstract for the EMBO | EMBL Symposium 'Biological oscillators: rhythms and synchronisation across scales'! 👉 s.embl.org/ees26-04-bl

www.uni-heidelberg.de/en/newsroom/...

A rare opportunity to experience the grandeur of the Alte Aula of Universität Heidelberg, on the occasion of the award of the Lautenschläger prize to Jan Lohmann of @cosheidelberg.bsky.social Thanks @ulrichschwarz.bsky.social @jekely.biologists.social.ap.brid.gy for letting me tag along!

p.s. not a #protistonsky

thanks @florianwollweber.bsky.social for pointing me to the paper!

wow... crawling motility in Asgard #archaea!! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

look at these crazy moves!! Let's face it, what these cells want for Christmas is #cilia... the best type of motility appendage...

cilia? what cilia... just all kinds of weird protrusions... I think he was illustrating the general weirdness of protists...

New preprint! Do you like ocean waves? We found similar waves on bacterial colonies! We found that this collective behavior, known as rippling, is nothing but surface waves on an active nematic. @princeton.edu @mpipks.bsky.social @ub.edu @icreacommunity.bsky.social

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

Congrats again Alexander! (Not on bluesky) You can read about some of his work here in our preprint doi.org/10.1101/2025... , with more to come! 🎉😏 #protistsonsky

📢 Paper alert 📢

Chirality is known to be important for the movement of microorganisms and active matter. In our new paper out today in @natphys.nature.com, we show that chirality is used by malaria parasites to control their motion patterns:

doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Here comes a 🧵 ... (1/9)

So happy to announce our new preprint, “A geothermal amoeba sets a new upper temperature limit for eukaryotes.” We cultured a novel amoeba from Lassen Volcanic NP (CA, USA) that divides at 63°C (145°F) 🔥 - a new record for euk growth!
#protistsonsky 🧵

Omg reminds me if fun times in Korea!!

I have a colleague next door working on zebrafish, apparently they feed them paramecia... sad when one's own model organisms are fed to another person's model organism! :P

In a new study, @yale.edu's Shane Elliott, Paul Ready, and the
@davidbreslowlab.bsky.social identified 2 genes🧬that control how cells assemble & dismantle cilia—pointing to new strategies for treating diseases linked to ciliary breakdown!

Read More Here👇
news.yale.edu/2025/10/29/n...

now i've seen everything... 😱
don't care what anybody says but #protists are cognitive

SWBio PhD studentships available- join my lab to investigate phage structure with @btemperton.bsky.social tinyurl.com/ytdft9bj

An Asgard archaeon with internal membrane compartments

Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!

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

congrats! beautiful work!

Very excited to share this one! Our comprehensive structure, genetics and biophysics dissection of which flagellar dyneins and other proteins are needed for flagella to beat and drive cells swimming behaviours: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

interested in mechanobiology and physics of living systems? this is the conference for you! Join us 9-12 June in Heidelberg! with @nicolettapetridou.bsky.social @xaviertrepat.bsky.social Enrique Rojas & Alba Diz-Munoz

Registration OPEN
www.embl.org/about/info/c...

Volume 138 Issue 20 | Journal of Cell Science | The Company of Biologists Journal of Cell Science publishes cutting-edge science encompassing all aspects of cell biology. It is published by The Company of Biologists, a not-for-profit organisation.

Our special issue on ‘Cilia and Flagella’ is now out! Huge thanks to all (authors + reviewers) who contributed, and to our wonderful Guest Editors (@cilialab.bsky.social + @lottepedersen.bsky.social) for pulling it together.
Happy reading!
#cilia #flagella

journals.biologists.com/jcs/issue/13...