Stanley E. Strawbridge

Do you make shipments?! I’d love this for the lab!

Finally, a career highlight, we made it into @cellysally.bsky.social 's #PaperThemeTune s:

bsky.app/profile/cell...

[8/8]

Also, check out the behind-the-scenes interview on my path in science, a eureka moment, and what I do when I choose to leave the lab:

🎙️ doi.org/10.1242/dev....

[7/8]

and thank you to funders:

@wellcometrust.bsky.social @biologists.bsky.social @ukri.org

[6/8]

Thanks to co-authors & host institutions:

@scicambridge.bsky.social @pdncambridge.bsky.social @cam.ac.uk @drn-sheffield.bsky.social @sheffielduni.bsky.social @uoe-igc.bsky.social @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social @mskcancercenter.bsky.social @uniheidelberg.bsky.social @univparissaclay.bsky.social

[5/8]

To test this, we built a quantitative model of fate specification in the embryo. It predicts a two-step mechanism:

1️⃣ Physical exclusion
2️⃣ FGF4-driven fate bias

And it even works at the level of individual embryos!

[4/8]

Even ESCs lacking FGF4 can push host cells into the trophectoderm, just by outcompeting them for space. But with FGF4, they also bias host cells away from contributing to the embryo.

➡️ Crowding first, then signalling.

[3/8]

When injected into 8-cell embryos, ESCs displace host cells from the future embryo into extra-embryonic tissues. This happens via physical crowding and, if the donor cells produce FGF4, also via molecular signalling.

[2/8]

🚨 New paper out in Development! 🚨

We show that donor embryonic stem cells (ESCs) reshape the developing mouse embryo, not just by what they signal, but where they push.

📄 doi.org/10.1242/dev....

[1/8]

I’ve been using my CoB insulated lunch bag for work ever since Biologist @ 100 in Liverpool! 🤓

10/10 Thanks to:
#MRC
@wellcometrust.bsky.social
#SãoPauloResearchFoundation
#JapanSocietyforthePromotionofScience #JSPS
#UEHARAMemorialFoundation

9/10 @drn-sheffield.bsky.social @sheffielduni.bsky.social @uoe-igc.bsky.social @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social @uniofaberdeen.bsky.social @uspoficial.bsky.social ‪@lsiexeter.bsky.social @exeter.ac.uk

8/10 Thank you to all the excellent people involved! (That I can find)
@lbates.bsky.social @tazami.bsky.social

Thanks to: @scicambridge.bsky.social @pdncambridge.bsky.social @babrahaminst.bsky.social @cambiochem.bsky.social @cam.ac.uk ...

7/10 Somatic versatility
Capacitated cultures then generate neuroectoderm, paraxial mesoderm & definitive endoderm with textbook marker profiles—ready for downstream lineage studies.

6/10 Forward Progression
10-day XAV capacitation guides naïve domes → primed flats—an in-vitro window on the pre- to post-implantation transition.

5/10 Extra-embryonic power
PD03 + A83 + Y → GATA3⁺ trophoblast cysts.
LIF + ACTIVIN + CHIR → hypoblast/ExEn. Use them for blastoids or placenta work.

4/10 Hallmark naïve identity
Lines keep the classic naïve signature, form domes in t2iLGöXYaa, and map to E5/6 epiblast by bulk RNA-seq.

3/10 Mosaicism in a dish
Two triplet sets showcase natural variation:
• 161.2A/C share a Chr2q deletion, 161.2B does not.
• 255.1B/C carry Chr5 trisomy, 255.1A does not.
Study how karyotype skews lineage choice—no embryos needed.

2/10 Multiple clones per embryo
Instead of one line per blastocyst, we expanded every dome-shaped colony. Result: single embryos now come with paired, triplet or quadruplet lines—perfect for side-by-side comparisons.

1/10🧵 New preprint! 🚀
We built a resource of 20 clonal human naïve pluripotent stem cell lines from 10 blastocysts. Explore embryo-to-embryo and clone-to-clone variation in one place.
👉doi.org/10.1101/2025.06.02.657331

Today’s speaker in our DRN external seminar series is Dr Thorsten Boroviak (PDN, University of Cambridge) @pdncambridge.bsky.social , who will talk on early embryonic development in primates.

Host: Anestis Tsakiridis @tsakiridis.bsky.social

All welcome!

Thanks to Anne Wiblin and the team at abcam for the invitation to share and discuss my research today! #stemcells #development

It was fantastic to have @lbates.bsky.social visit last week! Thank you for sharing your exciting work!

Exacerbated sonic hedgehog signalling promotes a transition from chemical pre-patterning of chicken reticulate scales to mechanical skin folding | Open Biology Many examples of self-organized embryonic patterning can be attributed to chemically mediated systems comprising interacting morphogens. However, mechanical patterning also contributes to the emergenc...

Check out our new research in @royalsocietypublishing.org's Open Biology! We experimentally induce a transition from chemical to mechanical patterning in the chicken embryo 🐣🔬 @lanevol.bsky.social 🧪

royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

TIL, I can get excited about a -80. #StrawbridgeLab #NewPI

Check out these feather buds on the chicken embryo's wing! Our latest study @plosbiology.org reveals that temporary inhibition of sonic hedgehog signalling transforms feathers into simple, protofeather-like structures—similar to those of their dinosaur ancestors🔬🦖🧪

journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

A fantastic meeting of early career researchers in Vienna this week. It was great to see old friends and to meet new people. Thank you so much for the opportunity to present my work at SY-Stem 2025! @impvienna.bsky.social @imbavienna.bsky.social @maxperutzlabs.bsky.social

Thank you!!!

@drn-sheffield.bsky.social and @sheffielduni.bsky.social has been and continues to be a welcoming and stimulating research environment!

Mid-blastocyst stained for the three lineages [Epiblast (green, NANOG), Hypoblast (red, GATA4), and Trophoblast (blue, GATA3)

A warm welcome to Stanley Strawbridge @stanleystrawbridge.bsky.social, who joins us as a #PhysicsOfLife & #QuantitativeBiology Fellow from @scicambridge.bsky.social. His work explores early human embryo form and function.

#AdvancedImaging #AppliedMathematics #Bioengineering #stemcells #development

It was great to be back @cambridgeuni.bsky.social to give a talk @gurdoninstitute.bsky.social Developmental Biology Seminar Series, and to talk science with people from @scicambridge.bsky.social, @loke-ctr.bsky.social, and @mrclmb.bsky.social!

Spring has sprung @christscollegecam.bsky.social!