iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Anne-Claire Fabre @grumpydrfabre.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

🐸 Why is a frog a frog is a frog, while a salamander is not a salamander is not a salamander? 🤔🦎 After many brainstorming sessions with Ronald Bonett, we explored this question in a new perspective. We discuss how life-cycle complexity may shape morphological diversity! 👉🔗 doi.org/10.1086/744206

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Alek Erickson @alekerickson.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

We are still seeking a postdoc experienced in dev bio to join our lab for a project investigating the epigenetic regulation of cell fate in the early face. Deadline for this call is in few days, so please share this post. www.su.se/download/18....

su.se

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Alek Erickson @alekerickson.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Stargate SG-1 Season 3 Episode 5 "Learning Curve" is about a planet where the aliens rely solely on nanoscale swarms of robots in brain of a few kids that get lobotomized in order to distribute their knowledge (nanobots) to their society. Without the computers, these aliens were unable to learn.

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Alek Erickson @alekerickson.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Does this company's validation blot look like a cut paste job? I can't get over the straight line under the band, subtle difference in background, and what looks like a remnant of another band. Wishing for good HOXA7 antibody for mouse fixed-frozen tissue IHC if anybody knows one...

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Z. Jack Tseng @tsengzj.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Our newest paper on mammalian dental evolution, out today as the cover article in @science.org, lead by @narimanechatar.bsky.social with a team of fantastic early career scientists!!! 🎉🥳 “Performance trade-offs define a fundamental dental dichotomy in mammals” www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Cover image of Science Magazine, with images of carnivore jaws and teeth on black background.

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Kevin Terretaz @kwolbachia.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

New favorite way to color code microscopy data: this is a real 3D confocal image of an unidentified larvae stained for actin (muscles fibers here). Looks like a watercolor painting! #microscopy #ImageJ #FluorescenceFriday #microscopyMonday

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Alek Erickson @alekerickson.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Grateful to the Swedish Hjärnfonden for supporting our lab's project (in collaboration with Emma Andersson) in which we will attempt to gain a deeper understanding of the signaling and regulatory mechanisms underlying brain-face co-variation in mammals. Thank you!

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Alek Erickson @alekerickson.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

We are seeking a motivated postdoc to join our lab at Stockholm University for a 2yr project investigating how GRNs shape the developing face using high-throughput fate mapping and perturbations. Experience with in vivo models, functional genomics, and bioinformatics are a plus. Let me know!

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Rachel Hall-Clifford, PhD, MPH, MSc @rahallclifford.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

And universities are being further gutted by new rules requiring 'temporary' visa holders (mist academics come on J or H1Bs) to return to their home countries to apply for green cards. Our universities are being torn apart. This will affect at least 5 people on my immediate projects.

uscis.gov

Green Card Processes and Procedures | USCIS

Each Green Card category have specific steps and procedures to follow. Listed below are some general processes and procedures to help you apply either while in the United States (known as “adjustment ...

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Reposted by Alek Erickson

Anh Hoang Le, PhD 🏳️‍🌈🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇻🇳 @anhhle2702.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Happy #FluorescenceFriday! I captured this shot of a group of embryonic macrophages expressing LifeAct and H2B migrating inside tissue. These cells can use lamellipodia, filopodia, or blebs to migrate, and are frequently switching between these different modes or combining them. So fascinating.

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Torsten Wittmann @microtubule.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

A day in the life of a growing hiPSC spheroid expressing endogenously mStayGold-tagged histone 3.3 for #FluorescenceFriday and the #Snouty aficionados. 28 hours (and >50,000 exposures) later and they are still going! Home-brewed volume projection.

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ΜΑΝΟΣ ΤΡΑΧΙΑΣ™ @trahias.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Jane Fisher (American Artist, born 1961) "Untitled (Woman on Underwater Steps)", 1989. Oil on Canvas, 48 × 62 inches. Private Collection. #art #painting #artist #BlueSkyArt

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Cells & Development @cellsdev.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

During morphogenesis, different tissue interacts with one another, either mechanically or biochemically. Patrick P.L. Tam and Pragathi Masamsett show that the anterior mesendoderm can pattern head formation in mouse embryos by regulating WNT signalling. Check it out here: doi.org/10.1016/j.cd...

Fig. 1. Contribution of cell populations that possess axis inducing activity, early gastrula organizer, the mid-gastrula organizer and the node of the gastrulating mouse embryo, to the axial mesendoderm of the early-somite stage embryo.

Fig. 2. Anteriorization of the epiblast. (A) Regionalization of signalling activity across the anterior-posterior dimension of the gastrulating embryo. Left: early-streak stage; right: late-streak stage. (B) Regionalization of the germ layer precursors in the epiblast showing the ectoderm precursor localized to the domain of low WNT, Nodal and BMP signalling activity. Left: early-streak stage; right: late-streak stage. (C) Epiblast stem cells, derived from the epiblast of early-streak embryo under different signalling conditions, mapped to developmentally equivalent cell populations in the epiblast and primitive streak. Signalling molecules: FGF2, fibroblast growth factor 2; Activin, Activin A; signalling inhibitors: IWP2, WNT inhibitor; SB: SB431542 TGFβ/Smad inhibitor. The location of epiblast stem cells with different lineage propensity is displayed in the corn plot of the epiblast and primitive streak, with the position defined by coordinates in the distal (1)-proximal (11) dimension, and anterior (A)-(left (L)-right (R)-posterior (P) domains in the transverse plane; relative preponderance of the cell types at each position indicated by the colour scale.

Fig. 3. Genetic activity in the visceral endoderm and anterior mesendoderm. (A) Genes expressed in the anterior visceral endoderm including those encoding antagonists of WNT and Nodal signalling. (B) Genes expressed in the anterior mesendoderm, encompassing those that encode antagonists of WNT and BMP signalling. (C) Foxa2-Otx2-Lhx1 regulate the expression of genes encoding WNT antagonist and factors that modulate WNT signalling activity. Solid connector, direct action; dash connector, indirect action. Left panel: Expression of Lhx1 in the anterior mesendoderm (arrow). Right panel: Expression of Tcf-LacZ reports the pattern of WNT signalling activity, showing low WNT activity in the anterior region of the late-streak embryo.

Fig. 4. Functional attribute of the anterior mesendoderm in modulating WNT signalling activity for pattering the embryonic brain. (A) Graded pattern of WNT signalling activity in the anterior-posterior dimension of (i) the early-bud (E7.25) embryo, (ii) head folds of early-somite (E8.5) embryo and (iii) brain of early-organogenesis (E9.5) embryo. Area of high WNT signalling activity, highlighted by the expression of the Tcf-LacZ reporter and shown as green region in the schematics. * Regions of low WNT activity in the epiblast, head folds and embryonic brain. A, anterior; P, posterior; fb, forebrain; mb, midbrain; hb, hindbrain. (B) Mutant Dkk1−/−, Lrp6Gw/Gw and Ctnnb1bf/bf embryos showing escalated WNT activity (Tcf-LacZ reporter expression) and phenocopy of head truncation (arrow). (C) Increasing severity of head truncation (II to V) with progressive loss of rostral brain structures associated with diminishing antagonistic activity and escalating WNT activity in mutant embryos (I: Dkk1+/−, Lrp6gw/+ and Ctnnb1bf/+; II: Lrp6gw/+;Ctnnb1bf/+, III IV: Lrp6gw/gw, Ctnnb1bf/bf, Dkk1+/−;Lrp6gw/+, and Dkk1+/−;Ctnnb1bf/+, V: Dkk1+/−; Lrp6gw/+; Ctnnb1bf/+, Fossat et al., 2011). A, anterior; P, posterior; t, telencephalon; d, diencephalon; m, myelencephalon. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

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Ashkaan K. Fahimipour @akfbio.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Reptiles with longer Wikipedia pages tend to be bigger. The relationship is a power law with exponent = 0.85. I guess humans really like writing about big lizards? The longest article is the Komodo Dragon.

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Jan @janstreit.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Ukrainian artist, Olga Grigoreva Klimova Self portrait

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Chenxin Li, PhD @chenxinli2.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

The extent of “photoshop artistry” at play is appalling. These antibodies might as well work just fine, but it really erodes the trust when there is a systematic effort into lying.

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Reposted by Alek Erickson

Thiago Carvalho @cyrilpedia.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

'We primarily do comparative analysis using human stem cells/organoids and genetically modified mouse models, with some minor use of frog models. We use this approach because, for developmental anomalies, it is impossible to assess true function without in vivo models' @karenjliu.bsky.social

journals.biologists.com

Why in vivo models of disease remain indispensable

Summary: The call to arms for alternatives to model organisms of disease will fail without ongoing integration with – and validation against – complex animal models and support from the animal modelli...

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Alek Erickson @alekerickson.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

Clipping lost on roundtrip to tiny

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Alek Erickson @alekerickson.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

That is my current idea, though it is open to many 'beneficial mutations' driven by a strong and/or persuasive candidate. If this aligns with your interests, contact me by DM or email with your CV and a short statement of motivation. 4/4

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Alek Erickson @alekerickson.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

Then, modelling 3D growth fields given a starting set of cells with defined GRN activation states. Predictions about GRN function on cell fate and tissue shape would then be reconstituted in the lab using in vitro or in vivo approaches.

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Alek Erickson @alekerickson.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

Our group aims to study how GRNs drive clonal dynamics during facial morphogenesis. We will merge GRN inference (incl. enhancer target predictions) with developmental trajectory modeling, to understanding how GRNs evolve during cell diversification and patterning. 2/n

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Alek Erickson @alekerickson.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

Have you recently (or nearly) defended your PhD and are interested in gene regulatory networks (GRNs), cell fate decisions, and the evolution of skeletal form? Let's apply together for the Wallenberg DDLS Postdoc Call 2026 (deadline for this is March 31). 1/n www.scilifelab.se/data-driven/...

scilifelab.se

DDLS Research School Postdoc call 2026

Call for Academic and Industrial Postdoctoral Fellowships in Data-Driven Life Science 2026 Generic Description of the DDLS Postdoc Program The SciLifeLab and Wallenberg National Program for Data-Drive...

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Alek Erickson @alekerickson.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

Thanks to both the Petrus och Augusta Hedlunds Stiftelse, and the Åke Wiberg Stiftelse, for their generous decisions in 2025 to support my group's research into molecular mechanisms of brain-face covariation and birth defects affecting the facial skeleton.

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Jocelyn Anderson Photography @jocelynanderson.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

A Cooper's Hawk getting escorted out of the air space by a Barn Swallow.

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SETI Institute @setiinstitute.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

In our latest #SETILive #podcast, artist Jennifer Willet talks about the experience of creating an artwork that represented the seemingly opposing viewpoints of biogenesis from our two 2025 Drake Award winners. Listen to the full podcast: www.seti.org/seti-live/ 🧪 👩‍🔬 🐡

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Alek Erickson @alekerickson.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

Are you interested in a postdoc studying the genetics of skeletal shaping in my lab at Stockholm University? Let's apply for this Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoc fellowship (deadline: September 2025). Reach out! marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/calls/msca-p...

marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu

MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025

MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships enhance the creative and innovative potential of researchers holding a PhD and who wish to acquire new skills through advanced training, international, interdisciplinary ...

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Alek Erickson @alekerickson.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

If the question is whether anybody still thinks that, I would wager a guess the answer is yes, at least somebody probably thinks that

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Alek Erickson @alekerickson.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

“In an honest search for knowledge you quite often have to abide by ignorance for an indefinite period. … The steadfastness in standing up to [this], nay in appreciating it as a stimulus and a signpost to further quest, is a natural and indispensable disposition in the mind of a scientist.”

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Alek Erickson @alekerickson.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

i would like people to stop saying "you can't be serious" when I'm telling them something amazing. YES I CAN!

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Alek Erickson @alekerickson.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

this post is dedicated to the NWW list

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