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Alfonso Martinez Arias

@amartinezarias.bsky.social
1.8K followers 351 following 517 posts

Interested in how cells use genes to create shape, form and function in #embryos as well as in Societal Wellbeing #NotInTheGenes #InNumbersWeTrust #gastruloids #gastrulation

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Alfonso Martinez Arias @amartinezarias.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Amen
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Alfonso Martinez Arias @amartinezarias.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
It was a pleasure to discuss with you about the wondrous events that happen where Physics meets Biology and thank you for the insights into the origin of the relationship between Borges and mathematics; so obvious!
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Alfonso Martinez Arias @amartinezarias.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Intriguing set of observations on how ‘dual-aggregate gastruloids’ lead to the emergence of foregut-pharyngeal mesoderm co-development and patterning www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... #gastruloids #MustRead
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Alfonso Martinez Arias @amartinezarias.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Thank you @ramiro-alberio.bsky.social for a great day at @uniofnottingham.bsky.social biosciences with much to think about on farm animals #gastruloids and for sharing much of the history at the centre of the Midlands
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Alfonso Martinez Arias @amartinezarias.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Very good to be back in a Cambridge where many things haven’t changed, that brings back many memories and the company of friends who taught me to think and to work.
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Alfonso Martinez Arias @amartinezarias.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Back in the uk for a long time. Unique in so many ways. Here just one. That cord…..
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Buzz Baum @buzzbaum.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
We are looking for a research assistant! Come join the team: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DSZ826/r...
jobs.ac.uk
Research Support Officer | Cell Biology | Dr Buzz Baum | LMB 2904 at MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
Start your UK & international job search for academic jobs, research jobs, science jobs and managerial jobs in leading universities and top...
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Avinash ಅವಿನಾಶ್ @tnavinash.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Was so annoyed at all the "your brain is actually 2 organs!!" nonsense, as I remembered reading a couple of papers on this during my PhD. Thankful to @amartinezarias.bsky.social for this thread. bsky.app/profile/did:... Crossposted with @openvibe.social
bsky.app
@amartinezarias.bsky.social on Bluesky
I wonder who working on the field is surprised by this ‘finding’. Interesting refinement of what is already known, an elaboration but…..a surprise? [contains quote post or other embedded content]
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paveltomancak.bsky.social @paveltomancak.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
21627 applications. Nothing to celebrate here. Impossible to evaluate fairly & safely. Neither the science (too diverse & possibly LLM generated) nor the soft criteria (likely LLM generated). Without an interview stage - a security risk! marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/whats-new/ne...
marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu
MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2026 receives record number of applications
The 2026 call has attracted considerable interest from the research community with 21,627 applications submitted.
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Alfonso Martinez Arias @amartinezarias.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I wonder who working on the field is surprised by this ‘finding’. Interesting refinement of what is already known, an elaboration but…..a surprise?
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paveltomancak.bsky.social @paveltomancak.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I guess there is more than one way to look at this, but after reading this, I am starting to worry we may have a problem not with AI, but with AS (Artificial Stupidity). www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
AI models chatting in ‘surreal’ dialect mixing poetic language and tech bro jargon
Experts air concern over AI lingo redolent of James Joyce’s prose that is creating barriers to monitoring and oversight
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Merlin Lange @merlinlange.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
🔬🧪 We're hiring postdocs&engineers at Institut de la Vision in AMAZING Paris 🇫🇷!! Join a dynamic team working at the nexus of retina developmental biology, spatial omics & advanced imaging Ambitious science in a supportive & young inclusive team 🚀 DM me for more info & please share 🙏 #academicsky
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Alfonso Martinez Arias @amartinezarias.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
On the usefulness of #gastruloids as a discovery tool for the exploration of early mammalian development. Previously as #preprint now out after PR www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Regulation of mRNA poly(A) tail length governs mammalian body plan formation in gastruloids - Nature Communications
How post-transcriptional mechanisms shape the mammalian body plan remains unclear. Here, the authors establish a single-cell CRISPR screening platform in gastruloids to identify Cnot8-dependent mRNA d...
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Alfonso Martinez Arias @amartinezarias.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Nice, thoughtful present
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Alfonso Martinez Arias @amartinezarias.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
And for those biology practicioners who get excited @ recent AI Millenium problem successes: where is the Navier-Stoke equations in Biology? Apart from Fisher's fundamental theorem of natural selection (which is often open to discussion)......
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Alfonso Martinez Arias @amartinezarias.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Ditto for Biology where AI is starting to confuse short term non solutions for simple problems with answers to problems that it doesn't understand. And herein the mirage that AI can 'solve' cancer, cure all disease and 'create' virtual cells. Describing ain't understanding.
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Alfonso Martinez Arias @amartinezarias.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
It is clear that people are using AI to review papers and grants. Often as a tool, not as an off the bottle answer for review (though some do). One of the signs of this is the detail of the negative comments and the errors, often minor and irrelevant to the conclusions. 🧵
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Aylwyn Scally @aylwyn-scally.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Too late - the Human Genome Project already did this. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
AI will cure cancer in our lifetime, claims boss of UK chip giant
Arm Holding's chief executive Rene Haas says artificial intelligence will find a solution to the disease.
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Nick Stroustrup @nstroustrup.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Did you know that the cells of old animals contain much less mRNA than the cells of young ones? Let me share with you some results from an ongoing project in the lab, where we are finding that a progressive depletion of total mRNA abundance is a crucial part of aging 1/22
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Alfonso Martinez Arias @amartinezarias.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
The problem, one of them, is that, not surprisingly, many news items have already suggested that!
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Alfonso Martinez Arias @amartinezarias.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
What do we make of the statement that 1260 ‘genetic variants’ account for between 4.8%-9.3% of our personality? www.nature.com/articles/s41.... If you believe, as most media has, that our personality is genetically determined, you are gullible. 1/3🧵
nature.com
Robust inference and correlates from genetic associations with personality - Nature
The genetic architecture of personality is robustly generalizable, minimally confounded and widely relevant to human experience.
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Rashmi Priya @rashmi-priya.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
A perspective in @natmethods.nature.com on Why forces are fundamental to understanding how life comes into being - by us, @campaslab.bsky.social @yanlanmao.bsky.social @sarawickstrom.bsky.social Miguel Concha, Alba Diz-Muñoz and @streichan.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
The physics of sculpting a living creature - Nature Methods
Cell biologists have long known that mechanical forces, such as tension and compression, influence tissue differentiation. Now, advanced methods are letting them observe and manipulate these forces in...
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Andreas Prokop @poppi62.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Over 15 years of our work consistently supports a cohesive model of neurodegeneration providing useful concepts and directions for future research: "the dependency cycle of local axon homeostasis". Enjoy the read of our completely revamped manuscript: doi.org/10.1101/2025... (PDF fixed)
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Gary Buckley @garybuckley.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
© Summer Jane. 'Composure,' 2024. Palette knife acrylic painting. 70 × 90 cm.
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mary @roughrider994.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
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Alfonso Martinez Arias @amartinezarias.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Well, this is a surprise. Weng'an Biota (Doushantuo Formation), where some can be interpreted as embryos and within them….some suggestive images. Probably not what I think I see but #Amazing. #PreCambrian lyellcollection.org/doi/full/10....
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Alfonso Martinez Arias @amartinezarias.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
💯
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Alfonso Martinez Arias @amartinezarias.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Tribute to Gail Martin www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... Discoverer of #EScells whose curiosity went beyond cells, genes / embryos. Good for younger generations to learn @ these giants. NB. Unfathomable why she was overlooked for a Nobel Prize, though this says more @ prizes than @ her.
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John Wallingford @jbwallingford.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
A true giant of #DevBiol! For you youngsters who might not know, among her decades of fantastic discoveries was this thing she found in 1981 that she called "Embryonic Stem Cells." I think some people still study them. Thanks to Alex for writing this lovely piece!
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Jonathan Slater @jonathanslater.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Good morning Murmuration and Blue Sky
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Alfonso Martinez Arias @amartinezarias.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Sí! VAMOS!
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Alfonso Martinez Arias @amartinezarias.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
For those of us of a certain age his work, that changed the way we think @ the #ImmuneSystem and answered a key question - #AbDiversity- was an inspiration in an era of true discoveries S. Tonegawa l1nq.com/a3rwkdo
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Alfonso Martinez Arias @amartinezarias.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
In the midst of foundational models of the cell (or should I say pseudocell), seen as an “bag”, this www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... is a great antidote, and one that anyone who knows that a cell is more than its genes, can relate to and understand #RealCellsRUs #NotInTheGenes
cell.com
Establishing a conceptual framework for holistic cell states and state transitions
Technological advances have brought “big data” to the cellular level. Rafelski and Theriot share their vision of defining a cell's state in a holistic way that reflects all molecular, organizational, ...
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Zenlabpasteur.bsky.social @zenlabpasteur.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
🚨 New pre-print alert! 🚨 Adult neural stem cell state and fate decisions are hidden within transcriptional heterogeneity. To find out how we decoded these heterogeneities to identify a molecularly encoded quiescence cycle, check out the pre-print on bioRxiv! doi: doi.org/10.64898/202...
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Anh Hoang Le, PhD 🏳️‍🌈🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇻🇳 @anhhle2702.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
My image "The phases of gastrulation" made it to the top 10 in this year #YEN2026 image competition! I took this video of a gastrulating 🐸 embryo while testing a new microscope in the lab. One of the rare #devbio theme videos I got. Check out the others here: thenode.biologists.com/results-of-t...
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Richard Sever @richardsever.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
“move from preprint to peer-reviewed publication leaves the central claims of most abstracts intact, indicating preprints are a reliable source…papers that were never posted as preprints were retracted at roughly twice the rate of those that were…” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
Tracking claim changes from preprint to publication across 72,644 biomedical studies using large language models
Preprints now disseminate a large share of biomedical research before peer review. Because they have not yet passed peer review, some scientists regard preprint claims as unverified or potentially unr...
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Alfonso Martinez Arias @amartinezarias.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
This www.nature.com/articles/s41... is a very troublesome paper. Either human embryos are totally different from other mammals or there is a problem with this specimen. In either case @Nature should have been cautious.
nature.com
Epiblast diversification and blood formation in a human pregastrula - Nature
High-resolution spatial transcriptome analysis of a human embryo at Carnegie stage 6 reveals three distinct developmental trajectories from the epiblast towards amnion, primitive streak and axial meso...
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Tajbakhsh Lab @tajbakhshlab.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
Impressive bench to bedside, Agnete Kirkeby, promise of pluripotent cell technologies. To end our 2-week course, a dinner cruise on the Seine. Magical evening, great company, students and instructors made this a successful and fruitful exchange of ideas. Thanks to all! See you in 2027 #ASCB course!
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Tajbakhsh Lab @tajbakhshlab.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
Matthias Lütolf engineered his way through organ regeneration with impressive micropatterns/microfluidics/imaging - to recapitulate growth and oncogenesis.
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Tajbakhsh Lab @tajbakhshlab.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
A travel through development and tumour biology with Cédric Blanpain, the power of lineage tracing, modelling and imaging! Then chick and quail: Charlène Guillot with Olinda Alegria-Prevot - ex ovo electroporation of embryos - viewing segmentation/growth, beautiful to watch!
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Tajbakhsh Lab @tajbakhshlab.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
2nd week of #ASCB! Evolution of regeneration, Eve Gazave, hands-on Platynereis regeneration wonderfully demonstrated, with help from Zoé Velasquillo, Rémi Strehl. Francina Langa Vives and expert CIGM team had everyone try pronuclear injections + ES into blastocysts - steady hands of creation.
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Alfonso Martinez Arias @amartinezarias.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
Fritz Kahn had an amazing eye to convey the beauty and magic of biology, Here, from “man in structure and function”, the way #evolution has shaped fish gills into various human organs. #Infographics before its time.
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Alfonso Martinez Arias @amartinezarias.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Wonderful time, as always, at #ASCB! Thanks @pasteur.fr @LabTajbakhsh , @zenlabpasteur A great course, an stimulating atmosphere, great students have & to cap it all, boat trip on the Seine against the backdrop of Paris. #Gastruloid module w/ @da40cambs
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Tajbakhsh Lab @tajbakhshlab.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
End of the first and full week #ASCB. Pondering, and exchanges on a research career, then ST's lecture @tajbakhshlab.bsky.social , isolation of muscle stem (satellite) cells + myofibre niche. Plate & wait. Quiescence to differentiation. Barbara Gayraud-Morel, with help from Liza Sarde - thanks!
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Petra Michaela @petramichaela.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Every creature leaves a mark on the Earth. And humans? We leave behind plastic bottles, packaging, containers, and trash. The saddest part is that we are the only species that understands the damage—yet we keep doing it. Our footprint should be one of responsibility, not pollution.
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Pedro Santamaria @p-santamaria.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
- In 1969, I changed my choice of PhD when I hear Antonio's talks (coming back from Caltech). He dazzled, astounded, seduced me. I became his first PhD student. Without him my life would have be very different.
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Stylianos Lefkopoulos (he/him) @slefkopoulos.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
I will never get over how good this is! Already on day 3 of @bacell3d.bsky.social organoid conference - great science and discussions, as always!
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Tajbakhsh Lab @tajbakhshlab.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Our Stem Cell Course #ASCB is back! After 2nd day, @institutpasteur.bsky.social @tajbakhshlab.bsky.social, @zenlabpasteur.bsky.social, Barbara Gayraud-Morel, and great interactive students. Laurence Daheron, Frank Yates, Michel Cohen-Tannoudji covered pluripotency and generating hiPSCs. Great team!
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Alfonso Martinez Arias @amartinezarias.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
IMPORTANT study from @hocinerekaik.bsky.social @denisduboule.bsky.social and a significant validation of SCBEMs, #gastruloids in particular, as a discovery tool www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 🧵
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MwahahahahahadScientist @mads100tist.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
I think that's Alfonso's original point
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