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Allison Kann

@apkann.bsky.social
435 followers 419 following 28 posts

Postdoc in the Srivastava Lab studying organ morphogenesis during whole-body regeneration. PhD in muscle stem cells in the Krauss Lab. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow '23.

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Reposted by Allison Kann
Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦 @centromellone.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
An other example of the value and beauty of fundamental biology research: we don’t always know what kind of future applications will be made possible by a basic discovery. This work in a single-celled alga open the doors to optigenetics 💡🧬
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Allison Kann @apkann.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Are you trying to find a postdoc? Are you interested in the evolution of nervous systems and want to work on a cool worm? Here's your chance!
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Vikram Chandra @vchandra.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I am excited to announce that I will start the Brain Origins Lab at the Crick in March 2027! Using acoels as a model system, the lab will study how animal brains evolve, and how innovations in brain organisation enable new computational abilities and the evolution of complex behaviour.
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Kate Cavanaugh @katecavanaugh.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
🧵 What if one reason fertility declines with age isn’t just genetic-but mechanical? Thrilled to share our new paper in @NatureCellBio : Elevated contractility drives implantation failure in mouse embryos from aged females… here’s what we found 👇 www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/11
nature.com
Elevated contractility drives implantation failure in mouse embryos from aged females - Nature Cell Biology
Cavanaugh et al. show that embryos from aged mice have increased contractility and tissue viscosity on embryonic day 4.5, which leads to poor spreading and attachment. Similar age-associated mechanica...
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Allison Kann @apkann.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
A new pharynx for #FluorescenceFriday. ✨ Hofstenia miamia are able to completely regenerate their pharynx after amputation, building new muscle (🟠, transgenic line) that surrounds an internal ciliated tube (🔵, b-tubulin).
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Allison Kann @apkann.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
There is so much interesting biology to learn by studying diverse species. Science is an incremental and collective process, and I'm really excited to both learn from and contribute new knowledge about these fun little animals. 13/13.
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Allison Kann @apkann.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
I want to end with a massive thank you to the reviewers for being critical in a very fair and helpful way. The paper is much better now than it was when I submitted it. I also want to thank @ebardot.bsky.social and Nature Communications for continuing to champion work in emerging systems. 12/13
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Allison Kann @apkann.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
This work has prompted way more questions than it answers, and there’s still so much we don’t know. For example, what are the molecular cues or regulators of these processes? What’s going on with cell adhesion and migration? ECM remodeling? All open questions I hope to answer in the future. 11/13
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Allison Kann @apkann.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Ultimately, we found that there doesn't seem to be a correlation between types of closure + downstream regeneration. Instead, the mode of closure depends on which epithelial layers are damaged. The two layers seem to have different intrinsic properties - but there is still a lot to explore! 10/13
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Allison Kann @apkann.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
For anyone who is interested, there is a LOT more data in the paper, including: functionally perturbing muscle contraction and actomyosin contractility, testing the role of stem cells in this closure process, and quantifying differences in proliferation across injury types. 9/13
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Allison Kann @apkann.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
These bridges are just the first step; they're followed by a homotypic re-epithelialization of each tissue layer. The entire fragment rounds up, ultimately restoring the tubular anatomy of the animal (but now half the width of the original!). 8/13
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Allison Kann @apkann.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
These bridges always formed in a sequential manner and resolved after ~20 hrs, ultimately bringing the two epithelial layers in close proximity. This process was not unique to the sagittal amputation; transverse cuts through the pharynx (damaging both epithelia) showed the same structures. 7/13
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Allison Kann @apkann.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
We saw that the early steps of wound closure looked very different from the transverse cuts. Long, actin-rich protrusions emerged from both epithelial layers over the first 10 hours post-injury, extending over the wound edge and meeting in the middle to form heterotypic bridges. 6/13
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Allison Kann @apkann.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Next, I wanted to give the worms a more challenging task: closing a sagittal wound. This type of injury not only splits the entire animal in half longitudinally, but it also wounds two types of epithelia: the outer epidermis and the lining of the pharynx. This is where things got interesting. 5/13
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Allison Kann @apkann.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
I found that actin dyes labeled the epidermis and began by cutting the worms in half transversely. These wounds gradually constricted to cover the wound. We saw only an early, transient difference in closure speed between heads and tails - despite very different types of regeneration. 4/13
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Allison Kann @apkann.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
These were harder questions to answer than I anticipated! I worked with mice for my PhD, and although there are many benefits to studying a new model, there are a lot of challenges as well. One of those included finding a way to label cell membranes... something I definitely took for granted. 🫣 3/13
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Allison Kann @apkann.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
When I started my postdoc, I wanted to know how wound repair works in this animal. Do all injuries heal the same way? Do large injuries use different processes than smaller wounds? Is wound repair at all correlated with the downstream regenerative challenge each fragment undertakes? 2/13
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Allison Kann @apkann.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Part 1 of my postdoc work is officially published! 🥳 Hofstenia miamia has emerged as a new model system because of its ability to accomplish whole-body regeneration - but that also means that animals must be able to heal any type of wound. How do they do this? 🧵 1/13 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
A flexible repertoire of wound closure strategies precedes whole-body regeneration - Nature Communications
Animals capable of whole-body regeneration can heal virtually any wound. Here they show that Hofstenia miamia accomplishes this feat through variable morphogenetic strategies that depend on which epit...
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callista yee @csybio.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
hiiii everyone! my department @zoology.ubc.ca is hiring an assistant professor in cell and developmental biology! deadline is october 1! academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/32408 // please share!!!!!
academicjobsonline.org
University of British Columbia, Department of Zoology
Job #AJO32408, Assistant Professor in Cell and Developmental Biology, Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, CA
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Michael D. Green, PhD @michaeldgreen.phd · 28/05/2026
President of MIT not mincing words today in @statnews.com www.statnews.com/2026/05/27/s...
So let me say it as clearly as I can: Without basic scientific research, supported by the kind of farsighted public investment that allows large-scale, undirected, curiosity-driven inquiry, the scientific pipeline will run dry.
In daily life, people may not feel the effects right away, or even in 10 years. But we will feel it. And when someone we love needs therapies that could have emerged but didn't or when other countries now
investing in science can launch new science-based industries or run their societies on vast resources of fusion energy or reap the benefits of quantum computing power or advanced medical breakthroughs, America will wish it sustained its leadership in scientific research here and now.
Sally Kornbluth is the president of MIT.
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Allison Kann @apkann.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
So excited to see this in its final form!
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Mekayla Storer @storerlab.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
Proud to share this work with @kevinchalut.bsky.social and Byron Mui. Why do some injuries scar while others regenerate? Using digit tip models, we show the ECM is a key driver. HA-rich ECM promotes regeneration, and boosting it can shift healing away from fibrosis. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
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Jane Coffin Childs Fund for Medical Research @jcchildsfund.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
Jane Coffin Childs Fellow Dr. Allison Kann @apkann.bsky.social is working at the forefront of regeneration research. We as humans aren’t great at regenerating, or healing our tissues and organs after major injuries. However, there are many amazing creatures in nature ... 1/
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Claire Ang @claireang.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Excited to share my new preprint from the McKinley lab, where we explored regenerative mechanisms across menstruation and pregnancy! We thought specialized glands would regenerate everything. We were wrong. But the real mechanism turned out to be way cooler :) 🧪🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
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Michael Sars Centre @msarscentre.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
New paper out in @bmc.springernature.com 🤩👏 A routine 5-ethynyl uridine (EU) RNA labeling experiment in a sea anemone turned into detective work for @malinkjosavik.bsky.social, @ktgarschall.bsky.social & @prhsteinmetz.bsky.social 🕵️‍♀️
uib.no
A widely used RNA assay labels the wrong molecules in several model organisms
After a routine experiment raised suspicions, Steinmetz group researchers joined forces with collaborators to highlight the limitations of a commonly used RNA labeling product.
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Patrick Goymer @patrickgoymer.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
On the importance of preprints, regardless of whether you are Team Sponge or Team Jelly: 'King says that she wishes she had posted the study as a preprint so that the errors could have been caught sooner.' www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
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.
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Maik Bischoff @maikbischoff.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
Morphogenesis & Organogenesis! Part 1 (full) in the comments 👇 Comment if you'd like to be added (regardless of age or career stage!) Please post your own biology-related starter packs using #BioStarterPacks 🧬🔬🪰🐟🐁🌱
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Allison Kann @apkann.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
I would love to be added! This is great, thank you!
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Nat Clarke @natclarke.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
Felt a little festive at the microscope this morning for #FluorescenceFriday 🎄 Here’s the nervous system of a juvenile sea star ⭐️ Green = acetylated tubulin, red = nuclei Happy holidays!
Confocal microscopy image of a juvenile sea star (Patiria miniata) viewed from the oral side. The animal has a five-armed, star-shaped body with a central nerve ring. The nervous system is labeled in green, forming radial nerve cords extending into each arm, and cell nuclei are labeled in red throughout the animal. The image appears against a black background and has a holiday-ornament-like appearance.
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the beggars out of here getter @milesklee.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
Academics and technologists are sounding the alarm about a growing crisis in scholarship as we know it: AI-generated citations of nonexistent papers that have infested real journals. Despite being fake, the sources are widely assumed to be authentic the more they appear in published literature.
rollingstone.com
AI Is Inventing Academic Papers That Don't Exist -- And They're Being Cited in Real Journals
Academic articles from authors using large language model are creating an ecosystem of fake research that threatens human knowledge itself.
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Artologica aka Michele Banks @artologica.net · 12/12/2025
#ArtAdventCalendar Gel Electrophoresis in Green and Blue, watercolor, 2023 #sciart
watercolor of DNA gel
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James N. Sleigh @jamessleigh.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
My team are running the Peripheral Nerve Society's Instagram account this week: www.instagram.com/pnsociety1 If you like images of the nervous system, please check it out! #FluorescenceFriday @uclqsneuromuscular.bsky.social @uclqsion.bsky.social
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SFB 1348 @sfb1348.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
From #amoeba to humans: new paper @natcomms.nature.com by the Grashoff group @sfb1348.bsky.social reveals evolutionary origin of animal cell adhesion and force transmission. Talin protein plays central role. See rdcu.be/eTFJR @uni-muenster.de
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Anna Czarkwiani @aniaczark.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
Can't believe my postdoc paper is finally out. Christmas came early this year, holy moly 🎄 Molecular basis for de novo thymus regeneration in a vertebrate, the axolotl | Science Immunology www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Molecular basis for de novo thymus regeneration in a vertebrate, the axolotl
The molecular, cellular, and functional restoration of the axolotl thymus after de novo regeneration is described.
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Virtual Gastrulation Zoom Talks @vgzt2021.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
Join us for next week’s exciting VGZT session! 🎉 🗓️ Thursday, November 20th ⏰ 9:30 PST / 12:30 EST / 17:30 UTC / 17:30 GMT / 18:30 CET Our speakers are 👉 Allison Kann (@apkann.bsky.social) 👉 Joana da Silva (on X: @joanamsilva14) See you there 👋
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MDI Biological Laboratory @mdibl.org · 10/11/2025
This image by MDI Bio Lab's Travis Carney is a #drosophila larval brain. Neural stem cells and neurons are marked, including axons that project into the brain. The flare in the center of each lobe is part of a learning and memory center in flies. ZEISS Microscopy #microscopymonday 🧪 🤝
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Lucien Hinderling @lhinderling.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
PAPER OUT ✨ What if you could use your microscope as a 3D printer? Prototype microfluidics in-house, <5$ in material costs per chip. From idea to experiment within a day. Now published in Lab-on-a-Chip (open-access): doi.org/10.1039/D5LC...
doi.org
Teach your microscope how to print: low-cost and rapid-iteration microfabrication for biology
The application of traditional microfabrication techniques to biological research is hindered by their reliance on clean rooms, expensive or toxic materials, and slow iteration cycles. We present an a...
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Eric Hall @erichall.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
As spooky season is upon us 🎃, we have cells that look like spider webs for #FluorescenceFriday 🧪🔬
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Rikki Garner @rikkigarner.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
Happy to share that this work is now published in @biophysj.bsky.social! doi.org/10.1016/j.bp...
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Michalis Averof @michalis-averof.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
How can we see the cells that make up a living organism? Membrane-localising tags can drive fluorescent proteins to the cell's outer membrane, making their outlines visible. But the tags don't work well in all organisms. How do you find one for your species of interest? 🧵 Check our latest preprint
biorxiv.org
A toolkit for testing membrane-localising tags across species
Transgenic markers and tools have revolutionised how we study cells and developing organisms. Some of the elements needed to construct those tools are universally applicable (e.g. fluorescent proteins...
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Allison Kann @apkann.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
One of the coolest projects I've seen in years - huge congrats to Çağrı and the McKinley team!
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Nat Clarke @natclarke.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
🚨 My lab is hiring at all levels! Interested in animal origins & evolutionary cell biology? I'm recruiting a postdoc, PhD students & a research assistant to study the molecular evolution of cell adhesion using marine invertebrates + comparative genomics. 🔗: clarkelab.com/join/ Please repost!
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Rachael Ott @rachaelott.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
For #FluorescenceFriday, RhoA (blue) and the actin cytoskeleton (magenta) are shown in a set of primary microglia 🔬 #Neuroscience #Microscopy
RhoA (blue) and the actin cytoskeleton (magenta) are shown in a set of primary microglia.
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Allison Kann @apkann.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
Absolutely gorgeous work from Kate - I loved reading the full paper!
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Arnau Sebé-Pedrós @arnausebe.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
Happy to share the Biodiversity Cell Atlas white paper, out today in @nature.com. We look at the possibilities, challenges, and potential impacts of molecularly mapping cells across the tree of life. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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Aaron Griffing @aaronhgriffing.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
New preprint from some of my postdoc work on lungs! Co-led with Kaleb Hill, we studied smooth muscle and epithelial development in lizard lungs. Stay tuned for more! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
brightfield images of three lizard embryos of approximately the same developmental stage. Below each embryo image is an immunofluorescence image labeling E-cadherin (green) and alpha-smooth muscle actin (magenta) of their developing lungs
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Allison Kann @apkann.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
Today's #FluorescenceFriday is featuring the peripheral muscle of Hofstenia miamia 💪
Peripheral muscle fibers (pseudocolored in magenta) and nuclei (in gray)
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Wallace Marshall @wallaceucsf.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
Cells can form patterns within themselves just like embryos do. How? Connie Yan's new preprint shows how the anterior-posterior cytoskeleton pattern in Stentor is dictated by regionalized scaffolding proteins www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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Journal of Cell Science @jcellsci.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
Why would anyone want to be a scientist? Check out our new Essay from Martin Schwartz: journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
Screenshot of Essay from Martin Schwartz on 'Why would anyone want to be a scientist'. An anniversary article from The Company of Biologists published in Journal of Cell Science.

The first few lines are: It is difficult to fathom why anyone intelligent enough to be a scientist would actually choose to be one. Doing good science requires the utmost exertion of body, mind and spirit, yet is consistently filled with failure and rejection. But, strange even to myself, I not only don't question the unfavorable risk-to-reward ratio but consider myself astonishingly lucky to be a scientist. There are three fundamental pleasures that have sustained me through 50 years of this madness.
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Ferdinand Marlétaz @ferdix.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
After nearly twenty years in the making, our attempt at understanding what makes the chaetognath phylum so unique has finally been published! www.nature.com/articles/s41... with #LauraPiovani @dariagavr.bsky.social @alexdemendoza.bsky.social @chemamd.bsky.social and others /1
nature.com
The genomic origin of the unique chaetognath body plan - Nature
Genomic, single-cell transcriptomic and epigenetic analyses show that chaetognaths, following extensive gene loss in the gnathiferan lineage, relied on newly evolved genes and lineage-specific tandem ...
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