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Aurélien Courtois

@aureliencourtois.bsky.social
105 followers 104 following 26 posts

Scientist / Researcher @The Crick Interest: Developmental biology, epigenetic and evolution, in the opossum and other mammals. Current position: postdoc in Turner lab. www.crick.ac.uk/research/labs/james… (He/him)

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Aurélien Courtois @aureliencourtois.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
In 2012, reviewers asked the Turner group to delete RSX in opossum embryos to assess its role during X-inactivation initiation. Took some time, but now we know: it plays an essential role. #marsupial #genomeediting #epigenetics #XCI www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
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Reposted by Aurélien Courtois
Turner Lab @lab-turner.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
New preprint 📢 Thrilled to share our long-awaited work on the role of RSX in marsupial X-inactivation. This was a huge team effort over the years, led by @aureliencourtois.bsky.social @sermenchero.bsky.social Sugako Ogushi and Waz Varsally, that allowed us to set up genome editing in opossum embryos
biorxiv.org
Genome editing of marsupial RSX reveals conserved and divergent principles in mammalian X-inactivation
X-chromosome inactivation balances X-gene dosage between the sexes in eutherians and marsupials. The lncRNA Xist mediates X-inactivation in eutherians but is absent from marsupials. An evolutionarily ...
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Aurélien Courtois @aureliencourtois.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Still some spots left at the mammalian reproduction GRC in August ! (Maine, USA) www.grc.org/mammalian-re...
grc.org
2026 Mammalian Reproduction Conference GRC
The 2026 Gordon Research Conference on Mammalian Reproduction will be held in Newry, Maine. Apply today to reserve your spot.
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Aurélien Courtois @aureliencourtois.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
Enjoyed a lot the discussion about de-extinction, dinosaurs and science regulation yesterday at the ''Science on Screen'' event @crick.ac.uk Thanks for everybody who showed up and asked us all these questions !
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Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. @arctomet.bsky.social · 05/01/2025
Stephen R. Frankenberg et al. (2025) Unearthing the secrets of Australia’s most enigmatic and cryptic mammal, the marsupial mole Science Advances 11(1): eado4140 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ado4140 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Unearthing the secrets of Australia’s most enigmatic and cryptic mammal, the marsupial mole
The marsupial mole’s genome unearths their phylogenetic status and insights into convergent evolution in subterranean mammals.
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Reposted by Aurélien Courtois
Jamie Hackett @jamiehackett.bsky.social · 27/09/2025
❓Can a father’s environmental exposures before conception influence their offspring? We systematically tackled this - identifying effects of paternal age, environment and genetics on early embryos - as well as confounding influences www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
embopress.org
Embryonic signatures of intergenerational epigenetic inheritance across paternal environments and genetic backgrounds | The EMBO Journal
imageimagePaternal environmental exposures have been linked with modulation of phenotype and disease risk in offspring via largely unclear mechanisms. This study employs in vitro fertilization and sin...
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Reposted by Aurélien Courtois
Society for Developmental Biology @socdevbio.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
✨Nervous about development? Don’t be! 🧠 E13.5 🐁 embryo showing nerves (🩵) and endothelial cells (💙) weaving together in the developing pup 🔬 image by Nathan Burns 🧪 #FluorescenceFriday #DevBio #MouseEmbryo
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The Francis Crick Institute @crick.ac.uk · 01/09/2025
Today, Edith Heard begins her tenure as our new Chief Executive Officer. Edith joins us from @embl.org, and will head up the new Developmental Epigenetics Laboratory alongside her executive role. www.crick.ac.uk/news/2025-09...
crick.ac.uk
Welcome Edith Heard
Today, Edith Heard begins her tenure as Chief Executive Officer of the Francis Crick Institute
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Sergio Menchero @sermenchero.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
Thrilled to share that our latest work on marsupial heterochrony is now online at @cp-devcell.bsky.social @cellpress.bsky.social @lab-turner.bsky.social @crick.ac.uk We used scRNAseq to understand the asynchronous progression of developmental programmes in marsupials www.cell.com/developmenta...
cell.com
Marsupial single-cell transcriptomics identifies temporal diversity in mammalian developmental programs
Menchero et al. generate a single-cell transcriptomic atlas in the opossum and show rapid progression of transcriptional programs in specific tissues relative to morphological landmarks. This shift in...
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Aurélien Courtois @aureliencourtois.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
In Paris for a nice ''colloque'' on X chromosome inactivation. Looking forward to it! www.college-de-france.fr/fr/agenda/co...
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the Node @the-node.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
Who doesn't like looking at stunning images showcasing the beauty of #DevBio?? 😍
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Turner Lab @lab-turner.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
We're excited to publish our latest study led by Bryony Leeke @bryonyleeke.bsky.social and Wazeer Varsally, now out in @nature.com 🍾This study focusses on the epigenome of marsupial embryos 🦘 mapping DNA methylation in embryo development to specific embryo events www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧵
nature.com
Divergent DNA methylation dynamics in marsupial and eutherian embryos - Nature
A study reports on the DNA methylation dynamics during embryogenesis in marsupials, showing that these differ from those occurring during embryogenesis in eutherian mammals.
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Aurélien Courtois @aureliencourtois.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
New paper from our lab ! DNA methylation dynamic is different in marsupial embryos compared to eutherian embryos.
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Aurélien Courtois @aureliencourtois.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
Light-sheet is amazing ! Nice work from Kenzo and his lab. !!
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Aurélien Courtois @aureliencourtois.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
Enjoyed a lot the Developmental Biology GRC 2025 last month. Thank you @swathiarur.bsky.social, Kathy Cheah and Anna Kircheva for organising it! Looking forward to the 2027 edition !
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Aurélien Courtois @aureliencourtois.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
The Crick is part of the organisation of a bioimage analysis conference in Kobe, Japan, 26-31 October 2025. It includes training school, hackathon, taggathon and symposium, and there is travel support for training school attendees: www.globias.org/activities/b...
globias.org
Bioimage Analysis Conference 2025 in Kobe
GloBIAS Bioimage Analysis Conference 2025 Oct 26, 2025 - Oct 31, 2025 | Kobe, Japan Venue: RIKEN BDR, Kobe, Japan Registration via Google Forms here: https://tinyurl.com/3dtajhh6 Please follow the l...
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John Wallingford @jbwallingford.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
A woman studies embryos for decades, struggles for funding and respect. She publishes under her husband’s name, until they divorce. A single mother, she moves across an ocean to continue her studies. It all sounds quite modern, until you learn that she also worried she’d be burned as a witch. 🧵 1/15
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Aurélien Courtois @aureliencourtois.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
Unfortunately, James cannot make it to the Developmental Biology GRC. So, I will give his talk instead. See you in California. #GordonConf
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Aurélien Courtois @aureliencourtois.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
If you think we all should have cool science themed Tshirts, go follow him on instagram and ask him to design your ideas !
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Aurélien Courtois @aureliencourtois.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
Forgot to post. Come talk to me about why opossum are such an amazing developmental model. #Beddingtonconf
A picture of me standing in front of my poster, #54 at the conference.
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Aurélien Courtois @aureliencourtois.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
Very excited by the line up at the Beddington symposium this year. lot of great speakers (@maitrejl.bsky.social depicted)
Jean-Leon in front of his title slide.
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Aurélien Courtois @aureliencourtois.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
Congrats Jérémie, good luck on your exciting post-doc !
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Aurélien Courtois @aureliencourtois.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
Thanks preLights for highlighting our preprint !
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Aurélien Courtois @aureliencourtois.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
Looking for labs working on afrotheria embryo development. Does anybody work on elephant shrews, hyraxes, tenrecs ... ?
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Aurélien Courtois @aureliencourtois.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
@mpi-ie.bsky.social 7th epigenetics meeting has started. Come talk to me if you're around poster #12. Topics: Opossum, mouse, X inactivation, sex chromosomes, development...
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Aurélien Courtois @aureliencourtois.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
Our (Turner lab.) latest preprint is out! 🐭🧬We show that sex chromosomes regulate the transcriptional and developmental landscape of the mouse preimplantation embryo. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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Aurélien Courtois @aureliencourtois.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
Interests: Embryo development, evo-devo, mammals, science communication, epigenetic. Skills: live-imaging, micromanipulation. Current research: blastocyst formation, X silencing in opossum. My science illustrations are from @akira-sciart.bsky.social
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