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Caroline Beck

@frogsquisher.bsky.social
1.2K followers 744 following 51 posts

Mostly harmless. Developmental biologist studying regeneration and epilepsy in Xenopus tadpoles 🐸🐸🐸. A/Prof at University of Otago, New Zealand.

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Reposted by Caroline Beck
Muriel Perron @murielperron.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
🐸Our protocol chapter is out in Xenopus: Methods and Protocols, edited by C. Beck (@frogsquisher.bsky.social)! Induce & monitor rod degeneration/regeneration in live tadpoles and assess Müller glia regenerative responses link.springer.com/protocol/10.... @neuropsi.bsky.social
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Dexerto @dexerto.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
David Attenborough just turned 100 years old and is now officially too old to play with Lego
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Caroline Beck @frogsquisher.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
Pioneer of shotgun sequencing, synthetic biology and meta genomics J. Craig Venter leaves an impressive science legacy. Controversial, yes, but his unrelenting, curiosity driven science leaves me much to admire. 🧪 🧬
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Zebrafish Rock! @zebrafishrock.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
Fintastic meeting as always, for those interested! #ZebrafishMeeting
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Karen J Liu @karenjliu.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
Fully funded PhD post, UK/Home student, starting 01/06/26. Interested in working at the interface of dev bio, biophysics and cell biology? Great collaboration with Amy Beedle and @leonerossetti.bsky.social Informal enquiries welcome. Deadline 15/03 #neuralcrest www.kcl.ac.uk/study-legacy...
kcl.ac.uk
Multiscale Models for Life (MM4L) Centre for Doctoral Training Funded Studentship: How ECM changes shape cellular decision making
Embryo, neural crest, developmental biology, cell biology, cell migration, biophysics, mechanobiology, bioengineering.
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Caroline Beck @frogsquisher.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
Neurod2 knockdown in Xenopus laevis tadpole brain retains cells in a proliferating, progenitor-like state doi.org/10.17912/mic... - I invite you to read the Beck lab's first ever micropublication! @zoologyotago.bsky.social and @otagobiochemist.bsky.social 🐸🧪 @micropub7n.bsky.social thank you!
doi.org
Neurod2 knockdown in Xenopus laevis tadpole brain retains cells in a proliferating, progenitor-like state | microPublication
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Caroline Beck @frogsquisher.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
@zoologyotago.bsky.social will have some new captive reared juvenile Southern Bell Frogs on display soon. Today they had a physical, and this one was especially grumpy about it. 🧪🐸
A young southern bell frog in a clear plastic container with his belly facing the camera and eyes facing the photographer
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Caroline Beck @frogsquisher.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
The last chapter of our RSNZ Marsden funded work on the microbiome and regeneration is out in Developmental Dynamics 🧪🐸🦠🧫https://anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/dvdy.70088 @phoebechapman.bsky.social
anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Commensal skin bacteria interact with the innate immune system to promote tail regeneration in Xenopus laevis tadpoles
Background Tadpoles of the clawed frog Xenopus laevis can regenerate their tails following partial amputation, replacing the missing spinal cord, muscles, and fin. However, for a brief period of dev...
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Caroline Beck @frogsquisher.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
If you want to study a genetic disorder of growth, in a non-mammalian model system, Xenopus 🐸 has a unique advantage. As we show with Recql4 in G3 this month, it is possible to knock out a gene with CRISPR on just one side of the animal doi.org/10.1093/g3jo... 🧪
doi.org
Unilateral loss of recql4 function in Xenopus laevis tadpoles leads to ipsilateral ablation of the forelimb, hypoplastic Meckel's cartilage, and vascular defects
Abstract. RECQL4 encodes a RecQ helicase, one of a family of DNA unwinding enzymes with roles in DNA replication, double-strand break repair, and genomic s
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Caroline Beck @frogsquisher.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
RIP Professor Sir John Gurdon, who inspired so many of us in Developmental Biology, and of course, “the frog”.
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Caroline Beck @frogsquisher.bsky.social · 31/08/2025
If for some reason you do not already love arthropod appendages, check this paper!! Single‐cell sequencing reveals potential novel insights into appendage‐patterning and joint‐development in a spider - Medina‐Jiménez - Developmental Dynamics anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Single‐cell sequencing reveals potential novel insights into appendage‐patterning and joint‐development in a spider
Background Jointed appendages represent one of the key innovations of arthropods, and thus understanding the development and evolution of these structures is important for the understanding of the e...
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Caroline Beck @frogsquisher.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
Dr Banerjee nailing it at #IXC25 meeting. Just look at the size of the screen we are presenting on! 🐸🧪🐸🧬
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Karen J Liu @karenjliu.bsky.social · 18/08/2025
Wow, International Xenopus Meeting (IXC25) -- Matt Guille and EXRC opens the meeting with old friends new science @xenbase.bsky.social xenopusresource.org/20th-interna... #science #devbio #xenopus #frogs
The amazing Matt Guille opens the meeting
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Caroline Beck @frogsquisher.bsky.social · 17/08/2025
Hey! Any #xenopus folk at IXC25 in Portsmouth? Use #IXC25 in your posts, and let us know how it’s going!!
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The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
FlyBase, a Drosophila database, will lose a third of its team in early October because the Harvard grant that covered the employees’ salaries was canceled. Scientists warn that losing FlyBase could devastate fly research. By @claudia-lopez.bsky.social www.thetransmitter.org/community/ha...
thetransmitter.org
Harvard University lays off fly database team
The layoffs jeopardize this resource, which has served more than 4,000 labs for about three decades.
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LPJ Lab - Neuroimmunometabolism @lpjlab.org · 09/07/2025
A super cool #single-cell spatial transcriptomic mouse #brain atlas is out! 🐭🧠🔬 Unveiling cell types, #gene expression, & TF dynamics across the whole brain! Awesome! ✨ #neuroskyence #neuroscience #compneurosky www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
cell.com
Single-cell spatial transcriptomic atlas of the whole mouse brain
Han et al. used snRNA-seq and Stereo-seq to generate a detailed mouse brain atlas with over 4 million spatially resolved cells and 29,655 genes. Their findings include region- enriched cell clusters a...
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Lignani Lab @lignanilab.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
Thrilled to share that our latest work on #DravetSyndrome is now out as a preprint! 🚀 This project, brilliantly led by @clarazourray.bsky.social and co-supervised by Serena Barral, brought together an incredible team. A huge thanks to everyone involved, exciting science ahead! 👏 shorturl.at/NdC79
researchsquare.com
Prenatal sodium channel dysfunction in Dravet syndrome alters cortical development
Neurodevelopmental disorders associated with epilepsy are typically linked to postnatal dysfunction of synaptic proteins and ion channels, yet increasing evidence suggests a role for these proteins be...
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Caroline Beck @frogsquisher.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
Excited for day one of the first @ epilepsyinst.bsky.social conference! If you ever wanted to know how tadpoles can help us understand DEE please come and chat at poster 2
epilepsyinst.bsky.social
Epilepsy Research Institute (@epilepsyinst.bsky.social)
Radically advancing epilepsy research.
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Caroline Beck @frogsquisher.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
Excited to share our new 🧪 preprint! We show how useful #Xenopus tadpoles, which can be CRISPR engineered on one side, can be for understanding rare genetic disorders that affect growth and development. A study of recql4, with Louise Bicknell and Matt Riley-Bell. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org
Unilateral loss of recql4 function in Xenopus laevis tadpoles leads to ipsilateral ablation of the forelimb, hypoplastic Meckel's cartilage and vascular defects.
RECQL4 encodes a RecQ helicase, one of a family of DNA unwinding enzymes with roles in DNA replication, double strand break repair and genomic stability. Pathogenic variants in RECQL4 are clinically a...
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Nature Reviews Genetics @natrevgenet.nature.com · 08/04/2025
The genetic basis of human height go.nature.com/4lnM152 #Review by Louise S. Bicknell, @joelhirschhorn.bsky.social & Ravi Savarirayan Free to read here: rdcu.be/egGQf @universityofotago.bsky.social @bostonchildrens.bsky.social @harvardmed.bsky.social @broadinstitute.org @mcri.bsky.social
rdcu.be
The genetic basis of human height
Nature Reviews Genetics - Genetic factors that influence human height encompass rare monogenic variants as well as common and rare polygenic variants. In this Review, Bicknell et al. summarize our...
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Caroline Beck @frogsquisher.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
If you, like me, get excited about appendages, it’s hard not love a velvet worm. Hydraulic #lobopods for legs, slime guns, a hidden knife in its jaws… and now bug of the year NZ 2025. Superb.
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Xenbase @xenbase.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
Jaeger et al. screened Adeno-associated viral tools (AAVs) in three different amphibian species brains identifying serotypes that transduce neurons. Published in Developmental Cell. www.xenbase.org/xenbase/doNe... #science #devbio #xenopus #frogs
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Caroline Beck @frogsquisher.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
Our @zoologyotago.bsky.social department is home to many wonderful animals. These two adorable Southern Bell froglets were raised by Zoology PhD student Bryony Alden, and are part of a group destined for the display tank in our foyer. They just need to grow up a bit first! 🧪 #outreach #ambassadors
Two southern bell froglets looking adorable on a rock.
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Jon Waters @jonwatersnz.bsky.social · 07/12/2024
Excited to see our team’s work on insect colour evolution published in Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Human-driven evolution of color in a stonefly mimic
Rapid adaptation is thought to be critical for the survival of species under global change, but our understanding of human-induced evolution in the wild remains limited. We show that widespread defore...
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Caroline Beck @frogsquisher.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
A sad day for basic /fundamental research, our government has scrapped Marsden funding to humanities and social science and the sky for science just got a little less blue. 😭🧪
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Caroline Beck @frogsquisher.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
Best question following a talk today.. “if these frogs have thousands of offspring, why isn’t the world covered in frogs?”
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Tim Behrens @behrenstimb.bsky.social · 01/12/2024
OK If we are moving to Bluesky I am rescuing my favourite ever twitter thread (Jan 2019). The renamed: Bluesky-sized history of neuroscience (biased by my interests)
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Caroline Beck @frogsquisher.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
@phoebechapman.bsky.social latest paper on how #Xenopus tadpole skin gets colonised by microbiota. 🧪🐸🦠
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Sergiu P. Pasca @sergiuppasca.bsky.social · 17/11/2024
Assembloids have emerged as a powerful tool for studying previously inaccessible processes of development and tissue homeostasis. In our article in Cell Stem Cell, we summarize advances in the generation & application of neural and non-neural #assembloids to explore complex cell-cell interactions.
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Frog Wranglers @frogwranglers.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
Hello world! We’re here to spread the love of our favorite model organism Xenopus. Give us a follow for your daily moment of Xen(opus)!
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Caroline Beck @frogsquisher.bsky.social · 01/09/2024
Sea lion flumped on Sandfly Bay beach Otago peninsula New Zealand
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Bart Geurten @zerotonin.bsky.social · 14/06/2024
Our latest study is out: 🧠🍎 We discovered that low-caloric intake restructures neuronal circuits in flies, affecting their ability to learn from negative experiences while leaving reward-based learning intact.🍽️🔬 Read more in: learnmem.cshlp.org/content/31/5... #Neuroscience #Drosophila #Nutrition
learnmem.cshlp.org
The caloric value of food intake structurally adjusts a neuronal mushroom body circuit mediating olfactory learning in Drosophila
Peer-reviewed scientific journal publishing basic neuroscience research in the areas of neuronal plasticity, learning and memory
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Caroline Beck @frogsquisher.bsky.social · 27/05/2024
#neuroskyence Our latest work is now out now in Genetics: Knockdown of NeuroD2 leads to seizure-like behaviour, brain neuronal hyperactivity and a leaky blood-brain barrier in a Xenopus laevis tadpole model of DEE-75. academic.oup.com/genetics/adv...
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Die Sankoré-Schriften @sankoreschriften.bsky.social · 25/04/2024
#neuroscience
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Angie Voyles Askham @avaskham.bsky.social · 23/04/2024
AAVs work for amphibians! Two new preprints show that the genetic tools are effective in frogs, newts and axolotls, opening up new doors for studying these species' nervous systems. #neuroskyence
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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 28/03/2024
🤯 "Nerve cells form long-term memories with the help of an inflammatory response." #science #neuroscience www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
Memories are made by breaking DNA — and fixing it
Nerve cells form long-term memories with the help of an inflammatory response, study in mice finds. Nerve cells form long-term memories with the help of an inflammatory response, study in mice finds.
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Chrissie Parker @chrissieparker.bsky.social · 26/03/2024
Today is purple day If you have epilepsy, today is about you! 💜You have the strength and courage, and there is always hope! Be amazing. Be you.💜 Pass the message on and be part of the support. 💜 #EpilepsyAwareness #PurpleDay #PurpleDay2024
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Developmental Biology @devbiol.bsky.social · 01/03/2024
#DBfeature #Xenopus 🐸 Small molecule-mediated reprogramming of Xenopus blastula stem cells to a neural crest state by Paul Huber, Carole LaBonne www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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Caroline Beck @frogsquisher.bsky.social · 28/02/2024
Happy #RareDisorderDay 29th Feb #neuroskyence! Myself and Dr. Sulagna Banerjee #GlowUpShowUp in support of DEE (developmental and epileptic encephalopathies).
photo of our DEE (developmental and epileptic encephalopathies) team, on the left is me and on the right Dr Sulagna Banerjee
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Alper Akay @alperakay.bsky.social · 15/02/2024
UK Worm Meeting registration is now open! Can’t tag anyone because I don’t know who is on blusky and what their handles are but UK folk, please help spread the word! #UKWorm24
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Caroline Beck @frogsquisher.bsky.social · 16/02/2024
I see donuts…
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Alan McNally @alanmcn1.bsky.social · 07/02/2024
New fellowships now live in Medical Science at UoB. Springboard fellowship to pay you for two years to develop and apply for your first independent fellowship. Obviously Micro more than welcome. Email me for more info edzz.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
edzz.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com
Birmingham Springboard Fellow - College of Medical and Dental Sciences - 103214 - Grade 7/8
The College of Medical and Dental Science (MDS) of the University of Birmingham offers pump-priming postdoctoral fellowship awards to early career researchers to support development of their independe...
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Wouter Masselink @woutermasselink.bsky.social · 03/02/2024
📢New preprint alert 📢 Somite-independent regeneration of the axolotl primary body axis. biorxiv.org/content/10.110… This is the combined effort of a fantastic group of people over many years. Read below to see why you should care⬇️ 1/8
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Nic Rawlence @nicrawlencenz.bsky.social · 29/01/2024
Want to do a PhD or MSc @Zoology_Otago in #ancientDNA or geometric morphometrics? Interested in disentangling competing sources of morphological variation in #fossil record of geckos and skinks from #NewZealand and #NewCaledonia. Apply here www.otago.ac.nz/courses/post... 1/2
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Adrian Jacobo @adrianjacobo.bsky.social · 24/01/2024
We are looking for a Research Associate to work on developing new genetic tools in zebrafish! Please share far and wide! boards.greenhouse.io/chanzuckerbe...
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Addgene @addgene.bsky.social · 26/01/2024
Need to find a Cas enzyme? Caspedia is here to help! Learn about the new resource from the Doudna lab in our latest blog post: blog.addgene.org/cas...
blog.addgene.org
CasPEDIA: A Functional Classification of Cas Enzymes
A review of the CasPEDIA resource and its features.
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Arnaud Martin @evolvwing.bsky.social · 23/01/2024
(thread) New butterfly Hox paper out doi.org/10.7554/eLif... I want to highlight the main part on Hox "insulation" How do butterflies forewings differ from hindwings in patterns and shape? Rare spontaneous mutants show patches of forewing transformed into hindwing identities? How is that possible?
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Arnaud Martin @evolvwing.bsky.social · 23/01/2024
Changes also affect wing shape, not just color. Hox clusters have been ground zero for understanding how 3D chromatin and gene expression together shape development. I believe this humble results highlights the importance of TAD insulators in this process
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Thiago Carvalho @cyrilpedia.bsky.social · 22/01/2024
'The new call for HFSP Research Grants has just opened with a deadline in March. You need to get into the application system and initiate an application by 19 March 2024, at the latest, and submit the complete Letter of Intent by 28 March 2024.' network.febs.org/posts/wanted...
network.febs.org
Wanted: Super creative researchers urged to apply!
The Human Frontiers Science Program has opened its interdisciplinary, international research grants call and is looking for bold, high-risk, high-gain, game-changing applications in out-of-this-world...
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