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Karen J Liu

@karenjliu.bsky.social
704 followers 973 following 20 posts

Professor of Genetics & Development, King's College London. Neural crest biology - MOUSE🐭 🐸HUMAN🐭 🐸 FROG sneaky 🐣 ⭐️ My opinions will someday be the opinions of my employer.⭐️

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Karen J Liu @karenjliu.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Postdoc and Tech post! 3-yr BBSRC project studying cell biology of Wnt signaling: advanced imaging, genome editing and embryology. Apply now! work with Matthias Krause and Karen Liu labs. @matthias-krause.bsky.social Tech: www.kcl.ac.uk/jobs/155666-... Postdoc: www.kcl.ac.uk/jobs/155745-...
kcl.ac.uk
Research Assistant | King's College London
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Mehran Moazen @mmoazen.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
If you are passionate about #skulls and #craniosynostosis then join us for 4th Advanced in Craniosynostosis on 28th Aug 2026 @uclengineering.bsky.social Please reserve your ticket at: tiny.cc/AdCR4 @uclengineering.bsky.social @ucl-c4ia.bsky.social @karenjliu.bsky.social @Steve Twigg @Headlines
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Karen J Liu @karenjliu.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Looking forward to an exciting programme this Monday on Developmental Origins of Paediatric Cancers, sponsored by CCLG at the Crick. @tsakiridis.bsky.social www.cclg.org.uk/information-...
cclg.org.uk
Developmental origins of paediatric cancer symposium
A one-day event showcasing the latest cutting-edge research on the modelling, biology and treatment of paediatric cancers in the context of their developmental origins.
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Thiago Carvalho @cyrilpedia.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
'Here, we describe a novel bioengineered pipeline to derive human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC)-derived neuroepithelial organoids, “neurocrestoids” featuring physiologically-relevant tissue architecture.' #Preprint, Carmen Moreno-Gonzalez @karenjliu.bsky.social et al
biorxiv.org
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DMM Journal @dmmjournal.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
With new regulations taking effect, the question of which models best capture human disease is becoming increasingly urgent. In our April Editorial, we discuss why in vivo disease models remain essential, and our editors outline what in vitro systems can and cannot achieve. doi.org/10.1242/dmm....
An illustration showing a spectrum of model systems used to study human disease.
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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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Carmen Moreno Gonzalez @carmenmorenogon.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
I’m beyond happy to share that the preprint summarising my PhD research is now online on bioRxiv! 🚀 I am very grateful to my supervisors, Karen J Liu and Andrea Serio, all the coauthors and members of both teams who have made this work possible.
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Karen J Liu @karenjliu.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
New pre-print on human neural crest organoids for studying developmental changes in diseases such as neuroblastoma. Heroic work from @carmenmorenogon.bsky.social bridging Liu/Serio labs @andreaserio.bsky.social with protocols from @tsakiridis.bsky.social. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
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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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Karen J Liu @karenjliu.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
Abstract deadline looming! Coming join us in June for a great meeting on developmental origins of paediatric cancers, including neuroblastoma organised by @tsakiridis.bsky.social and friends @childrenwithcancer.bsky.social #neuralcrest www.crick.ac.uk/whats-on/dev...
crick.ac.uk
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Karen J Liu @karenjliu.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
Last couple spots remaining for the Craniofacial GRC in sunny CA! Looks to be a full house, with a great set of up-and-coming #craniofacial biologists spanning evo/devo, genetics, multiomics all the way to stem cells, engineering and repair. @brugmannlab.bsky.social www.grc.org/craniofacial...
grc.org
2026 Craniofacial Morphogenesis and Tissue Regeneration Conference GRC
The 2026 Gordon Research Conference on Craniofacial Morphogenesis and Tissue Regeneration will be held in Ventura, California. Apply today to reserve your spot.
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Karen J Liu @karenjliu.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
Think about craniofacial biology in sunny California😎! Don't forget to submit an abstract for the 2026 GRC Craniofacial. Many talk slots available from abstract selections. Deadline for talk abstracts 14 Dec, coming soon.... ☠️🐭🐟🐸🧬 #craniofacial #genetics #neuralcrest www.grc.org/craniofacial...
grc.org
2026 Craniofacial Morphogenesis and Tissue Regeneration Conference GRC
The 2026 Gordon Research Conference on Craniofacial Morphogenesis and Tissue Regeneration will be held in Ventura, California. Apply today to reserve your spot.
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John Wallingford @jbwallingford.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
SAVE THE DATE! Stoked to organize the 2026 Santa Cruz Developmental Biology Meeting with @rashmi-priya.bsky.social, @lowelab.bsky.social, and Shelbi Russell. Come learn about Biomedicine, Biomechanics, and the Biosphere, August 24-28, 2026. Registration dates, etc., coming soon! Please RT
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Karen J Liu @karenjliu.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
Exciting new findings on mechanisms of Wnt signalosomes --from Sheng-yuan Wu's PhD project in @matthias-krause.bsky.social lab! Great collaborators, great story. #xenopus 🐸
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Matthias Krause @matthias-krause.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
Endocytosis of Wnt-receptors is required for signalling, yet uptake mechanisms remain poorly understood. We resolve a longstanding controversy by showing that Wnt3a triggers rapid Clathrin-Mediated and Fast Endophilin-Mediated LRP6 endocytosis at low concentrations sufficient for Wnt activation.
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Mill_lab @cilialab.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
Just heading home from our @mrcmousenetwork.bsky.social MRC NMGN Science Meeting 2025 in York where our Congenital Anomalies Cluster shared updates on our clinical VUS & phenotyping pipelines at the podium! Great discussions! #FunctionalGenomics #RareDisease #CongenitalAnomalies
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Centre for Craniofacial & Regenerative Biology (CCRB) @ccrb27.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
It's Halloween in CCRB! Today we held our traditional Pumpkin Carving Competition, and it was a very competitive one! Congratulations to @karenjliu.bsky.social 's lab for the win! Can you guess which was the winner?
Photos of carved pumpkins with different designs
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bioRxivpreprint @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
Neuroblastoma-associated ALK variants have distinct cellular and biochemical activities www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/202…
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Karen J Liu @karenjliu.bsky.social · 18/08/2025
Embryology! Neural crest! Looking for a postdoc? Job closes 25 Aug. Informal enquiries welcome, and anyone hanging out at the Xenopus meeting come say hi. #mouse #human #development #neuralcrest #chromatin @the-node.bsky.social @marcotrizzino.bsky.social
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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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Karen J Liu @karenjliu.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
Dev biologists! 3-yr postdoc position at King's, collaboration with Trizzino lab @marcotrizzino.bsky.social modelling CHD3 neural crest. We are looking for postdocs with mad embryology skills @the-node.bsky.social #developmental @ccrb27.bsky.social thenode.biologists.com/jobs/postdoc...
thenode.biologists.com
Postdoctoral Research Associate: Modelling Neural Crest Anomalies (mouse/human) - the Node
The Liu lab is looking for a postdoc with a love of embryos and developmental biology! This post is part of an MRC-funded collaboration between Karen Liu’s lab at King’s College London and Marco Trizz...
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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 25/04/2025
PhD Timeline xkcd.com/3081
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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
‘No Way to Please Everyone’ Says Only University Where Students Are Regularly Kidnapped
wsj.com
‘No Way’ to Please Everyone: Columbia’s President Confronts Trump’s Ultimatum
With Trump intent on making an example of Columbia, Armstrong is at the center of a fight over the future of higher education.
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Karen J Liu @karenjliu.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
Congrats to our very own Pleasantine Mill! Well deserved. 🐭 @mrcmousenetwork.bsky.social go NMGN Congenital Anomalies Cluster
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British Society for Developmental Biology @bsdb.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
We are delighted to announce that the winner of the 2025 Wolpert medal is Pleasantine Mill! bsdb.org/2025/03/05/2...
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The Company of Biologists @biologists.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
We are looking forward to meeting everyone in Liverpool next week for our special 100-year anniversary conference. We have a busy, fun-filled programme. You can follow all the action from Biologists @ 100 at #biologists100. 100yearsconference.biologists.com
Photo of conference venue ACC Liverpool
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Karen J Liu @karenjliu.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
Very excited to be working with @marcotrizzino.bsky.social on unravelling CHD3 function in craniofacial neural crest! Parallel human and mouse experiments & disease modelling 🐭🔬 with @profsimonfisher.bsky.social
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Marco Trizzino @marcotrizzino.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
Thank you to @ukri.org MRC for awarding our grant on the role of CHD3 in neural crest/craniofacial development (and associated syndromes), together with the brilliant @karenjliu.bsky.social! And in collaboration with @profsimonfisher.bsky.social Exciting times!
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Thiago Carvalho @cyrilpedia.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
'NIH suggests that indirect and direct costs are substitutes when in reality they are complements: (...) If NIH puts more money into direct project funding, that funding generates additional indirect costs for more labs, more safety & compliance officers, and more buildings & their utility costs.'
science.org
Is flat 15% fair?
An NIH funding policy is misguided and damaging
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James Briscoe @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
Science under siege: protecting scientific progress in turbulent times journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
journals.biologists.com
Science under siege: protecting scientific progress in turbulent times
As Editors-in-Chief of The Company of Biologists' journals, we have been watching with growing concern the policy changes in the United States of America (USA) and the challenges that these are creati...
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Centre for Craniofacial & Regenerative Biology (CCRB) @ccrb27.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
To celebrate International Women's Day we recorded a special podcast series, interviewing 6 different women with different roles in our department. Check it out on Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/7GoTzSh...
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Anestis Tsakiridis @tsakiridis.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
I am grateful to @cancerresearchuk.org for choosing to support our work aiming to understand the links between distorted embryonic development and neuroblastoma initiation using our human pluripotent stem cell differentiation model: www.sheffield.ac.uk/biosciences/...
sheffield.ac.uk
Understanding the genetic roots of aggressive childhood cancer: Research aims to improve Neuroblastoma treatment
Scientists have secured £1.5 million from Cancer Research UK (CRUK) to investigate the genetic secrets behind neuroblastoma - aiming to improve treatments for this aggressive childhood cancer.
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Marc Dionne @marcsdionne.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
GIVE THEM TRUNKS YOU COWARDS www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
theguardian.com
Scientists aiming to bring back woolly mammoth create woolly mice
Genetically modified mice have traits geared towards cold tolerance, in step towards modifying elephants
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Rare Disease and Neurodevelopmental Disorders Lab @rdndlab.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
It's #RareDiseaseDay! Rare diseases are individually rare but collectively common, affecting 3.5 million people in the UK. Bring out your stripey socks to raise awareness #RareDisease #ShowYourStripes @medicsforrare.bsky.social Find out more about RareDisease at www.m4rd.org www.rarediseaseday.org
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Development @dev-journal.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
We have an opening for a Reviews Editor on Development. If you love developmental biology and its academic community, and have an interest in publishing and science communication, this could be the role for you. Full details here: www.biologists.com/wp-content/u...
biologists.com
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Marco Trizzino @marcotrizzino.bsky.social · 15/02/2025
New paper from our lab is out! We investigated the function of the NuRD subunit CHD3 in cranial neural crest specification. CHD3 variants are the cause of Snijder-Block-Campeau Syndrome, which manifests with craniofacial anomalies and intellectual disability 1/n
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John Wallingford @jbwallingford.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
Birth defects are the #1 cause of death in the first year of life (🧵). Birth defects kill more than twice as many children as cancer. Birth defects are diseases of developmental biology. Here are CDC statistics for 2021. 1/5 wisqars.cdc.gov/pdfs/leading...
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Marc Dionne @marcsdionne.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
This, from @dereklowe.bsky.social, is a must-read overview of the state of play in US funding agencies www.science.org/content/blog...
science.org
What's Happening Inside the NIH and NSF
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The Company of Biologists @biologists.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
We are featuring Nadia Rosenthal as our first extraordinary biologist of the week. Nadia is the Scientific Director of the @jacksonlab.bsky.social, USA, and she drew the first cover image - Adam Emergent - when @dmmjournal.bsky.social was first launched in 2008. #100biologists
The Company of Biologists 100 logo to the left and QR code to the right.
 
Portrait of Nadia Rosenthal to the left, text to the right
 
100 extraordinary biologists

Nadia Rosenthal

Founding Editor Nadia Rosenthal drew the first cover image – Adam Emergent – when Disease Models & Mechanisms launched in 2008. Nadia is Scientific Director of The Jackson Laboratory, USA, where she uses complex mouse genetic diversity panels to investigate mammalian development, disease and repair.

#100biologists #biologists100
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Marc Dionne @marcsdionne.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
in recent years, a number of animal species have successfully made a transition to life in urban environments
a photograph of a zebra eating from a rubbish bin
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Carmen Moreno Gonzalez @carmenmorenogon.bsky.social · 23/12/2024
Only ONE WEEK left to submit your abstract for the 2025 Neural Crest and Cranial Placodes GRS 🚨⏰ Deadline Dec 29th, make sure to grab your spot by applying here: www.grc.org/neural-crest...
grc.org
2025 Neural Crest and Cranial Placodes (GRS) Seminar GRC
The 2025 Gordon Research Seminar on Neural Crest and Cranial Placodes (GRS) will be held in Lucca (Barga), Lucca Italy. Apply today to reserve your spot.
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DMM Journal @dmmjournal.bsky.social · 23/12/2024
🧪 Deborah Henderson, @cilialab.bsky.social, @karenjliu.bsky.social et al. created a framework for accurately modelling and phenotyping human #CongenitalHeartDefects in mice🐭 🫀. journals.biologists.com/dmm/article…
Schematic showing the workflow of filtering and validating variants prior to testing in animal models.

The steps described include filtering, in vitro testing, in vivo testing to ultimately leading to in vivo testing in model organisms.
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Alliance of Genome Resources @alliancegenome.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
We're continuing to update our starter pack, so if you used it and failed to find your favorite resource, check back; we may have added it since. go.bsky.app/Npxsd7h Also, if you've found your favorite resource on Bluesky and it's not in our starter pack, please let us know and we'll add it.
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the Node @the-node.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
"I don’t think I would’ve been better off being a biologist to begin with" Karen Liu @karenjliu.bsky.social, now a professor in #DevBio, worked in an architectural firm before deciding to pursue a scientific career in her late 20s. Read her interview here: thenode.biologists.com/i-dont-think...
thenode.biologists.com
I don't think I would’ve been better off being a biologist to begin with - the Node
No such thing as a standard career path – an interview with Karen Liu
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The Company of Biologists @biologists.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
🧪The Biologists @ 100 conference incorporates the BSCB and BSDB @bsdb.bsky.social Spring Meetings. View the cell and developmental biology programme and speakers at bit.ly/3B2uflr. Abstracts are due less than 2 weeks away. 📆Abstract due: 13 December #biologists100 #Devbio #cellbio
Biologists @ 100 conference 
Incorporating the Spring Meetings of the British Society for Cell Biology (BSCB) and the British Society for Developmental Biology (BSDB).

Organisers
BSCB
•	Aymen al-Rawi, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, UK
•	Vicky Cowling, University of Glasgow, UK
•	Viji Draviam, Queen Mary University of London, UK
•	Jason King, University of Sheffield, UK
•	Laura Machesky, University of Cambridge, UK

BSDB
•	Véronique Azuara, Imperial College London, UK
•	Anahi Binagui-Casas, University of Edinburgh, UK
•	Shankar Srinivas, University of Oxford, UK
•	Abigail Tucker, King’s College London, UK
Speakers on cell and developmental biology
•	Alexander Aulehla
•	Margarida Cardoso-Moreira
•	Alain Chedotal
•	Jennifer DeLuca
•	Alba Diz-Munoz
•	Anja Geitmann
•	Susana Godinho
•	Matthias Heinemann
•	Myriam Hemberger
•	Maneesha Inamdar
•	Loydie Jerome-Majewska
•	Ana-Maria Lennon-Dumenil
•	Tom MacVicar
•	Marisa Merino
•	Michel Milinkovitch
•	Ewa Paluch
•	Olivier Pourquie
•	Jordan Raff
•	Crystal Rogers
•	Nicolas Rivron
•	Victoria Sanz Moreno
•	Ritwick Sawarkar
•	Hari Shroff
•	Benjamin Steventon
•	Chris Whitewoods
•	Alpha Yap 
Register now
biologists.com/100-years/conference
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Karen J Liu @karenjliu.bsky.social · 07/09/2023
Hello world! Here we go again.
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