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Phil Abitua

@ohnolog.bsky.social
247 followers 205 following 42 posts

Assistant Professor at UW studying, evo-devo, annual killifish, & cell type evolution.

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Reposted by Phil Abitua
Christophe 🔬 Leterrier @christlet.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I think I'm going to lose it being lectured on microscopy image presentation integrity by the winner of the Small Artificial World in Motion competition
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Phil Abitua @ohnolog.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
This updated post all but confirms that this year’s winning Nikon Small World in Motion video used AI to make the entry “more vivid and visually engaging,” despite competition rules prohibiting AI-generated videos. www.nikonsmallworld.com/masters-of-m...
nikonsmallworld.com
Ning Xu: Studying Disease through Motion
Updated: September 22, 2026Welcome to Masters of Microscopy: The People Behind the Lens, where we showcase and celebrate the individuals at the heart of the Nikon Small World competitions. They are sc...
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Phil Abitua @ohnolog.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
This is what a multiciliated cell looks like in Xenopus. There are about 150 cilia per cell, which is roughly the same as in humans.
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Philippe Batut @philippebatut.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
🧬🔬 Why are enhancers transcribed and how does that impact gene regulation? I’m really excited to share our new paper in @science.org showing that noncoding RNAs control the timing of gene activation in embryos. With Mike Levine #ScienceResearch @columbiamed.bsky.social A few highlights below... 🧵👇
science.org
Noncoding transcription controls the developmental dynamics of long-range gene regulation
The genomic regions regulating gene expression are often themselves transcribed into a variety of noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs). However, the regulatory roles of this noncoding transcription remain largely ...
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Phil Abitua @ohnolog.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Stories like this keep me up at night. Like many other ESIs, I’m in a very similar boat. www.reddit.com/r/NIH/commen...
reddit.com
From the NIH community on Reddit
Explore this post and more from the NIH community
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Phil Abitua @ohnolog.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
lol. The replication crisis isn't due to a select few having "magic hands."
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Reposted by Phil Abitua
Ars Technica @arstechnica.com · 25/08/2026
arstechnica.com
Lab supply companies have been selling antibodies using manipulated images
Image changes that would get a paper retracted are widespread among suppliers.
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Phil Abitua @ohnolog.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
After ReadCube bought Papers, they took library full-text search and locked it behind “Enterprise” pricing. WTF. Searching the full text of your own PDF library is one of the most basic functions of a reference manager.
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Phil Abitua @ohnolog.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Ahh I finally caught up on all of my work, now I can complete that hazing training I’ve been ignoring.
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Reposted by Phil Abitua
Alex Eve @amjeve.uk · 26/07/2026
Congratulations, @jeffreyafarrell.bsky.social, on winning the @socdevbio.bsky.social #2026SDB Elizabeth D. Hay New Investigator Award! Learn more about Jeff's science and career in his @dev-journal.bsky.social interview with @saanjbati.bsky.social.
doi.org
Transitions in development – an interview with Jeffrey Farrell
Jeffrey Farrell is an Earl Stadtman Investigator at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), USA, where he heads the Unit on Cell Specification and ...
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Reposted by Phil Abitua
Alex Eve @amjeve.uk · 25/07/2026
Kaitlyn Loubet-Senear studies how gene networks (GN) evolve to adapt to external effectors for robust development. By comparing the African turquoise killifish (with unique stages of early dev) with model organisms, Kaitlyn shows that the GN is more similar to that of mice than zebrafish. #2026SDB
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Rosa Uribe, PhD @uribelab.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
I am excited to be in Vegas for #2026SDB! We will have posters presented by PhD candidates from the lab on zebrafish ENS development: Hannah Johnson, Poster Session A #111 (A11) Onyekachi Idigo, Poster Session A #116 (A16) Both present on Thursday July 23 from 7:15-10:15 pm! 🐟🎣🍿
static.klipy.com
Zebra Football Dance
ALT: Zebra Football Dance
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Reposted by Phil Abitua
Ryan Gray @slewzeus.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Vegas baby! We are presenting posters at #2026SDB @socdevbio.bsky.social. Stop on by to learn about our newest work with #cilia and #notochord
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Rebecca D. Burdine, PhD @rburdine1.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
#2026SDB #Devbio I suspect @jbwallingford.bsky.social may have some info on where this masterpiece came from...
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Society for Developmental Biology @socdevbio.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
✨Jeffrey Farrell @jeffreyafarrell.bsky.social is a Stadtman Investigator at the NIH. He has led seminal work constructing single-cell RNAseq atlases for entire embryos using zebrafish. We are excited to host Jeffrey at the #2026SDB in Las Vegas! 🔬
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Phil Abitua @ohnolog.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
When your favorite artist comes out of nowhere with a track about chick development, it really feels like you’re living in a simulation. www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDCI...
youtube.com
The Word Becomes Flesh
YouTube video by Boards of Canada - Topic
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Phil Abitua @ohnolog.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Receiving your third just-in-time for a grant you submitted 16 months ago.
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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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James Briscoe @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Our latest: Minimal essential requirements for neural tube self-organisation How does a single cell give rise to a tissue with the right cell types in the right proportions? We deconstruct and rebuild a self-organising tissue from first principles A thread🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
Minimal essential requirements for neural tube self-organisation
The reliable generation of diverse cell types in precise proportions is essential for the formation of functional tissues during embryonic development. Three-dimensional organoid models derived from p...
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Reposted by Phil Abitua
Austin Seroka @austinseroka1.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
We're excited to present a single-cell atlas of vertebrate cranial motor neuron development, the first story from my postdoctoral work in the Moens lab, up now on bioRxiv!
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Phil Abitua @ohnolog.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
Neutrophils are basically fireworks in reverse. Happy 250th birthday, America! 🎆🇺🇸
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Syd Sattler @sydsat.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
What if an embryo made immune cells before it finished building the tissue they usually come from? In our new preprint, we show that annual killifish embryos specify neutrophils before germ layers are fully resolved. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Huge thanks to my PI, @ohnolog.bsky.social ! 🧵
biorxiv.org
Early immune cell development precedes gastrulation in annual killifish
During embryogenesis, cell types arise in a predictable order because developmental regulators act sequentially. But how evolutionary changes in morphogenesis reshape the signaling environments that a...
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Richard Sever @richardsever.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Last month was another record for bioRxiv submissions. The pandemic surge and lag now clearly in the past and the growth continues. Thanks as ever to all the authors, readers affiliates, funders and amazing internal openRxiv team who make this happen!
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Michael Metzger @metzgerm.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
I am excited to present our newest report on a severe outbreak of transmissible cancer in clams in the Pacific Northwest, with a lot of unexpected twists. Led by Sydney Weinandt and Zach Child. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2611852123 1/14
pnas.org
Atlantic to Pacific: Outbreak of bivalve transmissible neoplasia detected in hybridizing soft-shell clams and eDNA in Puget Sound | PNAS
Bivalve transmissible neoplasias (BTNs) are transmissible cancers that have arisen in multiple bivalve species, including Eastern soft-shell clam (...
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Joachim Goedhart @joachimgoedhart.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
A High-Affinity Nanobody Recognizing mNeonGreen Enables Versatile Biochemical, Cellular, and in vivo Applications. by Steffen Frey and team: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
mNeonGreen Selector: a pulldown resin for mNeonGreen-fusion proteins. (A) Sketch of mNG
Selector binding mNG fusion proteins. (B, C) Immunoprecipitation from E.coli lysate in the presence (B) or
absence (C) of target protein (mNG-Halo fusion, arrowhead). Proteins were eluted in boiling SDS sample
buffer. mNG Selector enables highly specific one-step capture of mNG-tagged proteins. (D) Binding assay to
evaluate the cross-reactivity of the mNG Selector to other recombinant fluorescent proteins. Shown is a figure
of the equilibrium bound fraction of each indicated fluorescent protein prior to buffer washing. (E)
Compatibility of mNG Selector to various reagents applied during binding (top panel) or during washing steps
(lower panel). mNG fluorescence is lost in the presence of 2 M Gua-HCl. The symbols below each row indicate
binding efficiency: ++: strong binding, + binding, -: no binding
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John Wallingford @jbwallingford.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
Side hustle level-up! My book, IN THE BEGINNING, will be published by @harperonebooks.bsky.social in 2027! It's about the human embryo, how it gets built, and what it means for where we come from and where we're going. @harpercollins.bsky.social (1/2) @socdevbio.bsky.social #devbiol #scicomm
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Phil Abitua @ohnolog.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Annual killifish continue to surprise us: they make neutrophils before almost every other cell type, even before gastrulation. Neutrophils usually arise from the lateral plate mesoderm (forming in cyan), but in killifish they are already patrolling around the embryo in gold. tinyurl.com/killiphil
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M. Brent Hawkins @homeobox.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Excited to share the final published version of our work on the evolution of dorsal-ventral patterning in fins and limbs, now up on @currentbiology.bsky.social In review we added new single LARM element deletions to assess their impact on dorsality. Take a look! 🔬🧪🐟🐁 www.cell.com/current-biol...
A scientific figure showing the phenotypic effects of removing individual enhancer elements from the LARM. On the left side of the image are schematic diagrams of the targeted deletions and on the right are fin skeletons showing altered anatomy.
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Phil Abitua @ohnolog.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
Abitua Lab on a tear at the Northwest Developmental Biology Meeting!
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Phil Abitua @ohnolog.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
My lived experience www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
NIH research grant funding rates plummeted in 2025
Agency acknowledges young investigators are losing out as result of multiyear funding policy imposed by White House
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Phil Abitua @ohnolog.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
Someone told me after class that they enjoyed the lecture I spent 12 hours preparing over the weekend while ignoring my parental duties. Thank you.
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Phil Abitua @ohnolog.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
See you at Gastrulation Revolutions
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Harvard_MCB @harvardmcb.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
Rich Losick’s Farewell Publication Reexamines a Molecular Biology Milestone 🧪 🧬 #AcademicSky #higherEd www.mcb.harvard.edu/department/n... @cryptogenomicon.bsky.social @craigphunter.bsky.social @rachellegaudet.bsky.social @harvardmagazine.bsky.social @naoshigeuchida.bsky.social
mcb.harvard.edu
Rich Losick’s Farewell Publication Reexamines a Molecular Biology Milestone - Harvard University - Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology
Richard Losick, Maria Moors Cabot Professor of Biology, Emeritus in Harvard’s Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, is about to publish what he describes as his “last paper”—though […]
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Phil Abitua @ohnolog.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
Working on a gigantic gorgeous grant.
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Phil Abitua @ohnolog.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
The more I look at this 3d rendering, the more it looks like an Ames window.
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Reposted by Phil Abitua
EvoDevo PanAm @evodevopanam.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
PASEDB 2025 Service Award: Chris Amemiya University of California-Merced, USA. School of Natural Sciences. For significant contributions to the evo-devo community and PASEDB organization Do you want to learn more: amemiyalab.com
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Phil Abitua @ohnolog.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
Some B-roll from Eliza Barkan’s new preprint out of the Trapnell Lab. I think it will be a fin-tastic resource for the zebrafish community, especially for those trying to get a handle on the signaling pathways involved in specific cell types. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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Phil Abitua @ohnolog.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
I met a Searle Scholar who had done six rotations... talk about resilience.
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Phil Abitua @ohnolog.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
Syd Sattler took home the Best Graduate Student Talk award at the 58th annual NWDB meeting—a proud PI moment to remember! 🥲
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Phil Abitua @ohnolog.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
Opened a bottle of LB that no one in the lab could open. Good to know I’m still useful around the lab.
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Phil Abitua @ohnolog.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
Excited to host Nipam Patel this week—an OG of evo-devo!
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