iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Yehu Moran @yehumoran.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

I love watching American Football 🏈, but I'm done watching the NFL. The finding that at least 1/4 former NFL players who died in 2016-21 had confirmed degenerative brain disease (CTE) crosses a line for me. I can't really enjoy a sport knowing that. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/25/u...

nytimes.com

At Least 1 in 4 NFL Players Gets CTE, Major New Study Finds

The actual prevalence, researchers said, may be much higher.

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Yehu Moran @yehumoran.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Humbled and incredibly grateful to have been elected to the @embo.org Membership. Many thanks to everyone who has supported me throughout this journey, Mentors, Collaborators and Trainees alike. Special thanks to @odedrechavi.bsky.social for proposing my nomination. It is a tremendous honor. 🙏

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Yehu Moran @yehumoran.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

1/3 I'm so happy to see this one finally out! Ton Sharoni's years-long quest to characterize the antiviral role of a novel protein, CARDIB, is out in @natecoevo.nature.com The link appears in the following post. This protein is conserved in all anthozoans (sea anemones and 🪸) -->

static.klipy.com

Cardi B's Playful Dance Mood

ALT: Cardi B's Playful Dance Mood

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Yehu Moran @yehumoran.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

A very nice piece about our latest paper published in Open Biology by @royalsocietypublishing.org It's about how venom-producing stinging cells use chromatic modifications to determine their biochemical identity: royalsociety.org/blog/2026/04...

royalsociety.org

The secret life of stinging cells: chromatin regulation in sea anemones | Royal Society

This Open Biology study uncovers how specialised stinging cells used for prey capture and defence, are regulated at a deeper level than ever before.

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Yehu Moran @yehumoran.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

Editor perspective: finding 2–3 reviewers often means sending >20 invites. The peer-review system doesn’t run on magic. Worth remembering before clicking “decline” and later complaining about extremely slow reviews.

media.tenor.com

a man holding a cell phone with the word decline on his shirt

ALT: a man holding a cell phone with the word decline on his shirt

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Yehu Moran @yehumoran.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

#Tel_Aviv still has a few things going for it in February.

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Yehu Moran @yehumoran.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

1/5 🚨🚨 preprint alert! 🚨🚨 I wish to introduce CARDIB, not the singer, but the protein. CARDIB=CARD Inhibitory Binding protein. In our new work we discover this antiviral protein that is found in all Anthozoa (sea anemones and corals 🪸) but not in other animals. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

biorxiv.org

An ancient anthozoan protein reveals an alternative evolutionary path of antiviral signaling

How antiviral immunity first arose in animals is a central question in evolutionary biology. Using the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis, we identify CARDIB, a previously uncharacterized gene located...

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Yehu Moran @yehumoran.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

Very happy and honored for being invited to give a keynote lecture at the 5th ISFSI conference in beautiful Tainan (and no, sea anemones are not fish or shellfish, but they are certainly marine invertebrates and have a fascinating immune system).

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Yehu Moran @yehumoran.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

There’s a reason no one remembers philosophers from Sparta: they had none. Athens valued ideas, Sparta only force. A 21st-century leader dreaming of a “super-Sparta” isn’t being visionary, he’s showing deeply flawed judgement. Oh, my country, what a train wreck you’ve become.

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Yehu Moran @yehumoran.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

I'm super proud of this guy!!! 👇

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Yehu Moran @yehumoran.bsky.social · 05/09/2025

A journal drags our review process for months over months. Even the final round after "accepted in principle" with some light text editing drags for weeks. Then the proofs come in, in the least convenient time possible, "we expect you to return your comments within 48 hours" 😖

media.tenor.com

two men are standing next to each other with blood on their faces . one of the men is wearing a plaid shirt .

ALT: two men are standing next to each other with blood on their faces . one of the men is wearing a plaid shirt .

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Luisa Cochella @lcochella.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

Our work on the function of miR-51/miR-100 is out! miR-100 is widely conserved across eumetazoans but its function has been mysterious. Emilio Santillán found in worms it regulates signaling and extracellular matrix genes, some of which seem to be conserved targets! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

science.org

An ancient and essential miRNA family controls cellular interaction pathways in C. elegans

A microRNA that arose at the origin of eumetazoans regulates cell adhesion and signaling in C. elegans through conserved targets.

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Yehu Moran @yehumoran.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

We sent a paper to a "posh" journal. Waited for more than a month, Finally today the editor rejects the paper without external review. The logic is as follows: "I wanted 🍕, but you sent me a 🍔, and despite my expectations, there was no 🍕! I admit it's a fine 🍔, but where is the 🍕 I was expecting?"

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Yehu Moran @yehumoran.bsky.social · 12/07/2025

Achievement unlocked! Now, I can finally rest 🤪

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Yehu Moran @yehumoran.bsky.social · 12/07/2025

Hello, old friend. Didn't expect to meet you here... #Berlin #aquarium #Anemonia

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Yehu Moran @yehumoran.bsky.social · 21/06/2025

1/2 The new impact factor numbers are out. No sane person should use them as a proxy for anything, multiple organizations and institutes signed DORA, and still many people rely on them: I'll make it short and sweet: everything that carries "Nature" in its title went up. Sometimes crazily so -->

media.tenor.com

a man with a mustache says nature is amazing in a store

ALT: a man with a mustache says nature is amazing in a store

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Petr Svoboda @svobodalab.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

#TCTeAC ... what's more than organizing one conference? Two conferences! This one is more Day Science on biology of Argonaute proteins from prokaryotes to Metazoa. Great line up of invited speakers. Some special fun included!

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Julius Brennecke @juliusbrennecke.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

The fascinating work spearheaded by Kirsten Senti on the diversification and adaptation of endogenous retroviruses in the host gonad 'ecosystem'' is officially published.

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Yehu Moran @yehumoran.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

After more than 11 years, a long-due "postdocs reunion" with @xxxmichixxx.bsky.social at the @fmiscience.bsky.social Many thanks for the invitation, Michi! It was great meeting you and your colleagues and catching up on some cool science!

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Yehu Moran @yehumoran.bsky.social · 01/06/2025

Peer Review can be of great value when done properly and awful when done badly. We waited 3.5 months for the decision, Reviewer #2: "Looking on the figures, I get the feeling their antibody is not specific". That's so insightful & informative! It was worth waiting just for this!!! 🙏🤪🤦😱

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Yehu Moran @yehumoran.bsky.social · 05/05/2025

I'm starting a short sabattical of 4 months at @embopress.org today! I hope we can achieve some good things for the molecular eco-evo community and science publishing during this time! #heidelberg

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Leah Houri-Zeevi @leahhouri.bsky.social · 20/04/2025

✨🦟✨HOW DO MOSQUITOES HAVE SEX? ✨🦟✨ Join us for a wild journey into hidden female control, rapidly evolving stimulation devices, fierce species competition, and DEADLY MOSQUITOES! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Kaia Mattioli @kaiamattioli.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

born too late to get a two Western blot Nature paper, born too early to be a science TikTokker, born just in time to start a postdoc during a global pandemic and look for faculty positions during a historic hiring freeze

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Yehu Moran @yehumoran.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

Excellent work (as usual!) from the Genikhovich group! Highly recommended read.

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Vengamanaidu Modepalli @venky-vnm.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

Woohoo! Our image made the cover! 🎉 @jexpbiol.bsky.social The image captures photosymbiotic Anemonia viridis pointing it's tentacles towards the light. journals.biologists.com/jeb

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Yehu Moran @yehumoran.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

Happy Darwin day, everyone! Charles is 216 years old today. He is not here anymore, but his theory is still alive and well!

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Yehu Moran @yehumoran.bsky.social · 08/02/2025

Elon Musk trying to fix the grant overhead system in US academia is like a brain surgeon performing an operation on a patient using a sledgehammer... 🤦 BTW, the ones who are going to suffer the most from this are state universities, not the Ivy League... www.science.org/content/arti...

science.org

NIH slashes overhead payments for research, sparking outrage

Move to cut indirect cost rate to 15% could cost universities billions of dollars

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Yehu Moran @yehumoran.bsky.social · 01/02/2025

1/3 🎬 film review: I am very bad in working and sleeping on 🛩. So flying to Colorado and back on multiple Delta/Air France flights enabled me to fill quite some gap in recent movies (I love cinema but have no time). My impressions: Killers of the Flower Moon: Breathtaking and heartbreaking. 5⭐️ 🧵

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Yehu Moran @yehumoran.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

1/4 🚨 a brand new @biorxiv preprint from the lab! We charcterized both transcriptionally, morphologically and functionally (phagocytosis) immune cells from #Nematostella! We are convinced that our data supports the existence of such specialized cells! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 🧵

biorxiv.org

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Yehu Moran @yehumoran.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

Transferring flights at Paris CDG as part of my long journey to @keystonesymposia.bsky.social on Non-coding #RNA. I'm very excited to attend this cool event for the first time! (and also visiting beautiful Colorado would be a 1st for me. Ummm, but temperatures look a bit scary! 🥶).

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Ella Preger 🎗️ @ella-pbn.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

It was a pleasure to host the awesome @yehumoran.bsky.social in our Developmental Genetics Club and learn about toxins and their role in modulating complex predation interactions!

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Yehu Moran @yehumoran.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

1/3 🚨 new preprint from our lab! For many years, it was unclear if and how RNAi contributes to antiviral immunity in Cnidaria. Sure, it is a key component in flies and nematodes, but these are protostomes. Yael Admoni finally tested this with help from 🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

biorxiv.org

Characterization of RNA interference in the model cnidarian Nematostella vectensis reveals partial target silencing but lack of small RNA amplification

RNA interference (RNAi) is an antiviral mechanism based on processing of viral double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) into short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) leading to dsRNA destruction. It is considered as an anc...

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Camille Curantz @camillectz.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

New insight on gonad morphogenesis ! Our new paper reveals how germ & somatic cells interact through TGF-Beta feedback loop to drive gonad morphogenesis in Hydractinia. Check out the full paper in Science Advances ! tinyurl.com/245rw699

tinyurl.com

A positive feedback loop between germ cells and gonads induces and maintains sexual reproduction in a cnidarian

Cnidarian germ cells secrete TGF-β to induce gonad development, and gonads induce germ cells by activating Tfap2 in stem cells.

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Yehu Moran @yehumoran.bsky.social · 22/12/2024

1/3 I am very excited to tell you about our latest work where we looked not only into sea anemones but also 🪸 We find in #Nematostella that stress induces not immunity, but also viral replication, actually much faster than the immune response! 🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

biorxiv.org

Heat stress drives rapid viral and antiviral innate immunity activation in Hexacorallia

The cnidarian class Hexacorallia, encompassing stony corals and sea anemones, plays a critical role in marine ecosystems. Coral bleaching, the disruption of the symbiosis between stony corals and zoox...

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Yehu Moran @yehumoran.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

We went today to visit my parents, and this is what we came back to...

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Oded Rechavi @odedrechavi.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

Scared to share this after 10 freaking years of waiting, but here we go: We found that temperature *perception* can change the biology of the next generations, even when “it’s just in the parents' head”. Read how C. elegans neurons control epigenetic inheritance! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

biorxiv.org

Perception of Temperature Even in the Absence of Actual Change is Sufficient to Drive Transgenerational Epigenetic Inheritance

Can processes occurring in one individuals nervous system influence the physiology of the descendants? Here we explored the provocative hypothesis that parents sensation or perception of environmental...

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Ethan (Chee Kiang) Ewe @ethanewe.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

1/12 1. I’m very excited to share the first piece of my postdoc work! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

biorxiv.org

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Yehu Moran @yehumoran.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

התראיינתי היום לשרון קנטור ב-"כאן תרבות" בנוגע לארס בעלי חיים 🐍🪸🪼🦂🕷 החל מ-1:37:10. מוזמנים להאזין! (My interview in Hebrew on the national radio about animal venom). www.kan.org.il/content/kan/...

kan.org.il

4.12.2024-שלושה שיודעים

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Yehu Moran @yehumoran.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

Anyone has experience with the Illumina NextSeq P4 50 bp kit (1.8 billion reads) for RNA-seq? Did it work well for your needs?

media.tenor.com

a man in a hat holds a green sign with a question mark on it

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