Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Allison Kann @apkann.bsky.social · 5d

One of the coolest projects I've seen in years - huge congrats to Çağrı and the McKinley team!

Çağrı Çevrim @cagricevrim.bsky.social · 5d

I’m thrilled to share my postdoc work and the first paper from the McKinley Lab! 🎉
@karalmckinley.bsky.social
We built the first transgenic model of menstruation in mice.
We used it to uncover how the endometrium organizes and sheds during menstruation. 🧪
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🧵

Induction of menstruation in mice reveals the regulation of menstrual shedding

During menstruation, an inner layer of the endometrium is selectively shed, while an outer, progenitor-containing layer is preserved to support repeated regeneration. Progress in understanding this co...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Allison Kann

Nat Clarke @natclarke.bsky.social · 6d

🚨 My lab is hiring at all levels!

Interested in animal origins & evolutionary cell biology?

I'm recruiting a postdoc, PhD students & a research assistant to study the molecular evolution of cell adhesion using marine invertebrates + comparative genomics.

🔗: clarkelab.com/join/

Please repost!

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Reposted by Allison Kann

Rachael Ott @rachaelott.bsky.social · 12d

For #FluorescenceFriday, RhoA (blue) and the actin cytoskeleton (magenta) are shown in a set of primary microglia 🔬 #Neuroscience #Microscopy

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Allison Kann @apkann.bsky.social · 13d

Absolutely gorgeous work from Kate - I loved reading the full paper!

Kate Cavanaugh @katecavanaugh.bsky.social · 13d

See this? This = implanting mouse embryo. Usually this happens inside its mother and is invisible to us, but we can actually watch implantation ex vivo with the hope of understanding why implantation goes awry in embryos of older women. A 🧵...

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Reposted by Allison Kann

Arnau Sebé-Pedrós @arnausebe.bsky.social · 21d

Happy to share the Biodiversity Cell Atlas white paper, out today in @nature.com. We look at the possibilities, challenges, and potential impacts of molecularly mapping cells across the tree of life.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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Reposted by Allison Kann

Aaron Griffing @aaronhgriffing.bsky.social · Sep 5

New preprint from some of my postdoc work on lungs! Co-led with Kaleb Hill, we studied smooth muscle and epithelial development in lizard lungs. Stay tuned for more!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

brightfield images of three lizard embryos of approximately the same developmental stage. Below each embryo image is an immunofluorescence image labeling E-cadherin (green) and alpha-smooth muscle actin (magenta) of their developing lungs

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Allison Kann @apkann.bsky.social · Aug 29

Today's #FluorescenceFriday is featuring the peripheral muscle of Hofstenia miamia 💪

Peripheral muscle fibers (pseudocolored in magenta) and nuclei (in gray)

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Reposted by Allison Kann

Wallace Marshall @wallaceucsf.bsky.social · Aug 19

Cells can form patterns within themselves just like embryos do. How? Connie Yan's new preprint shows how the anterior-posterior cytoskeleton pattern in Stentor is dictated by regionalized scaffolding proteins

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Reposted by Allison Kann

Journal of Cell Science @jcellsci.bsky.social · Aug 15

Why would anyone want to be a scientist?

Check out our new Essay from Martin Schwartz: journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...

Screenshot of Essay from Martin Schwartz on 'Why would anyone want to be a scientist'. An anniversary article from The Company of Biologists published in Journal of Cell Science.

The first few lines are: It is difficult to fathom why anyone intelligent enough to be a scientist would actually choose to be one. Doing good science requires the utmost exertion of body, mind and spirit, yet is consistently filled with failure and rejection. But, strange even to myself, I not only don't question the unfavorable risk-to-reward ratio but consider myself astonishingly lucky to be a scientist. There are three fundamental pleasures that have sustained me through 50 years of this madness.

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Reposted by Allison Kann

Ferdinand Marlétaz @ferdix.bsky.social · Aug 13

After nearly twenty years in the making, our attempt at understanding what makes the chaetognath phylum so unique has finally been published! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
with #LauraPiovani @dariagavr.bsky.social @alexdemendoza.bsky.social @chemamd.bsky.social and others /1

The genomic origin of the unique chaetognath body plan - Nature

Genomic, single-cell transcriptomic and epigenetic analyses show that chaetognaths, following extensive gene loss in the gnathiferan lineage, relied on newly evolved genes and lineage-specific tandem ...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Allison Kann

Michalis Averof @michalis-averof.bsky.social · Aug 8

Latest paper elifesciences.org/articles/107... closes an important cycle in our efforts to study regeneration: week-long recordings allow us to observe the behaviour of cells during the entire course of regeneration in a crustacean leg – bright objects in movie are fluorescent nuclei of cells. 1/6

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Reposted by Allison Kann

Society for Developmental Biology @socdevbio.bsky.social · Aug 8

✨Development meets design in this embryonic chameleon lung 🫁 🦎. Smooth muscle swirls 🟣 and branching tips and cartilage 🟢 come together in reptilian lung morphogenesis. Image taken by @drkatiegoodwin.bsky.social 🔬🧪
#FluorescenceFriday #DevBio

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Allison Kann @apkann.bsky.social · Aug 8

Our transgenic acoel embryos are beautifully mosaic 😍 showing off the developing epidermis for #FluorescenceFriday

Fluorescent embryo showing the developing epidermis, pseudo-colored with the ICA LUT in FIJI

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Allison Kann @apkann.bsky.social · Jul 3

Congratulations Tim!! So exciting!

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Allison Kann @apkann.bsky.social · Jun 13

The GRC on Cell Contact & Adhesion was truly fantastic (and in such a beautiful place!) - thanks to everyone involved for building such a great community.

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Reposted by Allison Kann

Ted Pavlic (he/him/his) @tedpavlic.bsky.social · Jun 8

Reminder: Nobel-prize winning PCR (1983), used in basically all genetic tech today, was only possible because of extremophile bacterium discovered in 1964 in Yellowstone funded by a small ~$80k NSF grant with no obvious application at the time. #science 🧪
www.richmondscientific.com/how-a-discov...

How a discovery in Yellowstone National Park led to the development of PCR - Richmond Scientific

A discovery in Yellowstone National Park led to the development of PCR, the gold-standard COVID-19 tests used to fight the global pandemic.

www.richmondscientific.com

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Reposted by Allison Kann

Mathieu Preußner @mathpreu.bsky.social · Jun 6

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Branching morphogenesis is fundamental to animal development, shaping complex organs like lungs, kidneys, and vascular networks. Gills are another highly branched organ. Yet, the developmental processes behind gill formation in zebrafish remain poorly understood.

#zebrafish #gills #microscopy

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Reposted by Allison Kann

Journal of Cell Science @jcellsci.bsky.social · May 20

If you need to attend a microscopy or bioimage analysis training course to support your #cellbio research but don't have funding, check out our JCS–FocalPlane Training Grants.
🔬🖥️https://www.biologists.com/grants/jcs-focalplane-training-grants/

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Allison Kann @apkann.bsky.social · May 9

I had a fantastic time at the annual @jcchildsfund.bsky.social symposium. It’s always a treat to be surrounded by brilliant and passionate people, and even more so in the midst of so much chaos. Thank you all for the conversations, the community, and (of course) for sharing your amazing science.

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Reposted by Allison Kann

Bethany Brookshire @beebrookshire.bsky.social · May 7

This is just so incredibly sad to me.

It's not just that people think they are clever for hacking their way through school without work.

It's that they don't WANT to learn new things. They don't WANT to improve skills. They don't WANT EDUCATION. nymag.com/intelligence...

Everyone Is Cheating Their Way Through College

ChatGPT has unraveled the entire academic project.

nymag.com

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Reposted by Allison Kann

Miranda Wilson @mlwilson96.bsky.social · May 7

So excited to see the new work out from fellow PhD candidate @mayapahima.bsky.social in the @flomarlow.bsky.social lab where they show that PGCs are not restricted to GSC differentiation and contribute to other cell populations of the early gonad and ovary 🦓🐟❤️!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Clonal analysis reveals differential PGC contributions to the early germline and ovarian reserve

Primordial germ cells (PGCs) are the precursors of the germline and among the first cells to be specified during embryogenesis. Contrary to the common assumption that PGCs directly develop into germli...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Allison Kann

Shane Herbert @shaneherbert.bsky.social · May 6

My first post on Bluesky! Very excited to share our work just published in @science.org. We find that “Interphase cell morphology defines the mode, symmetry, and outcome of mitosis” - in angiogenesis and other tissues! www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1... www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1...

Interphase cell morphology defines the mode, symmetry, and outcome of mitosis

During tissue formation, dynamic cell shape changes drive morphogenesis while asymmetric divisions create cellular diversity. We found that the shifts in cell morphology that shape tissues could conco...

www.science.org

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Reposted by Allison Kann

Carolyn Fiddler @cfidd.bsky.social · May 6

"On a weekly basis more than 90% of people use weather forecasts, job market reports, food safety warnings and other information that is based on federal science. But only 10% ... are concerned that cuts to federal support for science might impact their access to [it]."
www.npr.org/2025/05/06/n...

Most Americans use federal science information on a weekly basis, a new poll finds

Most Americans frequently use federal science information. But few are concerned that cuts to federal science spending could affect their access to such information, a new poll finds.

www.npr.org

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Reposted by Allison Kann

Max Kozlov @maxkozlov.bsky.social · May 5

Harvard will no longer receive ANY federal research money, per letter to the school:

"Harvard should no longer seek GRANTS from the federal government, since none will be provided. Harvard will cease to be a publicly funded institution, and can instead operate as a privately-funded institution."

Trump Administration Disqualifies Harvard From Future Research Grants

A letter from Linda McMahon, the education secretary, said the college leaders must demonstrate more responsible management of the university before receiving additional federal grants.

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Allison Kann

epithelial mechanics fan club @epimechfc.bsky.social · Apr 27

Oil form droplets when mixed with alcohol, your monolayers dewet to form spherical aggregates, your friends dancing in a club form a circle, why?

I’m @challopeau.bsky.social and I will tell you about the origins and consequences of interfacial tension in tissues.

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