Our ultimate goal: exploring biology beyond well established research organisms, by building tools that will make new things visible

Ending 🧵 with a marker for visualising chanoflagellates, closest unicellular relatives of animals, by @jujumathieu.bsky.social and @thibautbrunet.bsky.social

By studying these markers in a multiple organisms, we could identify ones that label the cell membrane most clearly and consistently across species (circle sizes represent how well markers perform in each species). Gathering the info involved more than 10 research labs.
see doi.org/10.1101/2024... 🧵

Some of the markers do not label the cell surface clearly, but shuttle across different parts of the cell. You can see in this early crustacean embryo, how the fluorescence pattern changes as the cells multiply. The video was made by Manon Koenig, Irene Karapidaki and @berylbiologist.bsky.social

🧵

And this is the surface of the larvae of mediterranean stinging jellyfish. It's composed of cells measuring about a hundredth of a millimetre in size. The cells' outlines are visible thanks to fluorescent markers identified by Clara Deleau and @cnidevo.bsky.social

see doi.org/10.1101/2024...

🧵

These are embryos of a jellyfish, made up of cells that are about a fiftieth of a millimetre in size. Their outlines are visible thanks to fluorescent markers identified by Sarah Asaf and @clytia-vlfr.bsky.social

see doi.org/10.1101/2024...

🧵

the basis of optimism is sheer terror (Oscar Wilde); perhaps this applies here

The paper describes initial screens to identify tags that work, but yes, that's something to test once you have found them. Effect will also depend on level of expression, i.e. on the driver you use. In Platy, we noticed that high expression of some reporters can delay development (fig. S7).

Yes, we cited your paper. First results from drosophila (from @yghavi.bsky.social) suggest there are other interesting tags to consider – get in touch if you're interested.

Experiments in several other species are still ongoing, and toolkit is available to anyone willing to give it a try

Thanks to all the collaborators (too many to list here), it's been a great pleasure to do this together

4/4

We identified efficient membrane-localising tags in each of the 10 animals we tested. A few tags worked in every species!

The project was also an exciting venture into open science – sharing resources openly before publication – and collaborating with >10 labs studying different organisms.

3/4

Project started a year ago, when we gathered a set of 11 tags, made them easy to test as mRNA that can be injected in eggs, and sent to 30 labs around the world. We present the results of testing these tags in animals as diverse as sea urchin, beetle, crustacean, worm, sea anemone & jellyfish.

2/4

My experience with qed (2 papers): some comments useful, some irrelevant / off track. May be useful for checking own paper (consider useful comments, trash the loopy ones). Definitely not a substitute for peer review. AI is not a peer.

If we gave a machine these properties it would still be serving our goals, not their own, right? I think 'agency' implies having your own interests/purpose. But we must have that discussion live, not here...

Cool collaborations on light sheet microscopy @huiskenlab.bsky.social, cellular barcoding @mgrillo.bsky.social, AI-based cell tracking @jytinevez.bsky.social, and citizen science through video game for cell tracking @rebelpixel.fr

see www.averof-lab.org/pages/tracman

3/3

Postdoc will:
* Βe trained in live imaging & transgenic approach
* Generate fluorescent markers for sensory organ cell types (neurons, setae, support cells & glia)
* Develop recombinase-based cell barcoding
* Use barcoding, live imaging & cell tracking to identify regenerative progenitors

2/3

localized to the plasma membrane? ;)

We describe the nucleus as the administrator of the cell. It shares two attributes with administrators: it perpetuates its kind & defies so successfully all efforts to learn what it is doing that only by trying to get along without it can we satisfy ourselves that it is working at all (D.Mazia 1962)