Pawel Burkhardt
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pawelburkhardt.bsky.social
Pawel Burkhardt
@pawelburkhardt.bsky.social
Evolution of neurons and nervous systems / choanoflagellates / sponges / ctenophores. Group leader at the Michael Sars Centre (University of Bergen). @msarscentre.bsky.social Webpage: https://www.uib.no/en/michaelsarscentre/114773/burkhardt-group
Pinned
Thrilled to see #choanoflagellates on the cover of Science Advances🤩. Our latest work "Electrical signaling and coordinated behavior in the closest relative of animals" out now. Link: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... 👏 @jeffcolgren.bsky.social @msarscentre.bsky.social
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
#stuffthatmatters Congratulations!
✨ A study in nature.com from our Faculty at @unikarlova.cuni.cz reveals Solarion arienae, a rare #protist forming a newly identified eukaryotic supersroup Disparia. A unique window into early #eukaryotic cell #evolution. 🌍🔬👏

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
November 19, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
SO HAPPY to share our new paper in @currentbiology.bsky.social! Using volumetric EM, we found daily shifts in synapses, vesicles, and mitochondria that accompany neuronal remodeling, linking structural plasticity to changes in how s-LNv neurons influence their targets
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Daily ultrastructural remodeling of clock neurons
A cluster of Drosophila clock neurons remodel their axonal arbors daily. Using volumetric electron microscopy at different times of day, Ispizua, Rodriguez-Caron, and colleagues reveal ultrastructural...
www.cell.com
November 19, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
Drawing together findings from several projects over many years, we make a case that neural cell types in the Clytia larva have two embryological origins: i-cells and ectodermal.
bioRxiv 2025.11.17.688882; doi: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
November 19, 2025 at 7:43 AM
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
Our paper on the role of neurons in Nematostella head regeneration is now out at @currentbiology.bsky.social Big thank you to all collaborators, it was a pleasure!

Ectopic head regeneration after nervous system ablation in a sea anemone: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...
Ectopic head regeneration after nervous system ablation in a sea anemone
Via genetic ablation of neurons, Mazloumi Gavgani et al. show that the nervous system is essential for defining axial polarity during whole-body regeneration in the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis.
www.cell.com
November 18, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
🧬 PhD Position: Evolutionary & Comparative Genomics 🕷️
Join us at @uni-goettingen.de for a 3-year PhD (65% TV-L E13).
We will investigate the genomic & phenotypic impact of gene duplication across 233 arthropod genomes!
More infos 👇 and s.gwdg.de/eDrAAY
#Evolution #Genomics #Bioinformatics
Posnien - Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
Webseiten der Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
s.gwdg.de
November 18, 2025 at 7:04 AM
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
Glad to see our phoronid genome study featured on the cover of @currentbiology.bsky.social! It shows how genome structure can be used to test competing hypotheses of nested topology and how derived structural changes provide evidence for monophyly.

www.cell.com/current-biol...
November 17, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
Our work on Naegleria Myosin 2 is out!

Naegleria encodes 3 Myo2s which contract its actin network—the first evidence of contractile Myo2 outside of Amorphea.
Myo2 is actually widespread in Naegleria's relatives and correlates with fast cell crawling.

Read more: www.cell.com/current-biol...
Myosin 2 drives actin contractility in fast-crawling species outside of the amorphean lineage
Myosin 2-dependent actin contractility—the force that powers cell division and migration in animals, fungi, and other Amorphea—had been previously unknown outside this single eukaryotic group. Guest e...
www.cell.com
November 17, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
Me to myself this morning, realizing it's mid-month and I hadn't done anything for #InsertAnInvert2024 in 2025 yet: "You're not allowed to do any other hobbies until you draw."
November 15, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
Hydra (Hydra vulgaris) ✨Small but mighty! Hydra can regenerate its entire body, even its head 🧠 A classic model for regeneration, stem cell dynamics, and body axis patterning 📸 Image by Daniel Bressan de Andrade #ModelMonday #DevBio #Regeneration
November 11, 2025 at 2:28 AM
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
Re-upping this with a Bluetorial in a shameless act of self-promotion. 1/n
Cell cycle-driven transcriptome maturation confers multilineage competence to cardiopharyngeal progenitors
Wei Wang, @lionlchristiaen.bsky.social and colleagues
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
November 15, 2025 at 8:15 AM
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
This work on benthic ctenophore systematics (creation of Benthoplanidae) sets up a few planned works, focused on the systematics and evolution of shallow and deep water groups. www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=...
November 13, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
Job Alert! The Institute for Neuro- and Behavioural Biology at the Faculty of Biology @uni-muenster.de invites applications for a Full Professorship (W3) in “Systems Neuroscience” - Highly attractive research environment at the Multiscale Imaging Center. Apply by January 5th. See shorturl.at/VczFp
November 12, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
An excellent opportunity to join the amazing faculty at the Whitney Labs as a tenure-track faculty member at the Assistant or Associate Professor level. Applications due December 1!

explore.jobs.ufl.edu/en-us/job/53...
University of Florida - Details - Assistant/Associate Professor in Marine Bioscience
explore.jobs.ufl.edu
November 13, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Sponges back?

Integrative phylogenomics positions sponges at the root of the animal tree. @science.org

#sponges vs #ctenophores
November 13, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
An early Triassic bone bed excavated at 78°N changes the story about how marine life recovered after the most cataclysmic extinction in Earth history ~252 million years ago.

Learn more in this week's issue of Science: https://scim.ag/48bLsGI
November 13, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
As part of his dissertation, @beziostudio.bsky.social leads a recent paper on benthic ctenophores. New family established based on anatomical observations, mitochondrial genome structure, and sequence data. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Benthoplanidae, a new family of benthic ctenophores (Platyctenida), based on morphological and genetic data
The benthic ctenophore Benthoplana meteoris (adults left and bottom, planktonic juveniles to the top right), type species for the genus, which in turn is type for the newly erected family: Benthoplan....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 13, 2025 at 10:45 AM
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
Pleased to be a small part of this molecular palaeobiology study by Jialin Wei, led by Marta Álvarez-Presas and Jordi Paps, with help from Davide Pisani. Animals repeatedly used similar genomic solutions to the challenges of terrestrialization @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social @bristolbiosci.bsky.social
November 13, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
The group of @pawelburkhardt.bsky.social took part in the celebrations, contributing to the Museum's open day and jubilee yearbook ✨ Read on to discover the connection between their work and that of neurobiologist and polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen! 🧠 2/2

📖 tinyurl.com/ee742wyd
November 13, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
In 2025, we celebrate #200years of knowledge at the University of Bergen! An occasion to honor the scientists who came before us and whose legacy we carry on today 🧪🔬 “This story goes from Michael Sars, the vicar and marine zoologist, to Michael Sars, the Centre.” - Prof. Anders Goksøyr ⤵️ 1/2
200 years of neurobiology at the University of Bergen
As the University Museum celebrates its 200 years jubilee, researchers reflected on breakthroughs in biological sciences made at UiB and how they relate to today’s research.
tinyurl.com
November 13, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Woke up at 5.30 this morning. Was fully worth it 🤩 #northernlights #bergen #norway
November 13, 2025 at 6:47 AM
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
Awesome to welcome and host @enricodanielloszn.bsky.social for a seminar and (short) visit at @msarscentre.bsky.social in #SunnyBergen, which - sometimes - is only a state of mind. 😉☀️🇳🇴
November 5, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
Friday seminar treat with a talk by Prof. De Tomaso on the reproductive and regenerative prowesses of colonial ascidians at @msarscentre.bsky.social in #SunnyBergen
November 7, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
You only have one more week to submit your abstract for 'Collectivity in living systems: emergence, function, and evolution' 👉 s.embl.org/ees26-01-bl

Don't miss #EESCollectivity which will explore how collective behaviours arise from fundamental principles across biological systems🦠🐒🧬
November 11, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
My book 'The Tree of Life' is published in the USA and Canada today.

Available as book, on kindle and as audio.

I would be really grateful for reposts.

www.amazon.com/Tree-Life-So...
www.amazon.ca/Tree-Life-So...
November 11, 2025 at 12:01 PM
On the importance of marine labs:

"Marine laboratories encourage exploratory and creative thinking... Against the current backdrop of anxiety about the future of science, the scientific community and public need these places now more than ever."

Could not agree more... 🌊 🧪🥼🧫
"Saving Science by the Sea" – a piece on the importance of marine laboratories in advancing biomedical science, including the beginning of the Meselson-Stahl collaboration that ultimately elucidated the process of DNA replication:

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Saving science by the sea
As funding for science tightens across the United States, attention has turned to pressures faced by universities and biomedical research institutions. An often overlooked part of the nation’s science...
www.science.org
November 10, 2025 at 7:39 AM