Out now in @currentbiology.bsky.social!
A dive into the deep history of vertebrate vision, together with @mikebok.bsky.social, @neurofishh.bsky.social and @denilsson.bsky.social
Photo credit : Vasilis Karkalas
I am hiring a PhD student to join our group in Lund, Sweden working on an ERC-funded project to untangle color and polarization vision in some amazing crustaceans – minute water fleas and pugnacious mantis shrimp!
Please forward this to promising students. Apply here: lu.varbi.com/en/what:job/...
Ever wanted to know how the visual system of a long distance migratory moth looks like? Then you'll find your answers in our new paper. Finally out, after about a decade of collecting data by a group af amazing co-authors. Find it here, open access: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
So excited to have received an #HFSPResearchGrant to study trilobite eyes with Luke Parry @oxuniearthsci.bsky.social and Gil Ju Lee (Pusan National University)!🥳
I'll be recruiting a postdoc @bristolbiosci.bsky.social - if 3D data, optical modelling, and fossils tickle your interest, stay tuned!
George Kafetzis
Stanley Heinze
Michael Bok
👁️The retina — strikingly conserved across vertebrates, but an oddity among bilaterians!
So how did it evolve?
With @mikebok.bsky.social, @neurofishh.bsky.social and @denilsson.bsky.social, we argue that retinal complexity may 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑦𝑒 𝑖𝑡𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
1/n
ALT: a black and white dog is sitting on a couch with its tongue sticking out .
We argue that the strange arrangement of cells and circuits is the consequence of a reduction of our visual systems to a simple median eye in our ancient filter-feeding ancestors.
Michael Bok
My collaborator at University of Copenhagen, Anders Garm, is looking for a 3 year postdoc to work on bioluminescence, neurobiology and ecology of ctenophores. More information here:
candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationI...
You can also read about this work @nytimes.com here: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/23/s...
Lauren Sumner-Rooney
From our new paper out now in @currentbiology.bsky.social: www.cell.com/current-biol... w/ @neurofishh.bsky.social @gkafetzis.bsky.social @denilsson.bsky.social
Looking across animals, the vertebrate eye is an obvious outlier. Why is it so different that other highly visual animals?
I am hiring a postdoc for scRNA-seq research in Lund, Sweden on the visual systems of non-model inverts as part of an ERC project on the evolution and ecology of advanced color and polarization vision. Apply here or share the link with someone who may be interested! 🧪
lu.varbi.com/en/what:job/...
Thank you all! Also big thanks to @russellgarwood.co.uk and experienced HFSP-ers @mikebok.bsky.social, Dan Speiser, and Carsten Lüter for their advice on the proposal 💛