I am giving a "Crash Course in Embryo Development" for the general public (no science background needed! pitched around GCSE-level) in London on 21st May www.crick.ac.uk/whats-on/cri... We'll dip into development, with a splash of embryo models, and a pinch of ethics. And it's free! Book online 👍
🔬 New paper in Developmental Biology 🐟
Our researchers have now tested a largely ignored hypothesis—that the geometry of an embryo drives its development. Read more in the 🧵below.
📷 Zebrafish in ISTA’s Aquatic Facility.
Spring PhD recruitment round @crick.ac.uk is now open and we have a project on offer: www.crick.ac.uk/careers-stud.... If you have a background in maths or physics and are curious about patterning and growth in biology this could be the project for you! Please help us spread the word 💥
In a collaboration between the Crick and @embl.org, researchers used a mix of experimental work in zebrafish and theoretical modelling to discover a feedback loop between an embryo’s changing material properties, such as its rigidity, and the signalling molecules that guide patterning.
Naomi Moris
Excited to announce Physics of Living Matter 19! To be held in Cambridge 24-25th September 2026:
www.plm-symposium.org
How rigid a tissue is coordinates a crucial period of cell patterning, ensuring that embryos develop the right shape and organise their cell layers correctly at the same time.
Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA)
New Pre-Print Alert!
Evolving initial conditions: an alternative developmental route to morphological diversity
with Shannon Taylor and @jamesehammond.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Zena Hadjivasiliou
The Francis Crick Institute
Bring your family, friends and pupils to join us for a fun day of science! @compscitsui.bsky.social @alomshaha.bsky.social
Advanced grad students + postdocs: apply for the 2026 #kitpqbio summer course, "Physical Principles of Morphogenesis in Plants and Animals," at buff.ly/OXXMKEv. Apply by Feb. 1.
Course directors Adrienne Roeder (Cornell) and Sebastian Streichan (UCSB)
Ben Steventon
Berta Verd
How can cells use information from neighboring cells to improve the spatial precision of morphogen patterns? 🤔
We show that cells can gain positional information by "talking" to their neighbors - how much depends critically on spatial correlations of the patterns.
buff.ly/w56OUJT
