Patrick Steinmetz

Ctenophore research points to earlier origins of brain-like structures New 3D reconstructions of a key sensory organ in ctenophores reveal an unexpected structural and functional complexity. The findings suggest that an elementary brain may have already appeared in our m...

New article from the @pawelburkhardt.bsky.social group highlighted on the cover of Science Advances 🤩👏 The work, led by @annaferraioli.bsky.social, describes in unprecedented details the structure of the comb jelly's aboral organ (AO) 🧵 1/4

Final version @nature.com of our paper describing unconventional multicellular development in a choanoflagellate inhabiting an extreme environment. A ton of new data since the first @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social preprint (which we've kept updating).

A brief 🧵 (carried over from the old place)

Clonal-aggregative multicellularity tuned by salinity in a choanoflagellate - Nature The choanoflagellate Choanoeca flexa forms motile and contractile cell monolayers purely clonally, purely aggregatively or through a combination of both processes depending on environmental condi...

Salinity tunes mode of multicellularity in a tidepool choanoflagellate www.nature.com/articles/s41... - paper in @nature.com

To subscribe, send a message to +27 73 805 6068 on WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram, or email read@thecontinent.org.

Genomic clues to the origin of eukaryotic cells How did eukaryotic cells with complex architecture evolve from simpler prokaryotic cells? DNA analyses offer possible answers.

Genomic clues to the origin of eukaryotic cells www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Exciting symposium in June in Bergen with the Michael Sars Centre and CBU. Join us!
@msarscentre.bsky.social @cbubergen.bsky.social

A poster in tones of blue with white text and pops of pink that reads: Michael Sars Symposium 2026 Living systems in a variable ocean In collaboration with the Computational Biology Unit, UiB June 4, 2026, Media City Bergen SPEAKERS Anne-Claude Gavin, Université de Genève Christian Jørgensen, Dept. of Biological Sciences, UiB Matthew Rockman, New York University Isabella Graf, EMBL Heidelberg Tom Michoel, Computational Biology Unit, UiB Anthony Mathelier, NCMBM, University of Oslo Susanna Röblitz, Computational Biology Unit, UiB Boris Lenhard, Imperial College London Jonas Brandenburg, Michael Sars Centre, UiB ORGANIZERS Lionel Christian, Michael Sars Centre, UiB Nathalie Reuter, Computational Biology Unit, UiB Below the text are the logos for the Michael Sars Centre, CBU, University of Bergen, EMBL with the mention 'Partners of', and the hashtag MSS2026

We are thrilled to announce that registration is now open for the Michael Sars Symposium 2026, co-organized with @cbubergen.bsky.social 🙌 Join us on June 4 in Bergen for a day of fantastic talks, with a focus on living systems in a variable ocean 🌊
🔗 tinyurl.com/joinMSS2026

Norway’s oil fund yielded NOK 2362 billions in 2025, enough to DOUBLE the current budget of Norwegian Research Council for the next 214 years. 🤷‍♂️
www.nbim.no/no/nyheter-o...

Investigate regeneration and repair using whole animals or organ/tissue systems at EMBO Workshop "The molecular and cellular basis of #regeneration and #TissueRepair" in #Krems, AT, 21–25 Sep 2026.

Deadline: 20 May

https://meetings.embo.org/event/26-tissue-repair
#EMBORegeneration #EMBOevents 🧪

Can #Deichkind claim patent rights? #LeiderGeil

In remembrance of Peer Bork  | EMBL EMBL and its community are deeply saddened by the death of Peer Bork, the organisation’s Interim Director General.

very sad news. Peer Bork was one of the leaders of our field, a wonderful scientist, and he's much too young to be gone. www.embl.org/news/embl-an...

Decoding cnidarian cell type gene regulation - Nature Ecology & Evolution This study reconstructs the gene regulatory networks that define cell types in the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis, providing a valuable resource for comparative regulatory genomics and the evoluti...

Excited to share the final version of our study on Nematostella cell type regulatory programs. Part of our @erc.europa.eu StG project, this was a challenging 5-year effort extraodinarily led by @aelek.bsky.social and @martaig.bsky.social.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I'm excited to share this pre-print of my PhD research. Publication hopefully coming soon!

Prolonged starvation deepens quiescence in Vasa2/Piwi1-expressing cells of a sea anemone Animals with lifelong growth modulate cell proliferation in response to nutrient availability, but the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. This study shows that starvation induces a revers...

💡How does nutrition regulate cell cycle in stem cells? Check out our new paper from @prhsteinmetz.bsky.social lab & @msarscentre.bsky.social, out now in
@plosbiology.org (plos.io/48J2o6P)
#SeaAnemone #Nematostella #StemCell #CellCycle #Quiescence #TORsignalling 1/12

New preprint from our lab: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... @olegtolstenkov.bsky.social, Sissel and Rodolfo in collaboration with @appygenetics.bsky.social @msarscentre.bsky.social built a behavioral atlas of the planktonic tunicate Oikopleura dioica across its life cycle.

X chromosome dosage in respiratory stem cells is critical for post-embryonic development and survival Tournière et al. uncover the biological roles of sex chromosome dosage compensation, showing it is broadly dispensable except in the respiratory system during metamorphosis, where X chromosome dose de...

Have you ever wondered what difference it makes to have 1 or 2 X chromosomes in your cells?

✨ I’m excited to share that our paper is now out!

Looking for some X-mas content featuring an actual X? 🎄 Here’s the paper: 👉 www.cell.com/current-biol...

View from Møsnuken mountain onto Bjørnafjorden. Low sun mirroring over fjord in background with rocky mountain scenery in front. Small lakes on lower altitude in front.

Happy winter solstice from #SunnyBergen!

We are thrilled to invite you to the Michael Sars Symposium 2026 - Living systems in a variable ocean, together with our co-organizers at @cbubergen.bsky.social! Mark June 4, 2026 in your calendars, and watch out for our speaker lineup reveal in the new year 🙌

Figure 1 (A) Adult polyp. (B) A spawning adult polyp. (C) Detailed view of an egg mass.

Optimized husbandry and targeted gene-editing for the cnidarian Nematostella vectensis

Read this Techniques & Resources Article by @joao-e-carvalho.bsky.social, @rottingerlab.bsky.social and colleagues:
journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...

The evolution of embodied postural dynamics underlies behavioral diversity in benthic sessile chordate Benthic animals live on or in the seafloor, a habitat known as the benthic zone. These bottom-dwelling organisms account for the largest fraction of animal diversity in our seas, playing vital roles i...

@olegtolstenkov.bsky.social and Sissel Norland @msarscentre.bsky.social show that Ciona adults have rich embodied postural dynamics and are able to perceive different sensory stimuli and respond with distinct behavioral outputs. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... (from last September)

Excited to share our story nutrition and cell quiescence in sea anemones, great postdoctoral work of
@eudaldpascual.bsky.social

Finally out in @plosbiology.org

And thanks to @msarscentre.bsky.social for the nice news piece:
www.uib.no/en/michaelsa...

Proud to see the PhD work of @inesfournon.bsky.social out as preprint!
🌸 Cell extrusion DOES exist outside of bilaterians AND is sensitive to feeding status in sea anemones.

Starved sea anemones put their cells in ‘deep sleep’ mode New work from the Steinmetz group at the Michael Sars Centre unveils the secrets behind the starlet sea anemone's extraordinary ability to adjust its body size according to food availability.

Congratulations to @eudaldpascual.bsky.social and @ktgarschall.bsky.social from the @prhsteinmetz.bsky.social lab on a new paper out in @plosbiology.org 🤩👏 The work, supported by @embo.org, looked at cell behavior during starvation in the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis 🧵🧪

Top: The phylogenetic position of Nematostella and localization of Vasa2 +/Piwi1+ cells within the juvenile polyp body plan. (A) Simplified phylogenetic tree highlighting the phylogenetic position of the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis and other animal taxa relevant for this study. All animal silhouettes are licensed under CC0,1.0 Universal Public domain and taken from https://www.phylopic.org. (B–D) Schematics showing the localization of Vasa2+/Piwi1+ cells in a juvenile polyp, depicted in longitudinal (B) or cross-section (C, D). (E) Schematic representation of the multipotent, Vasa2+/Piwi1+ stem/progenitor cell population and a simplified summary of their germinal and somatic progeny. (F) Schematics of cell cycle phases, highlighting the incorporation of EdU during S-phase (black line) and the phosphorylation of Histone H3 (pH3+) during metaphase. Bottom: Confocal image of two Vasa+/Piwi+ stem-like cells in the inner epithelial folds of the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis. Immunolabelling of mOrange2-Piwi1 fusion protein (yellow) in a transgenic knock-in line combined with nuclear stain (white). Image credit: Paula Miramón-Puértolas.

How do animals with lifelong growth modulate cell #proliferation? @eudaldpascual.bsky.social @ktgarschall.bsky.social @prhsteinmetz.bsky.social show that starvation induces G1/G0 #CellCycle arrest in Vasa2+/Piwi1+ #SeaAnemone cells; cycle re-entry is TOR-dependent @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/48J2o6P

Top: The phylogenetic position of Nematostella and localization of Vasa2 +/Piwi1+ cells within the juvenile polyp body plan. (A) Simplified phylogenetic tree highlighting the phylogenetic position of the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis and other animal taxa relevant for this study. All animal silhouettes are licensed under CC0,1.0 Universal Public domain and taken from https://www.phylopic.org. (B–D) Schematics showing the localization of Vasa2+/Piwi1+ cells in a juvenile polyp, depicted in longitudinal (B) or cross-section (C, D). (E) Schematic representation of the multipotent, Vasa2+/Piwi1+ stem/progenitor cell population and a simplified summary of their germinal and somatic progeny. (F) Schematics of cell cycle phases, highlighting the incorporation of EdU during S-phase (black line) and the phosphorylation of Histone H3 (pH3+) during metaphase. Bottom: Confocal image of two Vasa+/Piwi+ stem-like cells in the inner epithelial folds of the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis. Immunolabelling of mOrange2-Piwi1 fusion protein (yellow) in a transgenic knock-in line combined with nuclear stain (white). Image credit: Paula Miramón-Puértolas.

How do animals with lifelong growth modulate cell #proliferation? @eudaldpascual.bsky.social @ktgarschall.bsky.social @prhsteinmetz.bsky.social show that starvation induces G1/G0 #CellCycle arrest in Vasa2+/Piwi1+ #SeaAnemone cells; cycle re-entry is TOR-dependent @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/48J2o6P

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.

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...

Adenine DNA methylation associated with transcriptionally permissive chromatin is widespread across eukaryotes - Nature Genetics Long-read sequencing in 18 unicellular eukaryotes reveals that 6mA is widespread across eukaryotes and is enriched at transcriptionally permissive regions, which are also marked by H3K4me3.

Out today, our take on 6-methyladenine #6mA evolution in Eukaryotes @natgenet.nature.com. We asked a simple question, is really DNA 6mA common across the eukaryotes? The answer is "yes" if you're a unicellular eukaryote 🦠, not so if you're multicellular 🐝🌱🍄. www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/9

Figure 3 - Neuropeptide expression delineates distinct neural circuits in H. vulgaris. Panels D and F - Top and middle: Immunostaining using an antibody against GLWa (green) reveals the RP1 circuit extending from the basal disk to the tentacles. Bottom: GLWa immunostaining in body column rings shows endodermal en1 neurons of the RP2 circuit.

A molecular, spatial and regulatory atlas of the Hydra vulgaris nervous system

Read this #LifelongDevSI #OA Techniques and Resources Article by Hannah Morris Little, Abby S. Primack, Jennifer Tsverov, Celina E. Juliano (@julianolab.bsky.social) and colleagues:

doi.org/10.1242/dev....

Chromatin profiling identifies putative dual roles for H3K27me3 in regulating cell type-specific genes and transposable elements in choanoflagellates Nature Communications - Here, the authors investigate chromatin-based gene regulation in the closest relative of animal, choanoflagellates. They uncover a putative dual role for the histone...

Very happy to see our paper published online natcomms.nature.com. Thank you to @wellcometrust.bsky.social for funding this work during my time with @robklose.bsky.social and David Booth! Thanks also to collaborators @garcialabms.bsky.social @alexdemendoza.bsky.social and the other authors!

If you need to move things fast…