@gelatinoussting
Comparative functional venomics • Jellyfish and sea anemone venom systems • Postdoc @ Stowers • PhD @ KU EEB • Evolution, toxinology, functional genomics • Always #Hype4Hydrozoa • She/her http://annaklompen.com/ 🪼 On the job market! 🪼
Even at a few days old, these sea anemone planulae are already covered in stinging cells! The stingers of these young Nematostella are marked with a fluorescent green.
@stowersinstitute.bsky.social
#StunningStella
🚨 Thrilled to announce that I’ve been awarded a new project by Artsdatabanken, the Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre. Project ODIN will investigate Octocoral Diversity In Norway 🌊🪸, tackling it with a synergetic combination of imaging 🔬📽️ and sequencing 🧬💻 tools. Picture: Erling Svensen.
🧪📍🌊 🦑🍎 We’re excited to announce that we are organizing a second ctenophore meeting — Ctenopalooza Ctwo — to be held at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) in Monterey Bay, California, on August 23–25, 2026.
Registration is now open!
www.mbari.org/event/ctenop...
A photo of a large red comb jelly on a black background.
Calling all #ctenophore researchers and artists!
Joe Ryan is organizing the Ctenopalooza Ctwo meeting, which we will host at MBARI in California August 23-25. 🦑🧪🌊
www.mbari.org/event/ctenop...
Come swap notes with fellow enthusiasts about the latest news in comb jellies.
These experiments took place during my PhD @ku-eeb.bsky.social with @pcart.bsky.social as a visiting student @stowersinstitute.bsky.social @mgstowers.bsky.social. I am thrilled to see this project through during my postdoc, and grateful to my coauthors for all their efforts!
MS/MS available at:
With this nematocyst-enriched proteome, we excitingly have all the major ‘omics datasets to explore the venom system of Hydractinia from genes to proteins.
My goal is to use these resources in a comparative “venomics” approach with functional systems like Nematostella in my future research program!
We also compared our proteome to a well-known Hydra nematocyst proteome and two other jellyfish nematocyte-enriched datasets. We found multiple shared orthologous clusters in all four species AND candidate Hydrozoa-specific clusters, which included known nematocyte structural proteins in Hydra!
We compared our proteome to two scRNAseq datasets with developing and mature nematocyte clusters. We found each gate enriched for different nematocyte-specific proteins (including a putative toxin in the small gate!), but neither seemed to enrich specifically for developing or mature nematocytes.
We compared our proteome to our nematocyst-enriched transcriptome from 2022 and my previous venom annotations, and found both high overlap with our RNAseq assembly and multiple matches to putative toxins. This represents some of the first protein-based validations of venoms in Hydractinia!
Stinging cells have quirks with sorting, so we tried two gating strategies. Turns out, a “stricter” small gate resulted in more unique hits compared to a more “lenient” but inclusive large gate. We address why this may be in the paper.
Overall, from 600,000 sorted cells we detected 8,470 proteins!
During my PhD we used this stinging cell (cells that contain nematocysts) reporter line to generate a nematocyst-enriched transcriptome using FACS. It is not just a useful laboratory tool but also a beautiful animal!
So we thought, can we use this animal to make an enriched stinging cell proteome?
Graphical abstract for Klompen et al 2026.
🪼New #Hype4Hydrozoa paper 🪼
We generated a whole nematocyst-enriched proteome using FAC-sorted cells from our Hydractinia stinging cell reporter line! We identified over 8,000 proteins, including toxins, showcasing Hydractinia as a venom system model.
doi.org/10.1016/j.to...
Nice Pandea Rubra. The short nubby tentacles make me giggle. They can extend those for hungry hippo mode. @schmidtocean.bsky.social dive 454 #designingthefuture2 #MarineLife
FYI, this grant program is open to anyone communicating science.
It does not require that you went to school for science.
You could be a Ph.D. student, an artist, a community organizer, a teacher, or any other profession. As long as you are communicating science IRL in the US, you're eligible.
Warm weather is reminding me that freshwater jellyfish (Craspedacusta sowerbii) bloom season may be starting soon in the Midwest….
#ToxinTuesday #Hype4Hydrozoa
#MidwestJellyfish
Could it be this one? Halitrephes maasi? The tentacles look similar, but I'm still not sure about that bell. Left image is a photo off google, the right a zoom on the one from the video above
“Like a firefly in the middle of a field
filled with noise,
its shining, latent light within,
a tiny bell, small and soundless.
I fade away so that you may lose yourself.
I fold myself into my wings.”
Poem by Pedro Serrano, trans. by Don Cellini.
Psychedelic jellyfish, #argentiniandeepseeps, 3804 m
Microalgae underpin some of the ocean’s most iconic symbioses, most notably with reef-building corals. Yet, sailing the high seas is a new symbiosis. Using a series of advanced imaging techniques, we provide the first look at this previously undescribed partnership. Despite convergence of the cnidarian–algal relationship, unique morphological localization indicates an independently evolved, biologically novel endosymbiotic strategy different from all known symbioses. Amazingly, these sailing cnidarians seem analogous to an autonomous greenhouse fueling its reproductive medusoid stages for life in the open ocean.
Science hangout on a Tuesday night?
Come learn about blue button jellies at 7:30 pm EST on March 17th!
Speaker: Colin J Anthony, The University of Tokyo
Zoom link: u-tokyo-ac-jp.zoom.us/j/8103036128...
Meeting ID: 810 3036 1288
Passcode: 527641
Summer courses at Friday Harbor Labs have launched many scientific careers. Including mine. I was more reluctant to leave at the end of the course than other students.
I promise you will have fun and learn more than you can imagine.
fhl.uw.edu/courses/cour...
🧪
#Hype4Hydrozoa!
Flyer for event
Cover of scientific journal "current biology" showing a man-o-war
Need a break from EVERYTHING??
Come join our free public talk this evening, where NYU professor Dr. Samuel Church will tell us all about his hunt for new blue bottle (man-o-war) species 🪼🧪🌊🦑
7:30 PM (EST)
Zoom link: u-tokyo-ac-jp.zoom.us/j/8337406906...
Meeting ID: 833 7406 9068
Passcode: 430292
A view of Friday Harbor Labs dock in the early morning with blowing sea fog in the background.
Want to do a postdoc at Friday Harbor Labs? We have two positions open. Apply by March 1st. I am happy to discuss potential projects with fish people.
apply.interfolio.com/180092
🧪
We're live NOW! Come learn about sailing jellyfish!
Siphonophore flyby. They are doing transects now to get a quantitative analysis & said they'll stop to zoom on animals later. @schmidtocean.bsky.social dive 895 #livingbioreactors #MarineLife
#Hype4Hydrozoa!
SICB Division of Invertebrate Zoology logo
Time to celebrate! The @sicb-diz.bsky.social auction at the #SICB2026 meeting raised $4790 for student and postdoctoral support!!!! This will be the basis for the John and Vickey Pearse Fund being established by DIZ! Thanks to @kmkocot.bsky.social for being our exuberant auctioneer and all donors!!!
Also, Sam's looking for a postdoc! She's skilled in animal and microbe physiology, analytical chemistry, bacterial genetics, and bioinformatics. She’d like to keep studying symbioses but is flexible. If you have (or know of) postdoc opportunities, please find her and talk to her! #SICB2026
3 framed drawings: A for Arthropoda, B for Bryozoa, C for Cnidaria. Each drawing has two life stages from the phylum.
Headed to #sicb2026? Come to @sicb-diz.bsky.social's Libbie Hyman auction to support student research and bid on these A-B-C phyla!
Some of the largest moon jellies I raised from several years back.
🪼🧪🪼
a promo image showing various pages from the book, each page showcasing different animals like an opabinia, a leaf insect, close up of a starfish, and so on. the art featured shows a range of different medium, including digital, pixel art, ceramic, fursuit, post it, and so on.
We present: The Art of #InverteFest - December 2025 Edition
A digital art book showcasing the work of 100 artists from around the world, in celebration of overlooked invertebrate fauna.
Thank you to the artists who contributed to our book!
Download: drive.google.com/file/d/1JCXz...
#Art #SciArt
