Pawel Burkhardt

Asst. Prof. Anette Högström presents in front of a seated audience. On the screen, a slide reads "Ancient life - secrets in the rocks"

Fascinating talk this morning by Anette Högström from the Arctic University Museum of Norway 👏 We discovered the secrets held by geological formations in Finnmark, home to the only Ediacaran fossil record in Scandinavia ⛰️ Thank you for a great presentation!

laser scan showing a Fractofusus

Laser scanning Johnson surface

This #FossilFriday we have a fantastic post as part of our 5 year project on Understanding selection in the early animals of the #Ediacaran. This research technician post will process our #Ediacaran laser scan data - DM/email: ek338@cam.ac.uk, deadline 12th April 2026

www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...

A glass sponge fossil, resembling a gray rock covered in a distorted quadrilateral mesh. Label: "Hydnoceras tuberosum Upper Devonian Avoca, New York"

Is it #FossilFriday yet again? Fine. Meet the glass sponges. With a fossil record going back to the Ediacaran, bizarre multinucleate cells strung across a latticework of razor-sharp siliceous spicules, and the current record for longevity among the metazoa, hexactinellids be WEIRD. 🧪⚒️🧵

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

Thanks, Jake!

Thanks a lot!

Finally out in @natmicrobiol.nature.com: Prediction of eukaryotic cellular complexity in Asgard archaea using structural modelling. Great work by @stephkoe.bsky.social @kassipan.bsky.social @jvhooff.bsky.social

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

Thank you, Kakani.

Thank you!

Thank you, Maria.

Even more excited — our paper is featured on the cover of Science Advances!

Huge thanks to @alexandrejan.bsky.social who took this incredible photo of a ctenophore (aka comb jelly) and the editors.

Here’s the cover 👇

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Thrilled to share that our preprint has been accepted in Science Advances! Grateful to an incredible team & collaborators.

Link: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

👏 @annaferraioli.bsky.social @maikekittelmann.bsky.social
@msarscentre.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu @hfspo.bsky.social #ctenophores

You are finishing your PhD and looking to continue in science?

The Martin lab @biology-unige.bsky.social has an open postdoctoral position in cell biology to study cell-cell fusion. For more information, please consult mocel.unige.ch/research-gro....

Thanks for reposting!

Preprint Editors – Development's next step into the preprint landscape Summary: This Editorial announces a call for Preprint Editors in Development to help expand the journal's relationship with preprints by curating our ‘In preprints’ articles.

New from @dev-journal.bsky.social: we're launching a new initiative and hiring Preprint Editors to help navigate the growing world of preprints in developmental & stem cell biology

Join our community & shape the future of research

journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...

Efficient genome editing using CRISPR–Cas9 in reef-building corals - Nature Protocols In this protocol, the authors present straightforward and efficient methods to genetically modify corals and study gene function throughout various life-history stages using CRISPR–Cas9-based mutagene...

To increase the use of gene editing in corals, we have made a comprehensive methods paper describing the protocol. We hope this helps the field of functional genetics in corals. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Call for Applications - Max Planck Postdoc Program, apply now!

The Max Planck #PostdocProgram offers top emerging talents a range of attractive measures and opportunities. The current call for applications is open from March 1st until April 13th, 2026. Please share or consider applying! 🙏
www.mpg.de/en/max-planc... #careerinscience #sciencecareer

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 Deirdre Lyons, Scripps Institution of Oceanography 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

Fantastic news 🙌 Deidre Lyons from @scrippsocean.bsky.social joins the Michael Sars Symposium speaker lineup! Register to attend her talk and many more on June 4 ➡️ tinyurl.com/joinMSS2026
Together with @cbubergen.bsky.social, we have prepared a program you won't want to miss! #MSS2026

After 5 years of developing, a new preprint from the lab - introducing our workflow for comparative insect connectomics, aimed at democratizing connectomics. @erc.europa.eu @lundvision.bsky.social @biologylu.bsky.social Read it here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

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)

🚨 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.

Excited to see this story out as a preprint ✨

Deadline is this Sunday!

MicroSEA (Microbial Sea Eukaryotes) course is a one-week, field-based summer school to train early-career researchers in the diversity, ecology, and single-cell biology of marine protists. MicroSEA course integrates lectures, field sampling, and lab-based practicals in advanced techniques, such as flow cytometry, microscopy, culturing, and molecular analysis. The main objectives of MicroSEA course are: Fostering a deep understanding of marine protist diversity, ecology and biology; Providing hands-on training in advanced single-cell methods that are not commonly available in university programs; Building participants' confidence in designing and conducting research projects from field to data analysis; Promoting international collaborations and peer networking among students and speakers/trainers. The course will take place at the Station Biologique de Roscoff - SBR (France) - 7th to 12th of June, 2026 (arrival on the 6th, departure on the 13th). 20 participants will be selected, including 10 from EuroMarine member institutes. https://opbc.sciencesconf.org/

Protist lovers: Please apply for a week of rhapsody! Learn by doing:

MicroSEA (Microbial Sea Eukaryotes) course is a one-week, field-based summer school to train early-career researchers in the diversity, ecology, and single-cell biology of marine protists. opbc.sciencesconf.org

#protistsonsky

Why You Can’t Remember Being a Toddler This form of amnesia is almost universal, but has long been overlooked.

Why can't you remember being a toddler? Or can you?

Nice feature in Time of our lab's work on infantile amnesia at @tcddublin.bsky.social

Also of the labs of @sarahdpower.bsky.social at MPI Berlin, @franklandlab.bsky.social at Sick Kids, and Nick Turk-Browne at Yale.

time.com/7380496/why-...

@embl.org at its best: collaborative, open, transformative, and just the right amount of crazy. Dreaming of mechanistic cell biology *in the natural environment*? Dream no more, rent the AML.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jepb...

#WeFreezeOnTheBeach #ProtistsOnSky 🦠🌍🧪

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.

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?

Tom Cavalier-Smith in Cornwall UK 23 August 2017, photo by Neal C-S

I am happy to share the unfinished but nevertheless fascinating autobiography of the late Thomas Cavalier-Smith, written in 2020, shortly before Tom passed away in 2021. I thank Ema Cavalier-Smith for sharing the text with me. I recently finished curating […]

[Original post on biologists.social]

Ctenopalooza Ctwo • MBARI Ctenopalooza Ctwo – a meeting of those interested in ctenophores About the meeting The past decade has seen remarkable advances in our understanding of these fascinating animals—spanning genomics, cel...

🧪📍🌊 🦑🍎 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...

Postdoc Opening! 🚨
Thrilled to (belatedly!) share that I’ve received @hfspo.bsky.social grant in collaboration with @KatherinaPetrou "Plant-like solar tracking in a photosymbiotic animal."
We are hiring a Postdoc to join the team
@bristolbiosci.bsky.social!
Apply👇
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQO766/r...