Research laboratory presentation

The Marín-Juez laboratory, at the CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center, is recruiting PhD students and postdoctoral fellows (up to 5 years fully funded position).  Our laboratory is interested in the cellular and molecular mechanisms regulating cardiac regeneration and development.  

The successful applicant will join the Marín-Juez laboratory at the CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center, where they will have access to state-of-the-art facilities and technology platforms including Advanced imaging platform (light-sheet, spinning-disc confocal, multiphoton, STED super-resolution, etc.), genomics (DropSeq, 10x, Illumina Novaseq, Visium), IPSC Cell Reprograming and bioinformatics platforms.  The CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center provides a thriving scientific environment where the successful applicant will have the opportunity to work with multidisciplinary scientific teams and to collaborate with talented clinicians and researchers. 

Research project description

We have previously uncovered mechanisms governing coronary network replenishment, including the formation of a vascular scaffold that supports cardiomyocyte regeneration and mediates coronary-epicardial interactions and immune responses (Marín-Juez et al., PNAS 2016; Marín-Juez et al., Dev Cell 2019; El-Sammak et al., Circ Res 2022; Wang et al., Development 2024; Gupta et al. Dev Bio 2025; Rouf et al. Development 2026). Our recent work identifies the epicardium as a master regulator of cardiac fibrosis resolution and tissue replenishment (Kayman-Kürekçi et al. NCVR2026).

Building on these findings, we now aim to elucidate how the cardiac endothelium, epicardium, and immune system components cooperate to regulate tissue replenishment, as well as the specific mechanisms underlying their roles in cardiomyocyte regeneration and development.

PhD student position 

Applicants should have training in molecular biology, cell biology, or related fields.  Candidates should be enthusiastic about regenerative and developmental biology. Previous research experience with zebrafish and/or heart regeneration is highly valued but not essential. Candidates with experience in confocal/light-sheet imaging and/or genome engineering are strongly encouraged to apply.

Postdoc position 

We are looking for candidates with a Ph.D. in the biological sciences and laboratory experience in tissue repair/regeneration, cellular, molecular biology, or genetics.  Previous experience working with zebrafish, imaging and histology are highly valued but not essential. Candidates with experience in confocal/light-sheet imaging and/or genome engineering are strongly encouraged to apply.  Preference will be given to applicants with excellent collaborative and communication skills.  

How to apply

Candidates must send the required documentsto Rubén Marín Juez at ruben.marin.juez.hsj@ssss.gouv.qc.ca

Please provide:

• Curriculum vitæ
• Cover letter 
• References (2 or 3)

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Normally, at The Company of Biologists (Development’s publisher), we follow a hybrid working model, which means that we work from home for half of the week (which is usually 2-3 days a week for me) and the rest in the office. If you haven’t seen a photo of our office building yet, it is a rather beautiful building, combining the charm of a cottage-style exterior (complete with hipped roofs and classic sash windows) with a bright, modern and open-style office inside.

At Development, Ingrid Tsang and I are the Reviews Editors and we mainly handle the journal’s front-section content (so, that includes Reviews, Spotlights, Perspectives, Hypotheses, Primers, interviews – yeah, we have an extensive list!) and we work closely with Alex Eve, Executive Editor of Development.

I normally start my workday between 9:30-10 am, and my first task is always to reply to emails while sipping my morning coffee (a strong flat white if I am home and a long cappuccino when in the office).

After the first half an hour to attending to emails regarding submissions, chasing authors for their submissions, or finishing off a pending task from the previous day (which often involves taking a final read through a decision letter), I move on to the main tasks of the day.

If I am working on a chunky edit – meaning a developmental edit of a Review article – I would usually block off an entire day for it (at least 7–8 hours). This typically happens once a Review-type article (which we commission in-house and invite authors to submit) has gone through peer review. At that stage, we, the in-house Reviews Editors, read through the full manuscript in detail, commenting on scientific accuracy, language and structure, conciseness and accessibility, journal style, article length and references – all while helping authors address the Reviewers’ comments more effectively. I also go through the figures and legends (we take our display items very seriously, as a single figure often speaks a thousand words), commenting on visual appeal, labelling and other finer details. Developmentally editing an article is usually the most rigorous part of the job, at least in my opinion, as it ensures that the final piece is not only of high quality but also forward-looking and engaging for our wide readership. At Development, we pride ourselves on being extremely hands-on when guiding authors and helping them address both our feedback and the Reviewers’ comments, in order to publish the best possible version of their review.

Another crucial part of our job is commissioning. We have our in-house commissioning meetings every two weeks. So, if you catch me the afternoon before, I am usually frantically reading articles on a certain topic of interest, trying to prepare somewhat cohesive pitches to discuss with the rest of the team. We mainly invite authors to write peer-reviewed, review-type content for us. To identify emerging topics in the field, we attend important conferences, chat with researchers across a wide range of developmental biology disciplines, keep an eye on their websites, analyse research trends across primary research articles and participate in extensive 1-1.5-hour long commissioning meetings.

Once we have agreed on a topic and a suitable author, we invite them to write for us. If they accept our invitation, the author will then often involve their students and collaborators as co-authors, and at that point we discuss the potential scope and type of the article. Of course, we also have a thorough in-house pipeline that monitors the status of all articles from invitation through to acceptance.

When we’re in the office, Alex, Ingrid, Andrea (Community Manager of the Node) and I often chat about various aspects of the job throughout the day – both formally and informally – because our work requires teamwork and collaboration. So, Ingrid and I will often discuss scheduling to make sure our publication pipeline stays tight (i.e. that every Issue publishes a few front-section content). If we have just returned from a conference, we chat with Alex and Andrea about emerging research trends and potential blogs/ posts for the community site. We also bounce around ideas for commissioning topics and share feedback on each other’s pitches, amidst a healthy dose of random life chats.

For me, the day usually ends with a quick catch-up on plans for the next day. This is also when I respond to any remaining email replies from the morning. I usually like to do a final run-through of my to-do list, ticking things off and marking any pending tasks (if there are any). And with that, I sign off for the day!

PS: Ingrid has also written a piece on a day in the life of a Reviews Editor – so do give that a read as well!

The post What does a Reviews Editor do? appeared first on the Node.

Of course, it’s not just me. Saanjbati – my partner in crime on the Reviews Editors team – has also been fielding these questions since she started this job as well. So, given the appetite from ECRs in hearing about our jobs, we’re lifting the lid on the elusive title of ‘Reviews Editor’ to show you what really goes on behind the scenes to deliver Development’s review articles and other front section content. To kick things off, Saanjbati has an article on “What does a Reviews Editor do?” and I am providing a run-down here of one sunny (!) day in April 2026, randomly chosen by my prettiest d20 die for your perusal.

It’s probably worth noting here that, as with most jobs, each day in the journal’s office is very different to the next. So do let me know if you would like to see another day in my life. But for now, hope you enjoy reading about this one!

Whilst I am writing about my experiences as a Reviews Editor at Development, all views here are my own and do not represent the journal.

——

Cambridge, England – 2026
One of April’s many Mondays.

10:00 – Get to work, catch up with the office, grab a coffee. Our core office hours are 10am till 2pm so, as a night owl, I take full advantage of this and start at 10.

10:05 – Check emails that have come in through the weekend, as well as the various reports and notification we automatically receive from our online submissions system. An author who I am really excited about has agreed to write a review for us – whoop! I respond immediately and get stuck into clearing my inbox, which seems to be perennially full no matter how much I try to empty it.

10:30 – Soreen* break! Have a quick chat with the lovely preLights Community Manager, Reinier, about possible exciting preprints to highlight between bites of sticky sugary goodness. I promise to also upload the preprints list I collated at BSDB a few weeks ago. But for now, back to emails.

11:30 – Just received a message from Saanjbati about moving an article around between scheduled issues, so we have a quick chat about this. Then back to working through my inbox.

12:30 – Done with emails! Whew. A few commissioning emails have been sent out, feedback on synopsis given, reviewers chased, submission deadlines updated. Deep dives into synthetic biology and photoreceptors surfaced from. Just a little bit more admin to go…

12:45 – … and we’re done! Time for lunch outside in some suprisingly good weather.

13:15 – After a little bit of sun (and a touch of wind), it’s back to the desk for me. This afternoon, I have a slightly overdue meeting report to send round. It’s been delayed because I lost all the notes I’d been taking on it when my computer decided to restart itself whilst I was at the conference dinner and disco. Obviously a massive shame, but it also pushes me to ruminate harder over my notes in an attempt to rescue them, which might lead me to find other ideas…? Or at least that’s what I tell myself.

13:30 – I’ve realised I need to book my hotel for a trip later this year, which I’ve already forgotten to do four times. I get this out of the way first before I forget a fifth. Makes me excited for EuroEvoDevo in Glasgow!

14:30 – Somehow got sidetracked into looking up biorxiv references made during BSDB, which prompted another deep dive into recent preprints published under ‘Developmental Biology’. Spend a few minutes in awe of how quickly research is moving in certain directions and the seemingly masses of interest in biophysical/quantitative biology. Send some ramblings to Reinier and feel mildly envious of his job.

14:40 – Back to work on my core responsibilities! I’m only halfway through thinking about the meeting report and doing follow-ups on it. But it’s already time to look through the list of articles that were accepted in the past week and think about which should be highlighted.

14:58 – Done, just in time for the research highlight (RH) meeting! This is our weekly meeting where we discuss all the back section (i.e. primary research) articles and decide which to highlight. There are so many interesting papers this week, it’ll be quite hard to choose and I’m excited for the discussion.

15:35 – RHs have been picked, and I’m back at my desk to do a final read-through of the paper I’ve been assigned, just to make sure it’s as interesting as it seemed from my initial read-through.

15:40 – An email from our production team has just come through about a review article I’ve handled. Spend 10 minutes on this. Then another message comes through regarding some travel admin. Another 10 minutes gone.

16:00 – Back to reading this week’s RH paper. I personally really like it and am even more excited to write the highlight, although some of it is feeling quite anatomically complicated and will be difficult to describe in just 200 words without an illustration… Ohh well, that’s a problem for the future.

16:15 – OK, the various miscellaneous items that came in are done. Time to really lock-in on the meeting report, which needs to be sent today. It’s a nice creative exercise to reflect on all the science discussed at the meeting, but quite stressful to go through the whole programme and all my notes and synthesise something coherent for the rest of the team when under a time pressure.

16:50 – My brain is fried, my fingers feel like they’re about to fall off and my spirits are in dire need of chocolate. But the meeting report has finally been sent off! Time to wrap up a few things. As always, some important emails trickle through right as I’m about to leave. I resolve to address them on my way home.

17:00 – I leave early on Mondays so rush out for my bus. Bye!

*(other brands of malt loaves exist etc. etc.)

——

Did you know that anyone can publish on the Node? If you’ve been inspired to write a piece for the developmental biology community, feel free to register an account and then make your own blog post here: https://thenode.biologists.com/wp-admin/post-new.php

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The post Self assessing your progress as a developing scientist appeared first on the Node.

• A tailored mentorship session with one of our Editors (which could, for example, involve a mock job interview, or help the fellow refine their research proposal).
• An in-person meeting in Cambridge including professional leadership training.
• Preparation and feedback on preparing a research vision talk.
• Profile raising in the form of published interviews and perspective-type articles, as well as scientific webinars.
• A growing and supportive peer network with networking opportunities.

Since launching in 2022, the PI programme has supported 24 fellows and you can find out more about them and their research on our website. In addition, all fellows appointed as part of the first cohort in 2023, as well as some from our 2024 cohort, have secured group leader positions. You can learn more about the programme’s success in this Perspective article published in the journal.

This is a competitive scheme. To be eligible, applicants must have a developmental biology, stem cells or regeneration research programme, looking to apply for their first group leader position within the next year or so, and have a publication or preprint from their postdoctoral position to support their job search. We aim to support applicants that have the most to gain to the programme and welcome applicants based anywhere in the world, particularly encouraging applications from outside Europe and North America.

Applications for the PI programme close on Monday 2 February 2026. We aim to inform successful candidates in March 2026. To find applying, and find out more about eligibility and selection, please visit the Pathway to Independence programme page on our grants website. If you have any queries about this initiative, please contact us: devpip@biologists.com.

Development is published by a not-for-profit publishing organisation, The Company of Biologists, whose mission is to support the biological community. We already offer several grants to the research community, including meeting grants to help offset the cost of running conferences and Travelling Fellowships to support early-career researchers visit other laboratories. The PI programme contributes to these charitable activities. Find out more about why the PI programme was launched in this Editorial announcing the initative.

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The academic path looks simple on paper: PhD, to postdoc, to PI. In practice, most doctoral students never become principal investigators, and many who do spend more time chasing funding cycles than pursuing the questions that first drew them to science. Yet, in this high-pressure system, the bottleneck begins far earlier – during the PhD itself.

Doctoral training should be about developing the ability to ask new questions, test risky ideas, and learn through failure. Instead, many students are trained mainly as “hands”. They join ongoing projects, collect and analyze data, write papers, and keep the lab productive. That technical training is valuable, but it does not cultivate the creative independence required of a scientist.

This is a structural trap. A PhD student may be talented, motivated, and full of ideas, but the funding architecture rarely treats them as independent scientists. Instead, they are seen as extensions of their PI: useful hands within someone else’s grant, not originators of their own research. Their ability to explore depends entirely on whether a PI has the time, money, and open-mindedness to support side projects. Exploration in science rarely follows a straight line: when you begin working within a PI’s broader framework, small and unexpected findings often emerge. These fragments, seemingly minor at first, can combine later to sharpen or even overturn an initial hypothesis. But following up on them usually demands extra experiments, financial investment, and time – luxuries a student cannot access independently. Awarding small research grants directly to students could support such exploratory work, giving them the chance to refine an idea, craft a proposal, and navigate submission guidelines. This process itself is vital training in independence – not only in how to build a project, but also in how to cope with the inevitability of rejection and try again.

Funding systems reinforce the trap. In the US, there are prestigious opportunities such as the NIH F31 predoctoral fellowship or the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program; funding programs that allow students to pursue independently led scientific projects. These awards are fiercely competitive, but applying is itself a form of training: students must learn the system, engage with program officers, and craft proposals that stand a chance of success. Even without funding, the experience prepares them for future large-scale NIH or NSF applications. By contrast, in Europe such funding opportunities for student-led projects are scarce. Large initiatives like Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions fund doctoral networks, but the money is formally awarded to the PI, not the student. Seed grants for doctoral candidates are rare, and existing options, such as EMBO or Company of Biologists travel grants, support mobility and training, but not the independent pursuit of a research project.

The result is a predictable cycle: new cohorts of doctoral students become experts in executing tools, presenting data, and meeting deadlines, but not necessarily in generating ideas that push science forward.

Lab culture compounds this problem. When the lab leader values only hierarchy, the PI’s ideas reign supreme. When junior researchers don’t feel safe or encouraged to voice critique, propose hypotheses, or share their own ideas – creativity is stifled. But in labs where every opinion is listened to, where mistakes are not punished but discussed, where funding applications from students are encouraged regardless of seniority – that is where scientific innovation grows.

This is not a problem of talent. PhD students are often able to push the frontiers of science, but only if given the resources and freedom to pursue new ideas. If doctoral training is to form scientists rather than technicians, then structures should be in place to make this possible: funding lines that support student-led discovery, PIs who act as co-mentors rather than gatekeepers, and programs that reward exploration as much as publication.

The paradox is clear. Doctoral programs attract creative minds, but the system too often suppresses the very qualities it claims to seek. And the consequence is equally clear: creative people leave academia for start-ups, biotech, and other environments where risky ideas are supported and failure is treated as progress. If this trend continues, academia risks not only losing its brightest people but also its role as the primary driver of scientific discovery.

The post The paradox of doctoral training appeared first on the Node.

We are all stepping into a story where evolution, development, and regeneration converge in the eye of a snail.

Throughout their lives, organisms encounter injuries and stresses that threaten the integrity of their bodies and have evolved remarkable ways to restore lost or damaged tissues. This ability to replace body parts, which can range from reorganizing existing structures to generating entirely new ones—is known as regeneration.

Among many forms of regeneration, the ability to rebuild eyes is especially striking. Eyes are among the most intricate organs, requiring precise anatomical organization and highly ordered neural wiring to restore function. Across the animal kingdom, eyes vary widely, reflecting adaptation to different ecological demands. While regeneration of simpler structures, such as planarian pigmented eye cups, and partial regeneration of camera-type eyes in vertebrates has been described, the idea that complete adult camera-type eyes could regenerate has long seemed improbable. These highly specialized organs, capable of high-resolution vision, present unique challenges that extend beyond conventional models.

In a recent groundbreaking Nature Communications study, Alice Accorsi, Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado, and colleagues demonstrate that the apple snail, Pomacea canaliculata can completely regenerate its camera-type eyes. By coupling this discovery with CRISPR–Cas9 genome editing, they establish a new genetically tractable model to probe regeneration of complex sensory organs. Here are behind the scene stories from the corresponding authors – Dr. Alice Accorsi and Dr. Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado.

First we have behind the science stories from Dr Alice Accorsi !

How did you first get introduced to apple snails, and what drew you to them? Tell us about your PhD work.

Throughout my career I have worked with several invertebrate species, such as snails, leeches and planarians. These apple snails are originally from South America, particularly Brazil and Argentina, but have now spread to parts of Asia, Europe, and North America, where they pose a serious threat to local ecosystems. The same traits that make them invasive, such as resilience, rapid growth and prolific reproduction, also make them easy to care for. And it turns out this also makes them excellent laboratory models. My PhD mentor, Dr. Enzo Ottaviani, once purchased some apple snails from a pet shop and had them in his office. It was during one of our meetings that we wondered if we could use them as another invertebrate in my research! During my graduate studies, I was interested in studying their immune system to understand what makes them so resilient and to explore ways to affect their survival without using environmentally harmful compounds. I was also intrigued by the possibility that their immune and nervous systems might communicate with each other, as we see in vertebrates. My research uncovered evidence of this crosstalk, offering a new evolutionary perspective on neuroimmune interactions.

What convinced you to keep working with snails in your research – even during post doc and now in your independent research program as a faculty? What led you to the Sánchez Alvarado lab?

This journey began with a conversation between Dr. Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado (Stowers Institute for Medical research, Kansas City, MO) and me at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA. I was still a graduate student at the time, studying the immune system of apple snails, while Alejandro’s laboratory was focused on regeneration in planarians. Although snails have been known for their regenerative abilities since the 1700s, no one had explored their biology using modern molecular tools. That conversation sparked my interest in applying these approaches to snails to see what we could uncover.
We already have several model systems that excel at regenerating different body parts, such as planarians, hydras, and axolotls. I began to wonder whether these snails could regenerate an organ that the others could not, making them unique and even more relevant to study. That is when I discovered that apple snails possess complex camera-type eyes, the same kind of eyes found in humans. This opened up a unique opportunity to explore regenerative biology in a new way, with potential implications for human health. That is what convinced me to continue working with snails, even as I transitioned into postdoctoral and now independent research.

How was your transition from Italy to US for postdoctoral work?

Moving abroad for my postdoctoral studies was a major life change. I left my family behind and immersed myself in a new culture and scientific environment. I moved from a small lab with limited resources where I was the most senior member to the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, a place with nearly unlimited possibilities and a large, diverse team of scientists, including many senior researchers.
Despite the challenges, I never regretted the move. I learned more than I ever imagined and had the chance to connect with scientists across the country and the world. The Technology Centers at Stowers supported my work and introduced me to techniques I had only read about before. I am deeply grateful for the preparation I received through the Italian educational system, which gave me the foundation to take this leap.

What was it like to take on eye regeneration in snails – a phenomenon that hadn’t really been studied in them before?

Taking on a project about complete eye regeneration in snails was both exciting and challenging. Since this phenomenon had not been studied before and this was a relatively novel model system, we had to start from scratch. We began by characterizing the morphology of apple snail eyes using microscopy and histological techniques to understand their structure and cellular composition. Then, we performed genomic and transcriptomic analyses to identify the genes involved in eye development and regeneration. Finally, we developed techniques to manipulate their genome to test gene function.
This multi-approach research allowed us to build a comprehensive picture of apple snail eye anatomy, gene expression and regeneration, laying the groundwork for deeper investigations into the molecular mechanisms behind this process.

Your genomic analyses revealed genes shared between apple snails, humans, and Drosophila, particularly related to eye development and photoreceptor formation. What does this shared genetic toolkit tell us about the evolution of complex eyes across distant lineages?

Our molecular studies revealed that many genes are involved in forming both snail and human eyes, even though these eyes evolved independently. This suggests that, while there may be many ways to build an eye, the fundamental genetic building blocks are conserved between very different species (humans and snails). These findings have important implications for evolutionary biology. By comparing the development of camera-type eyes in snails, cephalopods, and humans we can shed light on how these complex structures evolved multiple times independently. This helps us identify both conserved mechanisms and evolutionary novelties across species.

Can you describe the moment you first saw a regenerated camera type eye?

Seeing the regenerated eye for the first time was exciting, but in that moment, I was not even close to fully grasp the importance of that one piece of data. It was later on, reading literature and looking through old papers and I started appreciating how this unconventional system could reveal something truly profound about regeneration. That realization was the real turning point that deepened my commitment to this research.

Your experiments showed eye regeneration unfolded in defined stages—wound healing, blastema formation, tissue emergence, and maturation. Did any of these phases surprise you ?

One of the most remarkable aspects of apple snail eye regeneration is how fast, precise, and reproducible it is. After complete eye removal, early signs of regrowth appear in less than two weeks, and a fully reconstructed eye, with all its components, is restored in under a month.
What surprised me most was the efficiency and consistency of this process. The speed at which regeneration unfolds, and the minimal variability between individuals, suggest a tightly regulated mechanism. Just as striking was the discovery that many of the genes active during regeneration are also involved in vertebrate eye development. This points to a shared genetic toolkit and opens exciting possibilities for comparative studies that could inform regenerative medicine.

Your pax6 studies reaffirmed its conserved function, do you think the role of pax 6 is binary ?

In our system, pax6 appears to play a binary role. When pax6 is knocked out, eye development is completely abolished. We did not observe any eye-related structures or any intermediate phenotypes, which underscores how essential this gene is. It is astonishing to see such a conserved function across species.

Do you plan to test the behavioral capabilities of regenerated eyes?

Absolutely. One of our main goals moving forward is to study the behavior and visual capabilities of apple snails. We are planning to collaborate with labs that specialize in behavioral neuroscience and vision to explore what snails can see in their environment and how well regenerated eyes can function.

What challenges did you face developing CRISPR lines?

Establishing stable CRISPR/Cas9 mutant lines in snails was a major technical challenge. A few steps were quite difficult. The first was collecting and injecting the zygotes, as they are very small! The next difficult step was ensuring their survival to adulthood after we removed them from the eggs. It took a lot of trial and error. Each step required patience and precision, but eventually, we developed a reliable workflow that allowed us to generate reproducible mutant phenotypes.

How do snails complement fly eye development in other model systems like Drosophila?

While Drosophila has been a powerhouse for studying eye development, its compound eyes are anatomically different from human eyes. Moreover, adult fruit flies do not regenerate their eyes after injury. Apple snails, on the other hand, have camera-type eyes, just like us, and can regenerate them completely.
This makes apple snails a powerful complementary model. Their regenerative abilities, combined with shared genetic pathways, offer a unique window into how complex organs can be rebuilt. Studying molecular pathways involved in eye formation and function across such diverse species helps us identify conserved mechanisms and evolutionary innovations, expanding our understanding of how regeneration evolved.

What was your most validating moment in this project?

The most emotional moment of this project was when I obtained pax6 homozygous mutants. I looked in the microscope without daring to hope for anything special. But after getting the embryos in focus, I saw that some of them did not develop eyes. That was the moment I knew CRISPR/Cas9 was working and the function of the gene pax6 was conserved in apple snails. It was incredibly validating and empowering. That was the moment when I truly felt I could start thinking about “the rest of my scientific career” as the leader of a lab using apple snails to study eye regeneration.

Can you share some challenging moments from the project. What were your ways to reset/unwind ?

One of the biggest challenges of this research was figuring out how to collect, inject and raise snail embryos to adults. This was a long, slow and meticulous process. I spent hours carefully observing embryos trying to pinpoint what was not working and letting the biology guide the adjustments. I for sure learnt patience and resilience through this process.
Outside the lab, I love to do yoga, listen to audiobooks and spend time with the people I love. These moments help me recharge and return to the lab with fresh energy.

Were there any quirky moments that shaped the trajectory of the study?

A quirky moment that shaped not just this study but of my entire career happened during graduate school. I was so excited about regeneration after attending the MBL Embryology Course in Woods Hole that I immediately wanted to test if the apple snails I was working on were able to survive injuries and regenerate. I got dissection scissors and… well, luckily for me and for them, they regenerated!

How did your team coordinate such a complex study?

At Stowers, I had incredible support from the Technology Centers, which helped optimize protocols, run experiments and maintain the snails. At UC Davis, we also have excellent core facilities for imaging and sequencing, but the members of my lab play a central role in all the work that we do. I encourage everybody on my team to learn all aspects of research, from animal husbandry, to sample processing and data analysis. Through this approach I aim to foster collaboration and independence.

What big questions are you excited to explore next?

Some of the key questions I hope to answer about apple snail eye regeneration revolve around uncovering the fundamental biological mechanisms behind this remarkable process. One major area of interest is identifying the specific cell types responsible for regenerating all the eye components: the retina, lens, and cornea. Understanding whether these structures arise from a shared pool of cells or from distinct cell populations is essential to understanding how such complex tissues are rebuilt.
Equally important is exploring the genes involved in the regeneration process and how they are regulated. Dissecting these molecular circuits could reveal conserved pathways and highlight potential targets for biomedical applications.
Another critical question is how neural connections between the regenerated eye and the brain are re-established. While regenerating the physical structure of the eye is impressive, full functional recovery requires precise reintegration into the central nervous system. Studying how apple snails accomplish this could provide valuable insights into nervous system regeneration.
Finally, one of the most exciting prospects is the potential to identify specific genes or regulatory elements that can be tested in species lacking natural regenerative capacity. By comparing regenerative and non-regenerative systems, we may uncover key factors that could one day be harnessed to promote regeneration in humans.

Anything you’d like to highlight about your lab?

We are always interested in hearing from people who are excited about development, regeneration and snails and who would be interested in joining our team or collaborate with us! We highly value basic science, curiosity, creativity and community.

Now we have behind the science stories from Dr Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado !

You’ve pioneered much of what we know about planarian regeneration. What motivated you to pivot toward the apple snail? What were your initial plans when you and Alice started the project?

Curiosity has always driven my research. After years delving into planarian regeneration, I wanted to take the lessons learned and test their validity in other systems. I knew from the work of Charles Bonnet (Observations sur la Physique, sur l’ Histoire Naturelle et sur les Arts, vol. 10, Paris, 1777, in Tracts on the Natural History of Animals and Vegetables, 2nd, ed., vol. II, Edinburgh, 1803, plate 8, p. 360) that some snails could regenerate their heads after decapitation. Given that such a head included complex sensory organs such as camera type eyes, I was intrigued to see how much regeneration was possible in snails and thought of it as a great opportunity to test how far fundamental principles of regeneration extend beyond our favorite models. When Alice and I initiated the project, we aimed to develop the apple snail into a powerful system, one where we could explore not only eye regeneration but new rules for organ complexity and repair.

Having studied planarians extensively, what similarities and differences strike you most between their eye regeneration and what you observed in Pomacea canaliculata?

In planarians, eye regeneration is fairly direct, that is, the structure is simple, and the set of participating cells is relatively constrained. Apple snail eyes, in contrast, are much more anatomically elaborate: they possess a lens, cornea, and a retina. Despite these differences, we observed the employment of a surprisingly conserved genetic toolkit, yet the deployment is tailored to the organism’s needs and eye architecture. While planarians offer lessons in simplicity and robustness, snails challenge us to understand regeneration in complex, multi-tissue architectures.

As you said, snail eyes are highly organized with a lens, cornea, and retina. How did you approach regeneration of a complex organ? What were your reactions when Alice and the team showed you the eye regeneration phenotype? How did you celebrate?

We approached snail eye regeneration with a mix of excitement and humility. Knowing the added complexity, our first step was to characterize the anatomy and developmental processes in exquisite detail, as we’d done in planarians. When Alice showed me the early phenotypes (eyes regrowing with partial or complete restoration of layers) it was exhilarating. There was a sense of witnessing something extraordinary, something no one had seriously documented in this way before. We asked ourselves: if this is the wild type (eye regeneration) imagine what phenotypes will we get once we can begin to genetically perturb this process? We celebrated in true lab fashion: with data, good coffee, and a shared sense of purpose.

For the broader scientific community, how important it is to move beyond conventional systems towards models which are more “problem suited”?

I believe science advances most meaningfully when we select models tailored to address questions, not just because they’re easy or fashionable. Apple snails forced us to reconsider mechanisms dogmatically ascribed to “higher” animals. For example, we unexpectedly found developmental modules acting outside canonical developmental windows, hinting at a flexibility in the animal’s response to injury or loss. Integrating these observations required both developmental and regenerative frameworks to be more plastic and open to revision. In essence, exploring unconventional systems not only expands our sense of what is possible in biology, but also reminds us, quite humbly, that we have yet to discover the full scope of what biology is already capable of achieving.

Across planarians, snails, and vertebrates, pax6 seems to act as a unifying thread in eye development. How do you see your work helping to connect these very different models into a broader evolutionary framework?

Pax6 is a beautiful example of deep homology: one gene at the crux of eye development in organisms as disparate as worms, snails, and humans. Our work allows us to chart the variations on a theme: the “melody” played by pax6, for example, shifts based on the “instrument.” This comparative approach helps trace evolutionary logic in how complex traits are built, lost, or re-invented, and fosters a more unified evolutionary understanding.

Was there a moment in this project that reminded you of your early planarian work—perhaps seeing the first signs of tissue re-emergence or recognizing a familiar gene playing a role in an unexpected context?

Absolutely. Seeing the initial re-emergence of eye tissue in snails, especially with familiar candidates like pax6 lighting up, evoked the earliest days in our planaria research. There’s a special thrill in spotting a familiar genetic face performing in a new “play.” These moments reinforce just how interconnected biology’s solutions really are. Perhaps more importantly, it presses us to recognize that, among countless possible outcomes, biology did not have to unfold in precisely this way, yet it did. The question, then, is why? What fundamental principles have shaped these solutions over evolutionary time, and might there be yet-undiscovered rules underlying these phenomena that the study of regeneration could help us uncover?

Do you imagine a comparative roadmap, linking regeneration in planarians, snails, and vertebrates, that might one day illuminate how regenerative capacity has been gained or lost across the tree of life?

One of my greatest hopes is for the field to embrace genuine comparative biology across multiple scales and levels of resolution—a comprehensive roadmap that interweaves regeneration in planarians, snails, vertebrates, and beyond. By charting where regenerative capacity is retained or lost, and probing the underlying reasons, we may finally decode the molecular signatures and constraints that shape these outcomes. This is an ambitious, long-term vision that traces its roots back to my earliest work (BioEssays, 22:578–590, 2000).

How do you look at processes of regeneration and development – where do they overlap, and where do they diverge?

Regeneration recapitulates development, sometimes literally, often figuratively. There are clear overlaps in gene regulatory networks and cell behaviors, but crucial divergences arise: injury response, aged tissue, functional integration of new tissues with old, and organismal context all shape outcomes. Examining both processes in parallel ensures our interpretations remain grounded and discerning, fostering an appreciation for both their commonalities and their distinctions.

You’ve mentored so many students and postdocs who have gone on to start their own labs and do incredible science. What is your mentoring philosophy?

Mentoring is, without question, the most rewarding aspect of this work. Science is inherently a human pursuit, and watching students and postdocs mature into independent thinkers is the ultimate measure of success. My approach centers on fostering autonomy, intellectual rigor, and genuine kindness. My greatest hope is that everyone who passes through my lab carries forward a deep sense of curiosity, confidence, and thoughtful skepticism wherever their careers take them. To me, choosing to mentor means embracing the responsibility to help cultivate scientists who will one day surpass us and, in doing so, move the field forward in ways we have yet to imagine.

Experiments don’t always work, and science can be frustrating. How do you help your students and trainees stay curious, motivated, and resilient during unfavorable circumstances?

I frequently remind my lab that failed experiments are the tuition we pay for discovery. I encourage tenacity by fostering a culture in which failures are shared, analyzed, and celebrated as learning opportunities. Curiosity is self-sustaining if it’s nurtured, and joy in small wins (finding a new phenotype, seeing cells behave unexpectedly) is kept front and center. It is important to emphasize that both true innovation and robust, lasting knowledge are built bit by bit, through careful testing, iterative refinement and the willingness to work patiently in the face of complexity, particularly when the prevailing winds conspire against such efforts. Our job as scientists is to contribute and continue to build a legacy of discovery that is as relevant tomorrow as it is today.

What do you find most awe-inspiring about nature’s capacity to regenerate, and how does that influence the way you think about biology?

To witness a fragment of an animal regenerate into a complex, living structure is to brush up against the truly profound. These moments evoke a sense of philosophical awe, as life reasserts itself with ancient, elegantly orchestrated mechanisms. Nature’s answers to damage and loss inspire both humility and an unshakable urge to understand how such feats are possible. In this light, every act of regeneration becomes a fresh retelling of an ancient narrative, one that has unfolded, again and again, across the history of life on Earth.

What continues to drive your curiosity and excitement about regeneration after all these years?

It’s the interplay of questions, the unexpected twists, and the pure delight in discovering something genuinely new. Regeneration is a frontier: every answer spawns new mysteries, and the joy of discovery, whether majestic or subtle, never fades.

A note from Shefali : I came across this beautiful research paper by Accorsi et al on bluesky and it literally blew my mind. It’s one of the rare times in the year when you stumble upon a piece of science that reminds you why you chose this path in the first place. As a grad student who is in the last leg of their PhD, it’s easy to to lose sight of the bigger picture – this paper brought it all back. I urge you all to read it—it’s rare and remarkable. Check out the Accorsi lab webpage and reach out if you’re interested in studying development and regeneration in snails.

The post In the apple eye of evolution: Camera-type eye regeneration appeared first on the Node.

In a series of interviews published in Development, we learn more about each fellow’s career path, research interests and aspirations when they start their own lab.

Meet our 2025 PI fellows

Ethan Ewe

Ethan earned his PhD in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Under the mentorship of Prof. Joel Rothman, he investigated the gene regulatory network that controls the specification and differentiation of the C. elegans endoderm. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow in Prof. Oded Rechavi’s lab at Tel Aviv University, where he explores how small RNAs regulate stress responses and govern germline development. Ethan is passionate about uncovering how epigenetic mechanisms – particularly those involving small RNAs and Argonaute proteins – mediate phenotypic plasticity and may facilitate adaptation to environmental change.
You can follow Ethan on Bluesky at @ethanewe.bsky.social.

Max Farnworth

Max earned his PhD at the University of Göttingen, Germany, under the supervision of Prof. Gregor Bucher, where he explored how heterochrony shapes the evolution and development of insect brains. He was then awarded a Walter Benjamin Fellowship by the German Research Foundation to investigate how two enigmatic brain regions co-evolve to support novel behaviours, using neotropical butterflies as a model system. He pursued this research in the lab of Dr Stephen Montgomery at the University of Bristol. Currently, Max is a Senior Research Associate developing new tools to study the evolution of neural circuits. He is broadly fascinated by how brains evolve and how neural circuits are shaped and rewired through developmental processes.
You can follow Max on Bluesky at @maxfarnworth.bsky.social and find more information at https://linktr.ee/max.farnworth.

Anzy Miller

Anzy completed her PhD with Brian Hendrich at the Stem Cell Institute at the University of Cambridge. She then joined the lab of Nancy Papalopulu at the University of Manchester and was awarded the Wellcome Trust Sir Henry Wellcome postdoctoral fellowship. Anzy is interested in how dynamic protein expression is decoded by cells and its impact on cell fate decisions in the developing embryo.
You can follow Anzy on Bluesky @anzymiller.bsky.social.

Joaquín Navajas Acedo

Joaquín obtained his PhD in Biology at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City MO, USA. In the laboratory of Dr Piotrowski, he focused on dissecting the role that two signaling pathways – Wnt and Planar Cell Polarity – have during the development of the lateral line in zebrafish, using a combination of mutant analysis, live imaging and immunostaining. Currently, he is a postdoc at the Schier lab at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel, Switzerland, where he studies the Rohon-Beard neurons, a population of neurons that for around 150 years were thought to disappear during early development but Joaquín discovered remain until at least juvenile stages. He is interested in leveraging Rohon-beard neurons to study a fundamental question in biology: what are the mechanisms behind the acquisition of the different layers of neuron diversity?
You can follow Joaquín on Bluesky at @mads100tist.bsky.social and Mastodon at https://mastodon.social/@mads100tist. Joaquín also helps managing the popular zebrafish-oriented resource ZebrafishRock! @zebrafishrock.bsky.social.

Marlies Oomen

Marlies is a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Maria-Elena Torres-Padilla at Helmholtz Munich, Germany. She completed her PhD research in the lab of Job Dekker at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, USA, where she studied chromosome organization and epigenetic characteristics of mitotic chromosomes. Marlies’ current research focuses on the transcriptional and epigenetic regulation of and by transposable elements in mammalian preimplantation development and stem cells.
You can follow Marlies on Bluesky at @marliesoomen.bsky.social.

Giulia Paci

Giulia is an EMBO postdoctoral fellow in Yanlan Mao’s group at the Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology, University College London (UK). Prior to this, she completed her PhD at EMBL Heidelberg (Germany), working with Edward Lemke. A physicist by training, Giulia investigates organism resilience to external perturbations during development and homeostasis, with a focus on mechanical stresses. She combines high-resolution imaging with the development of novel mechanical perturbation tools in Drosophila.
You can follow Giulia on Bluesky at @giuliapaci.bsky.social.

Sonya Widen

Sonya obtained her PhD in molecular biology and genetics from the University of Alberta in Canada, where she used zebrafish to study early vertebrate eye development and disease under the guidance of Dr Andrew Waskiewicz. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA) in Vienna, Austria working with Dr Alejandro Burga, using nematodes as a model system to understand the role of mobile and selfish DNA elements in driving the evolution of genomes. Sonya’s research interests lie in understanding the complex relationship between mobile genetic elements and their host genomes in shaping development and evolution.
You can follow Sonya on Bluesky at @sonyawiden.bsky.social.

Toshimichi Yamada

Toshi earned his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Tokyo, Japan, where he studied regulatory mechanisms controlling RNA dynamics and stability, specifically how RNA localization and mRNA decay influence gene expression. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow in Wendell Lim’s lab at University of California, San Francisco, UCSF. His research focuses on uncovering the design principles of mammalian embryogenesis and reconstituting developmental processes in vitro.

The post Development’s Pathway to Independence programme: meet the 2025 fellows appeared first on the Node.

The Fly Board is excited to announce the second cycle of FlyCROSS (2025–2026). The goal of FlyCROSS is to empower early career Drosophila researchers by connecting them with mentors who can help them fly in their careers – whether in academia or beyond. If you’re part of the Drosophila community and seeking guidance on professional development, career transitions, or navigating personal, academic, or non-academic challenges — this is a truly unique opportunity you won’t want to miss.

We are currently seeking mentees.
Early-career scientists including graduate students, postdoctoral researchers working in fly labs or equivalent settings, pre-tenure faculty/equivalent leading Drosophila research groups, non-tenure-track or teaching faculty are eligible to participate as mentees. Mentee survey is now open through September 1.

The mentee survey will gather important details about your career goals, professional challenges and the type of mentorship being sought. With a large pool of mentors from around the world offering unique mentoring experiences already on board — you’ll have the opportunity to review their responses and indicate your preferred matches based on your goals and interests. FlyCROSS prioritizes mentee needs in the matching process while supporting mentees from a wide range of backgrounds and research environments. After receiving mentee submissions, the FlyCROSS committee will carefully review the preferences and finalize pairings, ensuring an optimal match between mentors and mentees. Matches will be announced by October.

In the previous FlyCROSS cycle, 37 mentees were matched to mentors of their choice. This is a unique opportunity to receive personalized guidance, expand your network, and gain valuable career insights from leaders across the global fly community.

We encourage all eligible mentees to apply by September 1, 2025, and take part in this enriching mentoring experience! Incase of any queries reach out to dmelcross@gmail.com. FlyCROSS was adapted from a similar mentoring program running in the worm community, and we sincerely appreciate their support of our endeavor.

Thankyou
Shefali
FlyCROSS Co-chair
Grad student rep, Fly Board
PhD candidate, Tennessen Lab
IU Bloomington
Bluesky : ‪@iamshef.bsky.social‬
X : @iam_shef

The post FlyCROSS 2025–26: Call for Drosophila early career scientists appeared first on the Node.

We pick up where we left off with Anna-Lena Vigil, now a PhD candidate in the Crocker Group at EMBL, as her journey unfolds to moments beyond the bench that shaped her path. In part one, we traced how questions of metabolism, cell fate, and adaptation shaped her scientific path — from studying cancer cells in a dish to exploring how metabolic shifts guide development in flies. But Anna’s story is also one of personal growth, bold moves, and a deep curiosity which make her among the few who took the leap from US to pursue grad school in Europe.

Anna’s scientific appetite spans fields and organisms — from plants to hibernating mammals to cancer cells — always chasing the big questions. As a technician in Lucas Sullivan’s lab, she honed both her skills and her curiosity, studying how metabolism rewires under stress. That experience sparked her shift to Drosophila, where she now explores how metabolism shapes development and adaptation. Whether in cell lines or whole organisms, Anna bridges disciplines, using metabolism as a language to make sense of biology’s complexity. Check out all her work here.

In this next part of our conversation, she reflects on what kept her in the field, how she navigated her transition into graduate school, and what advice she has for others at the crossroads of research and curiosity. In both parts of her interview she credits the infectious scientific culture in the Sullivan Lab, the value of mentorship, the thrill of scientific independence, and how metabolism remains both a personal fascination and a powerful lens for asking big biological questions. Along the way, she shares lessons in resilience, advice for young scientists, and the joy of embracing life (and science) with curiosity and a sense of adventure.

Do not forget to check out the part 1 of her interview here. Follow along and continue reading as Anna shares her experience about moving countries for grad school alongside the ideas that continue to drive her forward.

What kept you interested in continuing to pursue the field of metabolism?

To me, the biochemical processes that make a cell, a cell and an organism, an organism, is the most fascinating lens to view biology. The best thing about metabolic research is that it is the foundation to almost anything that biology focuses on: any question you ask or area you pursue, there is a metabolic system/process that is intertwined with it. These biological systems are deeply connected, and metabolism provides a more complex layer into how systems operate. I think what propelled me to stay in this field was not only the amazing work that has been done thus far, but all the work there is still yet to do and all the questions that still need to be pursued.

Tell us about what experiences/results/training from your time in the Sullivan Lab at Fred Hutch motivated you to continue pushing forward in grad school ?

As a research technician, I think the main motivation that drove me to pursue grad school was the unexplored opportunities for growth that come associated with scientific research. There is always room for improvement in science, so for me, pushing through to receive further training was something I wanted to experience, and I felt like I wanted to keep pushing myself further to reach my higher academic potential. As a technician, I learned a lot of independence with techniques and experiments, but I always felt as though I could go further intellectually and push myself to ask the important questions and decide on the right next steps. I find myself growing as a scientist everyday, and this is the exact reason I wanted to continue onto grad school.

Could you briefly share your experience transitioning from Fred Hutch in the U.S. to EMBL in Heidelberg? How did you apply, and what was the process of getting into graduate school?

Apart from wanting to try out life in Europe for a while, I was really interested in diversifying my research experiences and learning how research questions were approached in different institutes and countries. I knew that I absolutely want to be a biologist/scientist, so the goal of obtaining a PhD was something that I found necessary for my future plans of pursuing a scientific career. Also, learning of the metamorphosis that occurs as young scientists go through graduate school was something that I wanted to experience for my own personal development; even with all the ups and downs that come associated with it.

As the requirements for entering a PhD program were a bit different in the U.S. versus in Europe, I wanted to find a place where I could go directly into a PhD program without needing a Master’s degree (in the U.S. you can enter directly into a graduate program from your Bachelor’s studies, provided you have sufficient research knowledge and experience to help make the transition easier; in Europe, a Master’s degree is usually required). I felt my time as a technician helped reinforce my research independence, so I felt like obtaining a Master’s degree was an unnecessary step for me. So when I found the PhD program at EMBL I immediately became interested in pursuing an application. Not only was EMBL a leader in scientific research in Europe, it also had really cool research groups (like Justin’s group!) which made me very interested in pursuing a PhD in Heidelberg, Germany.

What were the cultural changes, how did you adapt? what were the biggest challenges/setbacks – how did you overcome them?

I have always been used to German culture growing up, as my mom is German by birth. That being said, there were definitely cultural changes I had to adjust to. I grew up and studied in Las Vegas before moving to Seattle, so needless to say most Europeans are far different than anyone from Vegas. One challenge was navigating how serious people can be, especially in some research settings. However, I am a true believer in the notion that we should not take life, and definitely not science, so seriously and instead focus on the joy that it brings and the gratitude we should all feel in being scientists. I have done many jobs in my life, and this one by far is the most fun and rewarding (and of course challenging). So I try to bring this mindset to every interaction I have here, either in science or in society, and it usually leads to a smile, even from very serious people. And for me, that smile makes cultural barriers break down and reveal the shared humanity we all have, as happiness and joy is universal.

What were the positive changes/surprises?

Generally, I found the move to Germany from the U.S. to be very refreshing. The way of life in Europe is a little more relaxed, so it has been a pleasant experience so far. Scientifically, I think it was also helpful to have a variety of different research experiences before coming here to help me navigate the landscape of such a different scientific environment, and different ways of thinking and approaching scientific questions. That being said, I work with amazing people and they have been integral to adjusting to a new place, scientifically and culturally. Having good people around can make all the difference. Although it has been a tough challenge to be far away from family and friends back in the States, I found the move to be generally more positive and rewarding than anything.

What advice would you offer to undergrads/postbacs interested in exploring the intersections of nutrition/metabolism and cell fate decisions?

My advice would be to start in a lab that specializes in metabolism to learn more mechanistic details of metabolic systems and pathways, and then move into more broader-themed labs. I think the trajectory of starting small (molecular) and zooming out (to disease, development, or evolution) gives you a better understanding of the molecular underpinnings of cell fate decisions and evolutionary trajectories. Also, apply to as many summer internships as you can while in undergrad; they provide really amazing research experiences and will give you a head-start when it is time to continue on to graduate school. Lastly, another piece of advice is to never ever give up! You are capable of many great things and you owe it to yourself to find out what you can accomplish in this world. Follow your curiosities and enjoy the journey, wherever it takes you!

Were there any pivotal moments that shaped your career path?

The most life-changing event that happened for me academically was a summer internship that I participated in hosted by the University of Washington doing single-cell genomics in Arabidopsis. It not only gave me hands-on experience working in a state-of-the-art lab, but also opened many doors for me professionally. I think I would not be where I am today if I didn’t get a chance to have that summer research experience and I am so grateful to have had that opportunity.

What role does curiosity play in your life, both within and outside of science? What motivates you to be a basic science researcher?

Curiosity is the fuel that keeps all scientists going! Curiosity is crucial to make it through difficult periods that are inherent to science, and I am grateful to have new curiosities to pursue everyday. I think basic science research is the diesel that fuels our societal understanding of the natural world around us. I find it a great honor and privilege to be able to contribute my career to help broaden our collective understanding of how nature works. Knowing that something I observe in the lab may be the first time it has ever been observed is literally the most exciting thing you could experience. To me, there is no better way to spend the day! I believe that basic science questions lay the foundation for the rest of the scientific community to build upon, and aid in advancing our collective health as a society. Without basic science research, the realm of health advances that we have achieved would eventually collapse. Understanding basic principles of how biology occurs in a general sense is the only way we can progress in the fields of health sciences as well, as many basic science and clinical questions overlap. Moreover, I am a huge plant lover and have many plants in my house. I find having plants in my home and seeing all the crazy developmental stages and cell-type changes that occur when you propagate them brings me back to why I find biology so cool!

How do you maintain a balance between your rigorous research activities and personal life? Are there hobbies or practices you find particularly rejuvenating?

I really enjoy gardening and animals. My goal in the future is to have my own (small scale) farm with a few crops and of course a nice collection of chickens for eggs, sheep for wool, goats for milk, and dogs because they are a human’s best friend. So in my spare time I like to learn about best gardening and farming practices for the future, while tending to my house plants in the meantime. Alternatively, I just enjoy being outside and find time in nature to be very rejuvenating.

If you hadn’t embarked on a career in biological research, what other profession might you have pursued, and why?

If I didn’t pursue biology as a career, I probably would have pursued a career in anthropology or sociology. I like people, communities, and the wisdom that different cultures can provide, so I was very interested in studying people and the customs they have built from generational traditions.

Previously we learnt about the role of metabolism in developmental patterning and embryogenesis. Check out – Metabolic Origins: Steering of early developmental fate featuring Kristina Stapornwongkul. Krisitina will be starting her lab at her own lab at IMBA, Vienna and will be hiring soon. Check out her lab page here !

Check out the article All the world’s a metabolic dance, and how early career scientists are leading the way !!

The post Between Molecules and Milestones: Tales from Seattle to Heidelberg for grad school appeared first on the Node.

Emerging perspectives in metabolism

This week we’ll meet Anna-Lena Vigil, who is a PhD candidate in the Crocker Group, EMBL. From her postbac days in Seattle to her graduate research in Heidelberg, metabolism has remained her throughline: a dynamic system that powers cells, guides their fate, and adapts across contexts, from cancer to development. What drives her is the vastness of unanswered questions — the sense that even well-mapped pathways hold surprises when viewed through the lens of adaptation, evolution, or cell identity. Her first spark came in a college biochemistry class, where she realized metabolism wasn’t just “organic chemistry with a purpose,” but a living system at the heart of biology. That curiosity led her from studying gene regulation in plants to investigating how metabolism drives cancer cell proliferation at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle. Along the way, she discovered how mentorship and the freedom to explore questions could transform a research career. Now, as a graduate student at EMBL in Heidelberg, Anna explores how metabolic signals guide cell fate decisions during development — and how these processes can adapt and evolve. In this first part of our conversation, Anna reflects on her scientific journey, the questions that drew her in, and why metabolism remains her lens for exploring life’s complexity using Drosophila as a model. In this first part of our conversation, Anna reflects on her scientific journey, the questions that drew her in, and why metabolism remains her lens for exploring life’s complexity. Check out all her work here.

Anna’s interview is a two part conversation, while you’re currently reading part 1 where she discusses her scientific journey, do check out the part 2 Between Molecules and Milestones, where she describes in detail – her journey to grad school, her continued interests in the field of metabolism, why she values curiosity and mentorship, and what keeps her motivated to continue moving forward.

What was your first introduction to the field of metabolism – what’s your first memory?

Outside of learning that the mitochondria is the “pOwErHoUsE” of the cell in high school biology class, my first introduction to metabolism started in my first biochemistry class at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas during my bachelor studies. My professor jokingly described the subject material of his class one day as: “organic chemistry but with a purpose.” During my time in this class, I was fascinated to learn how biological systems have figured out these extremely intricate ways of sustaining life through various different metabolic processes. It was after this class that I knew I wanted to learn more about how biochemical processes that make up metabolism can be the driving force of life on Earth.

Could you share your journey into studying metabolism and what inspired you to specialize in metabolic studies using two incredibly unique systems – mammals/cell lines and flies?

After my undergraduate studies, I was really interested in diversifying my research experiences in the early stages of my career. After studying gene regulation and stress tolerance in plants, and hibernation in a peculiar hibernator during my undergraduate research journey, I was really interested in understanding how metabolism can shape phenotypes, and how it may provide insight to help broaden our knowledge of disease mechanisms. So, with this in mind, and of course a stroke of good luck, I joined Lucas Sullivan’s lab as a research technician at the Fred Hutch Cancer Center in Seattle, where the lab’s main area of focus was understanding metabolic determinants of cancer cell proliferation. It was there where I learned of mechanistic details of how metabolism occurs in real systems, and how it can go wrong to lead to disease phenotypes, such as cancer. I think my drive for understanding metabolic systems really flourished in Lucas’s lab, as he was a great mentor and allowed me the resources and flexibility to pursue my own interests and curiosity. His passion for metabolism was infectious and he had a special way of promoting this same passion within his own lab members. Having a good mentor can really determine the rest of your research career! And after gaining a more informed mechanistic understanding about cancer metabolism, I wanted to learn more about physiological metabolic programs throughout development, so naturally using Drosophila as a model to learn more about this was a good way to transition from cancer metabolism to developmental metabolism.

Tell us about your undergrad/postbac work – particularly about the role of mitochondrial redox adaptations in regulating cellular fitness in the context of both normal and tumor cells.

The work on mitochondrial redox adaptations was an amazing project that was led by Dr. Madeleine Hart, a very talented graduate student in the Sullivan Lab at the time. She was primarily interested in understanding how certain subtypes of cancers, in particular, succinate dehydrogenase (SDH)-deficient cancers, were able to sustain intracellular aspartate when a major mitochondrial protein responsible for generating aspartate, was defective. SDH is also known for its role as complex II in the electron transport chain (ETC) in the mitochondria, and is responsible for the oxidation of succinate to fumarate. Fumarate is then later converted into malate and finally oxaloacetate, which is used to generate aspartate, a key amino acid that is required for cell proliferation. So, understanding how cancers with abnormal ETC activity sustained intracellular aspartate levels gave us an opportunity to learn more about the basic biology driving these types of cancers. In a glimpse into Madeleine’s work, she discovered that SDH-deficient cells were able to adapt to limiting environments by also adapting to downregulate the activity of complex I in the ETC. This downregulation resulted in restoring the NAD+/NADH balance to support further cancer cell proliferation. While we did not investigate this phenomenon in normal cells, the aspects we learned about how cell proliferation can be sustained in these scenarios helped provide insights into the broader theme of cellular adaptation to varying environments, in both normal and disease contexts.

The project I primarily worked on during my time as a technician included discovering novel metabolic fates in NRF2-activated cancers. As we all know that key metabolites and the components of metabolic pathways of cells have been known for decades, there are likely still metabolites, and entire metabolic pathways that are yet to be discovered. This is especially important when we think about how alterations in metabolism can lead to various human diseases. So to tackle the goal of trying to identify novel metabolites, we were interested in finding a system in which unknown metabolites likely existed, and so we decided to turn our attention to NRF2-activated cancers. NRF2 is a main transcription factor that regulates the production of various different antioxidants and detoxification programs. In the process of upregulating these detox mechanisms, one key target gene of NRF2 includes the xCT/SLC7a11 antiporter system, that is responsible for the uptake of extracellular cystine, and the excretion of glutamate. So with this in mind, and with the help of a clever isotope tracing method, we were able to uncover and validate ~9 novel metabolic fates, some of which can be detected in tumors. Also in this work, we learned very interesting aspects of intracellular cystine/cysteine that may help broaden our knowledge of cell proliferation mechanisms and metabolic phenotypes in cancer. I was very grateful to have been able to work on this project with such an amazing team, and hopefully you can read all about it soon!

Tell us how you got interested in cancer/immune metabolism for your post-bac work and how did you transition into Drosophila to study metabolic control of cell fate decisions?

For me, many aspects and fields of scientific research are extremely fascinating, but I decided to pursue metabolic research because I felt as though it viewed biology at the most molecular level in order to understand how life occurs. Many foundational concepts of metabolic programs that we know today were discovered using cancer model systems and in the context of cancer biology, so I felt as though joining a lab that studied cancer metabolism was a great way to enter the field. Although I greatly enjoyed my time working on how metabolism can be rewired to drive diseases, I wanted to learn about metabolic systems more from a normal physiological perspective, for example, in the context of developmental programs. In other words, I wanted to change from understanding how metabolism can go wrong (for a patient) and lead to disease, to learning about all the ways that metabolism can go right and facilitate the development of a whole organism from one single cell.

Metabolism is generally viewed as the sum of biochemical reactions that occur within cells and organisms to provide energy in the form of ATP, with the production of anabolic precursors and maintenance of NAD(P)+/NAD(P)H co-factor pools. A less appreciated view of metabolism is that metabolites themselves can act as signaling molecules to facilitate the up- or downregulation of other cellular processes. As certain cell types become more differentiated, so do their biological roles and needs, which at the root is driven by the utilization of alternative metabolic pathways. As someone who appreciates just how nuanced and complex biology can be, it was reassuring to learn that metabolism is also something that is extremely multifaceted, with new metabolites, roles of metabolites, and metabolic systems that are emerging everyday.

Tell us about your current work and how are you using flies as a model to study physiological consequences of metabolic signaling and its impacts cellular status and development?

My current work is about understanding how mutations in the genome can lead to altered metabolic states, and how these altered metabolic states can be inherited through generations. Mutations are thought to be the driving force of evolution; as mutations in coding regions are thought to affect mature RNAs or protein, noncoding mutations, or cis-regulatory mutations, are thought to affect the levels of transcription, acting as a knob to fine-tune expression programs throughout development. For my PhD work, I am interested in understanding how these mutations can lead to altered metabolic phenotypes, and in particular, how metabolism can be rewired to accommodate adaptive phenotypes, and how these adaptations can persist and lead to evolutionary novelties. These broad questions are especially important when considering natural Drosophila populations that are exposed to various different agrochemicals that are used in modern-day agricultural practices. I am interested in understanding how mutations in regions that are associated with detoxification programs affect adaptive phenotypes in the form of agrochemical resistance. These types of questions can hopefully assist us with understanding resistance mechanisms in natural populations, and how we can potentially use this knowledge to better design more targeted approaches when trying to combat agricultural pest species. Although this specific aim is not super relevant to human disease, learning about resistance mechanisms in general can provide insights into how certain aspects of this mechanism can potentially be conserved to humans and may help provide orthogonal evidence to understanding these mechanisms in general.

Your work intersects metabolism, development and cell biology. How do these fields overlap and how do you integrate these disciplines in your research, and what unique insights have emerged from this approach?

In my view, the field of metabolism is so deeply connected with every aspect of biology that when you think of any phenomenon in a biological system, there is a  metabolic contribution to it. This is especially interesting when considering a developing organism, and how it has figured out methods to perfectly coordinate its metabolic needs in order to facilitate the existence of multiple cell types at once. As every cell type emerges throughout a given developmental program, the metabolic needs of each one of those cell types changes to then carry out more specialized functions. For example, mutations that affect metabolic systems which arise in the germline of a fly may or may not have an immediate impact on certain processes early in development, but then those changes are more apparent when certain cell types become more differentiated and specialized. As my work focuses on how mutations can impact metabolic phenotypes, understanding how these impacts manifest in different developmental stages will provide a more complete picture of the physiological mechanisms at play.

You have worked with both in-vivo and in-vitro systems. Tell us about their roles and how important it is to study both in the context of both normal development and diseases?

In vitro and in vivo systems both have their pros and cons. In my experience, working with in vitro cell culture was an easy way to get a generalized picture of how basic cell biology occurs and what aspects of metabolism are altered in the face of perturbation in the most basic biological level. Also, cell culture is actually very easy, as you just have to split your cells before confluence, switch out media, and freeze the cells when you don’t need them. In vitro systems do allow you to interrogate a disease space without the ethical constraints associated with testing ideas in actual patients, so it is still a very powerful method to test hypotheses about disease mechanisms.

In vivo systems, such as Drosophila, are a bit more difficult to maintain, but also more interesting in the context of multicellularity and development. Flies have longer generation times than cells in a dish, so it could be a few months before you have your transgenic line needed for your experiments. However, Drosophila do provide a very testable platform to study inheritance patterns, the developmental context of specific phenotypes, and metabolic aspects in the context of a whole organism.

Tell us about the experimental approach/techniques you are using for your project.

Luckily for me, Dr. Xueying Li, a previous postdoc in the lab, developed a method which involves fusing transcription factors with a cytosine deaminase domain that induces mutations in proximal regions of specific transcription factor binding sites. This method, termed TF-HighEvolutionary, can be used to induce targeted mutations within networks of interest and can potentially lead to new phenotypic outcomes. My approach involves using this tool in combination with a lab evolution setup, so the hard part will be having to wait a while for cool results to emerge!

Tell us about how you see the future of metabolism evolve with the new upcoming tools.

In my work, I have extensively used various isotope tracing techniques measured by targeted and untargeted liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), but I think newer techniques that allow you to visualize different metabolites, such as metabolic biosensors or combined spatial assays with cell- or tissue-level resolution, are going to be very useful for the future of metabolic studies.

What are your upcoming plans? What metabolic pathways or signals you aim to investigate further to understand their role in cell fate/cancer progression?

As I worked on the NRF2/antioxidant pathway during my time at the Hutch, I am really interested in investigating this orthologous pathway in Drosophila as well. I am excited to see what physiological aspects of this pathway are conserved, and how it can operate in a non-oncogenic developmental context.

What changes have you seen in the scientific community in regard to studying unique aspects of metabolic signaling in flies?

I think there are many great groups studying many fascinating aspects of metabolic signaling. I really appreciate how the field is moving toward investigating not only specific pathways, but how these pathways are integrated as a system rather than considering them in isolation. I do believe we are moving toward a more nuanced understanding when we consider them on a systems-level and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for the field.

What role does curiosity play in your life, both within and outside of science? What motivates you to be a basic science researcher?

Curiosity is the fuel that keeps all scientists going! Curiosity is crucial to make it through difficult periods that are inherent to science, and I am grateful to have new curiosities to pursue everyday. I think basic science research is the diesel that fuels our societal understanding of the natural world around us. I find it a great honor and privilege to be able to contribute my career to help broaden our collective understanding of how nature works. Knowing that something I observe in the lab may be the first time it has ever been observed is literally the most exciting thing you could experience. To me, there is no better way to spend the day! I believe that basic science questions lay the foundation for the rest of the scientific community to build upon, and aid in advancing our collective health as a society. Without basic science research, the realm of health advances that we have achieved would eventually collapse. Understanding basic principles of how biology occurs in a general sense is the only way we can progress in the fields of health sciences as well, as many basic science and clinical questions overlap. Moreover, I am a huge plant lover and have many plants in my house. I find having plants in my home and seeing all the crazy developmental stages and cell-type changes that occur when you propagate them brings me back to why I find biology so cool!

In the second part of our conversation – Between Molecules and Milestones, Anna reflects on how her training shaped her scientific independence, shares her journey from research in the U.S. to graduate studies in Germany, and discusses how she transitioned — all while holding on to her fascination with the many roles metabolism plays across biology.

Previously we learnt about the role of metabolism in developmental patterning and embryogenesis. Check out – Metabolic Origins: Steering of early developmental fate featuring Kristina Stapornwongkul. Krisitina will be starting her lab at her own lab at IMBA, Vienna and will be hiring soon. Check out her lab page here !

Check out the article All the world’s a metabolic dance, and how early career scientists are leading the way !!

The post Currents of Change: Metabolism shaping cell fate and evolution #MetabolismMondays appeared first on the Node.

Emerging perspectives in metabolism

This week we’ll meet Dr Kristina Stapornwongkul, a new incoming faculty at IMBA, Vienna where her lab will focus on how metabolism influences the dynamic process of embryonic development. Kristina’s journey into the world of biology began with a simple school experiment involving potatoes, iodine, and saliva—an early lesson in the unseen chemical choreography that drives life. Today, she is at the forefront of a rapidly evolving field that explores how metabolism shapes embryonic development. With a background in developmental biology and a growing toolkit of synthetic and molecular approaches, Kristina investigates how cellular metabolism influences stem cell fate decisions during the earliest stages of life. Her recent work using gastruloids – a stem cell-based model of early embryos, reveals how metabolic pathways like glycolysis do more than supply energy; they act as key regulators of signaling and pattern formation. She often refers to metabolites and metabolic enzymes as “moonlighting” agents, highlighting their unexpected and influential roles in directing cellular behaviour. As she prepares to launch her own lab at IMBA in Vienna, Kristina is driven by a deep curiosity about how cells make decisions under changing nutritional conditions, and how robust development is maintained despite metabolic challenges. Through her interdisciplinary lens, she brings fresh insights into how environmental and cellular metabolism shape the blueprint of life. Check out her Lab page here and give her a follow over Twitter and Bluesky. She will be hiring soon at all levels so please reach out to her if you’re interested !

What was your first introduction to the field of metabolism, what’s your first memory?

It was actually the first experiment I ever did in school: an iodine starch test with potatoes. We took a potato slice and applied saliva to one half before adding the iodine solution, which normally turns black in the presence of starch. The half without saliva turned black as expected, while the other half didn’t—showing that something in the saliva had already broken down the starch into simpler sugars. That clear, visual result was such a striking demonstration of how our bodies are built to break down food, and I think that’s why it made such a lasting impression on me.

Tell us how you got interested in the field of nutritional and metabolic aspects of animal development from a cell cycle/cell fate perspective?

I did my Master thesis in the Aulehla lab which did some pioneering work in the field of developmental metabolism at that time. It was a completely new and fascinating concept for me. So even though I didn’t work on a metabolism-related project myself at that time, it really got me interested in that topic.

Your work intersects metabolism, development and cell biology. How do you integrate these disciplines in your research, and what unique insights have emerged from this approach?

To understand how metabolism shapes development, I believe we need to uncover molecular mechanisms at the cellular level and understand how they influence tissue-level behaviour and function. So far, my work has been mainly based on developmental and synthetic biology approaches. Looking ahead, I would like to incorporate mass spec-based readouts and develop new tools to manipulate metabolism in a targeted manner.

Introduce us to the field of embryonic development and how does cellular metabolism influence stem cell behavior and fate decisions during embryonic development. Tell us about your recent work on the relationship between glucose metabolism and signaling pathways during cell fate determination during embryonic development?

In the last decade, it has become increasingly clear that metabolic pathways do more than meet the bioenergetic needs of cells—they also play an active role in regulating differentiation. The underlying mechanisms include metabolite-driven post-translational modifications, metabolite-protein interactions, and moonlighting functions of metabolic enzymes, which can influence the epigenetic and signalling state of cells. Based on this, I set out to investigate whether the metabolic state can significantly impact cell fate decisions during the exit from pluripotency.

Using an in vitro model for gastrulation based on mouse embryonic stem cells (gastruloids), we found that inhibiting glycolysis promotes ectodermal differentiation at the expense of mesoderm and endoderm lineages. This effect is dose-dependent, indicating that germ layer proportions can be modulated by adjusting exogenous glucose levels. We further showed that glycolysis acts upstream of key developmental signalling pathways, including Nodal and Wnt, and that its influence on cell fate can be separated from its effects on growth. DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2025.03.011.

What evidence supports the idea that glycolytic activity acts as a signaling regulator rather than merely an energy source during gastruloid development and what are the broader implications of glycolysis functioning as an activator of morphogen signaling pathways in early development?

The inhibition of glycolysis resulted in the clear downregulation of Nodal and Wnt signalling targets, which are absolutely required for mesoderm and endoderm specification. This suggested that glycolytic activity might be upstream of morphogen signalling. To test this we tried to rescue the phenotype by activating Nodal or Wnt signalling while inhibiting glycolysis. To my surprise, this restored normal germ layer patterning, even though glycolytic activity and overall growth were not recovered. That indicates that glycolysis is not merely fueling signalling but rather functions as an upstream activator!

Tell us about gastruloids as a model. In your view, what advantages do gastruloids offer for understanding early development and metabolism?

The original work establishing gastruloids as a model is here – https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.113001. For me, stem cell-based model systems are an exciting and versatile tool for studying specific processes during development. Pluripotent stem cells are easy to genetically engineer, which opens the door to powerful synthetic and (opto)genetic tools for controlling metabolism in space and time. Their accessibility makes it possible to observe metabolic and signalling dynamics in real time, and the controlled culture conditions allow us to explore how different nutritional environments influence cell behaviour.

How challenging were the experiments in the paper—both in terms of building or standardizing the model, and in the day-to-day logistics?

Mouse gastruloids are a well-established and robust model system, and they were already up and running in the Trivedi Lab when I joined. Thanks to that, it was quite straightforward for me to start working with them. But I did get great help from others in the lab, especially during revisions. So, it was really a team effort.

What are your upcoming plans – what questions are you excited to pursue in future?

I am currently trying to put together an enthusiastic team and tackle some of the questions I am really excited about: How does metabolism influence cell fate decisions? What is the energetic cost of morphogenesis, and do cells adapt their metabolism to overcome energetic constraints? How robust are developmental processes, such as patterning and morphogenesis, to changes in the nutritional environment? We’ll definitely keep an eye on glycolysis, but I’m also really keen to explore other metabolic pathways and see what else we can discover.

What role does curiosity play in your life, both within and outside of science? How important it is for you to answer basic science questions?

I would say that being curious is one of my most important character trait, and I really cherish it. It’s what drives me to explore new people, cultures, places, and ideas. When it comes to basic science questions, I think curiosity is absolutely essential, since you can’t always rely on other motivations, such as direct applications to human health. For me, basic science questions are usually the most exciting ones, and I wouldn’t want to work on anything that doesn’t truly fascinate me. I guess it comes from the longing to understand how life works. How can that not be exciting J?

How can insights from understanding basic science aspects of early development help us understand the impact of maternal nutrition and metabolic microenvironment on embryonic health and the risk of congenital/metabolic disorders in humans?

I think understanding basic science aspects of early development is absolutely crucial to understand the impact of the nutritional environment on embryonic development on a molecular level. We know since a long time that the maternal nutrition impacts even early stages of embryonic development. What we often don’t understand are the phenotypes and their underlying mechanisms. So, it’s important to support basic science on early development to better understand what goes wrong in suboptimal nutritional environments or during metabolic disorders.

Tell us about how you see the future of developmental metabolism and cell fate evolve with the new upcoming tools.

Development happens in time and space, so I believe that visualizing metabolic dynamics is essential for better understanding the role of metabolism during development. Techniques like spatial metabolomics and the use of biosensors will be incredibly valuable for this purpose.

I’m also really excited about the development of new tools that allow us to manipulate metabolic pathways in a spatiotemporal manner. In my recent work, I developed a genetic tool to restrict glucose availability by leveraging a sucrose-cleaving enzyme from yeast, and I’m eager to further refine and expand this approach in the future.

Were there any pivotal moments that shaped your career path? What’s an unexpected place you’ve found inspiration for your work? What advice would you offer to students and early-career scientists interested in exploring the intersections of metabolism and cell fate regulation?

One pivotal moment was seeing a zebrafish embryo develop during an undergraduate course (thank you, @Gerrit Begemann!). It was so beautiful and fascinating that I immediately wanted to understand how something like that works.

Not sure, whether there is an unexpected place but I like to think about things I don’t understand (including science) when I am moving between places, especially while cycling. Maybe it’s something about being in motion.

For students early-career scientists and actually everyone interested in the intersection of metabolism and cell fate regulation, my advice is to seek as much feedback as possible on your ideas and work. This is a complex and rapidly evolving field, and most of us were trained primarily in either developmental biology or metabolism, but rarely both. Engaging with experts from different backgrounds can really broaden your perspective and strengthen your research.

How do you maintain a balance between your rigorous research activities and personal life?

I really like to do outdoor sports, such as rock climbing and beach volleyball. It helps me to clear my head. 

If you hadn’t embarked on a career in biological research, what other profession might you have pursued, and why?

That’s a tough question—I really love what I do! But if I hadn’t gone into biological research, I think I’d still want a career where I’m surrounded by smart, creative people and constantly learning new things. Whether it was in education, technology, or even the arts, the most important thing for me would be working in an environment that challenges me intellectually and encourages curiosity.

Anything you’d want to highlight for the future !

Yes, I actually will be starting my lab at IMBA Vienna in September! We’ll be looking at environmental and metabolic regulators of embryonic development. There is more info on our website (https://www.oeaw.ac.at/imba/groups/kristina-stapornwongkul). So please reach out if you feel enthusiastic to join the team!

Previously we learnt about the role of metabolism in seasonal adaptations and phenotypic plasticity using two unique insect models – butterflies and budworms. Check out – The season’s script: Tales of Metabolic adaptation (Karin Van Der Burg).

Check out the article All the world’s a metabolic dance, and how early career scientists are leading the way !!

The post Metabolic Origins: Steering of early developmental fate #MetabolismMondays appeared first on the Node.

The Fly Board is excited to announce the second cycle of FlyCROSS (2025–2026), following a successful launch in 2024. The goal of FlyCROSS is to empower early career Drosophila researchers by connecting them with mentors who can help them fly in their careers – whether in academia or beyond.

Through FlyCROSS, early career scientists in the Drosophila community will be paired with an experienced mentor who will help them navigate the world of fly research with ease. Designed to prioritize the needs of mentees by matching them with mentors of their preferences, the program offers seasoned researchers an opportunity to share their knowledge and pay it forward by supporting scientists who are seeking guidance and fresh perspectives. The program consists of three parts: the mentor survey, the mentee survey, and matching.

We are currently seeking mentors. Scientists with experience in Drosophila research, including postdoctoral researchers, faculty members, and those in equivalent roles across diverse scientific career paths are eligible to serve as mentors and invited to complete the Mentor survey by July 14. The mentor survey will gather important details about your areas of expertise and personal career journey. We’re looking for mentors from all career paths—academia, industry, biotech, science communication, policy, and more—who have experience with Drosophila research and are eager to support the next generation of fly scientists. (If you have earned a PhD and are currently involved in any scientific career path and have experience working with fruit flies as a model system at any stage of your career, we encourage you to volunteer to support the next generation scientists)

The prospective mentee survey will be open July 21 through September 1 and will collect in-depth information about the type of mentorship each mentee is seeking. Early-career scientists including graduate students, postdoctoral researchers working in fly labs or equivalent settings, and pre-tenure faculty leading Drosophila research groups are eligible to participate as mentees.

Mentees will review the list of available mentors and their responses, with the option to indicate their preferred mentors. After receiving mentee submissions, the FlyCROSS Committee will carefully review the preferences and finalize pairings, ensuring an optimal match between mentors and mentees. Matches will be announced by October. Incase of any queries reach out to dmelcross@gmail.com. FlyCROSS was adapted from a similar mentoring program running in the worm community, and we sincerely appreciate their support of our endeavor.

Thankyou
Shefali
FlyCROSS Co-chair
Grad student rep, Fly Board
PhD candidate, Tennessen Lab
IU Bloomington
Bluesky : ‪@iamshef.bsky.social‬
X : @iam_shef

The post FlyCROSS 2025–26: Mentor-mentee matching program appeared first on the Node.

Emerging perspectives in metabolism

This week we’ll meet Dr Karin Van der Burg, a new faculty at Clemson University. Karin’s introduction to seasonal adaptation came during her undergrad first-year biology lecture, when she first heard about butterflies changing wing colors depending on temperature. “I thought that was SO COOL!” she recalls that moment. Her first encounter with phenotypic plasticity shifted how she saw development. Since then, Karin’s curiosity has led her deep into the physiological and genetic mechanisms that allow insects to tune their development to the seasons. From hormones and gene expression to chromatin and cold tolerance, her work spans multiple levels of biological organization. She’s studied butterflies that color-shift with the calendar, and budworms that shut down development to survive freezing winters. Now at her own lab, she’s combining genetics and physiology to explore how environmental cues like day length, temperature and seasons get integrated by hormonal systems to shape development using the Buckeye butterfly, Junonia coenia, and other incredible insect models. At heart, her science is driven by one thing: a need to know how it all works. Check out her lab page here. Give her a follow over Twitter and Bluesky. Keep an eye for announcements because she will soon be hiring postdocs and students in her lab !

What was your first introduction to the study of seasonal adaptation in insects? Tell us about that moment and how it shaped your scientific path? 

I believe the first time I heard about this was in first year of college, in a lecture from Dr. Paul Brakefield. He told us about Bicyclus anynana, a small brown African butterfly species that changes its phenotype depending on rearing conditions. Exposure to cooler temperatures leads to a dull brown phenotype, which is adaptive in the dry season, while exposure to warmer temperatures results in the development of colorful wing eyespots, which are more adaptive in the wet season. At the time I thought that was SO COOL!

This was basically my first introduction to phenotypic plasticity: the phenomenon where multiple phenotypes could be created from one genotype. It really changed my perspective on how organisms develop and grow; I used to believe it was a very deterministic process, but instead it turned out to be very adaptable.

Tell us what sparked your interest in the connection between endocrine signaling and seasonal adaptation? Walk us through your journey into studying the genetic and physiological basis of seasonal adaptation and introduce us to the field.

What really drew me in was the idea that phenotypes are plastic. At the time, work done in the evolution group at Leiden University did a lot of research in hormonal signaling underlying this plasticity, and I was fortunate enough to be able to do my undergraduate research project in that group. My project focused on genes associated with DNA methylation. It didn’t really go anywhere, but it was my first introduction to hormonal signaling and epigenetic signaling possibly working in concert.

As I continued my education, into my master’s and my PhD, I really started to think about how endocrine signaling affects epigenetic changes, which in turn results in changes in developmental pathways, resulting in different phenotypes. I realized to truly understand how organisms respond to seasonal changes, we need to look at the complete picture, and not one small aspect.

During my PhD I did mostly genetics research (with Dr. Reed at Cornell University), looking at genetic changes involved with changes in butterfly wing color plasticity. I also looked at changes to gene expression and chromatin accessibility, with a little bit of endocrine signaling, all to understand how seasonal plasticity in butterfly wing colors can evolve.  While it was really interesting, I did feel like I was too focused on one aspect of a phenotype (in my case, butterfly wing color), and not the organism as a whole. I felt like there were many more changes involved in seasonal plasticity. Thus, for my postdoc I switched to a much more physiology focused lab (Dr. Marshall at UBC) to really get that more holistic perspective. To really understand how insects adapt to seasonal conditions, I believe we need to look at insect holistically, and not just one small aspect.

You have worked with different model systems including budworm Choristoneura fumiferana, and the common buckeye butterfly Junonia coenia. Tell us about your experience of working with these unique systems. What advantages do they offer in studying seasonal adaptations?

The biggest advantage is that these two organisms allow me to investigate two different types of seasonal adaptation; J. coenia has two flight seasons a year, an early and a late summer season. Each season has different conditions, such as temperature, rainfall, and food availability. We can use that to investigate how insects survive and reproduce in different conditions. Most notable about this butterfly is its change in wing coloration: butterflies emerge with a pale tan color when reared under warm, long-day conditions, and a dark red color when reared under cold, short-day conditions. Very likely there are other seasonal adaptations too, although they are not well known.

C. fumiferana, or the eastern spruce budworm, is really interesting in that it only has one lifecycle per year, and it is also stationary in the northern boreal forest. That means it needs to survive winter, with truly harsh conditions. Some very extreme changes in phenotype are necessary to survive under those conditions. My main interest is in the diapause phenotype, a prolonged period of arrested development during the early larval stages that allows for survival during harsh winters.

I like the combination of the two, because it allows me to study survival and reproduction in multiple different seasons, with very different survival strategies!

Tell us about your work on butterfly wing color plasticity. What were some of your key findings regarding the genetic factors controlling changes in wing color plasticity? Specifically, how does the upregulation of metabolites like trehalase contribute to the environmentally induced and genetically assimilated red phenotype?

During my PhD, I did a big research project on seasonal wing color plasticity in Junonia coenia. As I mentioned, in the wild this butterfly displays seasonal wing color plasticity, but we found we can easily manipulate this through artificial selection, such that plasticity was lost in only a few generations. We found three genes to be involved in this loss of plasticity, trehalase, herfst, and cortex. Later, my colleagues found that it probably wasn’t cortex regulating plasticity, but ivory, a long non-coding RNA. (Fandino et al., 2024; Livraghi et al., 2024; Tian et al., 2024).

Trehalase was indeed a very interesting find! The gene is upregulated under cold conditions in Junonia, and in other insects it is involved in cold-hardening. Trehalose (the sugar) can act as a cryoprotectant (prevents hemolymph freezing), and it is involved in metabolism.

We hypothesized that trehalase may be involved with the production of red pigments as well, because the ommochrome pigment that produces the red color contains a sugar molecule.

It’s really interesting to hypothesize on the multiple roles trehalase might play in seasonal plasticity. For example, it could be that the involvement in red pigmentation is a secondary effect; where trehalase was upregulated at first to manage cold conditions, and later was co-opted to produce red pigmentation as well! I will say that this is mostly speculation at this point, but it is definitely a research avenue worth pursuing.

Butterflies rely on endocrine cues to regulate metabolism and developmental timing. How does the ecdysone signaling pathway integrate environmental information to drive seasonal phenotypes?

These are really, really good questions! There is a lot of evidence that ecdysone signaling in butterflies is a universal regulator of seasonal plasticity (Bhardwaj et al., 2020). Given that ecdysone signaling is responsive to changes in day length, it is likely that circadian genes are involved, although that mechanism is not well worked out in insects.

Can small changes in endocrine signaling lead to tissue-specific adaptations without widespread disruptions. How does this level of regulation evolve, and what makes it so flexible?

Again, very good question. There are two things at play here: the seasonal responsiveness of ecdysone signaling, and the ability of seasonal plasticity to rapidly evolve. I believe overall development is very robust against predictable seasonal changes in ecdysone signaling. Tissue specific adaptations, such as wing color and wing shape in Junonia, or eyespot size in other nymphalid butterflies, can evolve rapidly to become more or less responsive to fluctuations in ecdysone. I suspect that outside of predictable seasonal changes, fluctuations in ecdysone signaling would be very problematic for normal development. I think (I may be wrong) the reason why plasticity can evolve so rapidly is because the seasonal responsiveness system (ecdysone signaling) is so robust and thus predictable, and so it makes for a reliable internal cue to adjust tissue specific developmental programs.

How does natural selection shape the regulation of hormonal pathways involved in adaptation? Are there evolutionary constraints that limit how endocrine signaling can be modified?

I think we know very little about the evolution of hormonal pathways itself! There are almost certainly many constraints on how endocrine signaling itself can evolve, because hormonal signaling is involved in so many different things. I believe that natural selection can readily act on downstream receivers of endocrine signals, but maybe not so much on the ecdysone signal itself. I’m happy to be proven wrong here though!

Speaking of your experimental approach – What have been the biggest challenges in studying endocrine regulation of seasonal adaptation? Are there specific experiments that were particularly difficult to execute? Did you have to deal with midnight timepoints or require an army of undergrads/ long hours etc.

Ecdysone measurements are a huge pain… Much harder than any of the genetic analysis I’ve done; ATAC-seq /RNA-seq / CRISPR/Cas9 were all a breeze compared to ecdysone measurements. It appears such a straightforward experiment, but I was constantly dealing with broken HPLC machines, degradation of ecdysone samples in the freezer… And yes, many late night or early morning sampling time points. I did all the sampling myself, but I did have an army of undergraduate students to help rear all the caterpillars!

Looking ahead, what are the next big questions in understanding how endocrine signaling and metabolism intersect with seasonal adaptation?

I’m very interested in exploring the interplay between circadian rhythms and ecdysone signaling! How/why is ecdysone signaling so responsive to external cues?

What role does curiosity play in your life, both within and outside of science? Why do you choose to work on insects?

Ultimately, I just want to know how stuff works… I enjoy thinking about biological research questions that integrate external and internal factors. I landed on gene regulatory mechanisms because for me, that’s where the bridge is between hard-coded DNA and the final phenotype which is very dependent on external conditions. I mostly work on insects because they are easier to work with than mammals, and because many insect species are very important to us.

Have you noticed a shift in how researchers approach insect biology?

Definitely have seen a shift to consider organisms more holistically, integrating factors at multiple levels of biological organization. I also feel like the scientific community is a lot more aware how important external conditions such as seasons are! So yes, I definitely think so.

Tell us about how you see the future of adaptative metabolism evolve with the new upcoming tools – what techniques have you used and which tools are you most excited about?

Single-cell RNA/ATAC-seq, and new CRISPR/Cas9 applications…

I haven’t worked with single cells yet, but I’d like to in the future! I’ve worked a lot with gene-editing through CRISPR/Cas9, but new techniques using CRISPR are coming out regularly and it is very exciting.

Were there any pivotal moments that shaped your career path? What’s an unexpected place you’ve found inspiration for your work? What advice would you offer to students and early-career scientists?

I was in a very genetics driven lab during my PhD, working with Bob Reed at Cornell. During my PostDoc, I shifted to a much more physiology-oriented lab, working with Katie Marshall at UBC. That shift really cemented that I wanted to integrate physiology and genetics research. I’m not sure this is ‘unexpected’ but I get most inspired from conversations with other folks, especially new students. The questions I get asked, especially ones that I don’t know the answer to, are really inspiring!

For advice, always be willing to consider new perspectives, and never be afraid to share your own thoughts, even if you’re not super confident. Science is a group effort!

How do you maintain a balance between your rigorous research activities and personal life? Are there hobbies or practices you find particularly rejuvenating?

These days I have a child, and that forces me to put down work when I’m at home! Otherwise, I love crafting! For example, making quilts or knitting.

If you hadn’t embarked on a career in biological research, what other profession might you have pursued, and why?

I truly don’t know – Before I found biology I tried engineering for a year and failed miserably. I feel like biology is the alternative career path for me and it has worked out well so far!

Anything you’d want to highlight for the future?

I’ll be looking for a post doc this coming year! I’ll make a more formal announcement soon. I’m also rounding up a big project that I started in my postdoc on local adaptation in spruce budworm, I’m very excited for that!

Last week we learnt about how cancer cells rewire their metabolism to alter their cell fate and proliferate, check out – Switching Gears – Metabolic rewiring in cancer (Luis Cedeno-Rosario).

Check out the article All the world’s a metabolic dance, and how early career scientists are leading the way !!

The post The Season’s Script: Tales of Metabolic adaptation #MetabolismMondays appeared first on the Node.

Emerging perspectives in metabolism

This week, we explore the story of Dr. Luis Cedeno-Rosario, a postdoctoral researcher in the Rutter Lab at the University of Utah. Luis’s path into metabolism began with a biochemistry class—an early glimpse into how cells adapt, survive, and respond to their world. His work explores how cancer cells alter their internal wiring to support unchecked growth and resist treatment—uncovering how shifts in metabolism can give tumors a survival advantage. These insights may help identify new ways to target cancer by exploiting its metabolic dependencies. Continue reading to learn how Luis is driven by curiosity, scientific precision, and how having a supportive mentoring environment impacted his journey. Check out his thoughts on how he winds science and music together, and how he views metabolism more than just chemistry— but as a language through which disease reveals its secrets and a window into how life adapts under pressure. Give him a follow over twitter and bluesky.

What’s your first memory of the field of metabolism? Could you share your journey into studying metabolism in disease contexts like cancer and cardiac disorders?

I have always been passionate about understanding how cells adapt to different environments and challenges, with a focus on cancer cell signaling and mitochondrial metabolism. I was taking a biochemistry and cell and molecular biology class as an undergraduate student at the University of Puerto Rico – Humacao and became fascinated by how multiple pathways intersect to regulate this process and their impact on cell behavior. I also had the great opportunity to do summer research internships at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center and at Johns Hopkins University which allowed me to learn more about the cell signaling and metabolism field. This is what led me to pursue a PhD in cell signaling in Dr. Deborah Chadee’s lab at the University of Toledo and a postdoc in metabolism in Dr. Jared Rutter’s lab at the University of Utah.

Introduce us to the field of cancer metabolism – you have worked on different types of cancer cells like ovarian cancer cells and liver cancer cells – tell us about your experiences.

During my first year of graduate school, I knew that I wanted to study cell signaling but I wasn’t sure in what context. I remember listening to Dr. Chadee’s talk in the signal transduction class and I was very fascinated by the complexity of the MAP Kinase signaling pathways and their role in ovarian cancer progression. Therefore, I decided to complete my PhD under the mentoring of Dr. Chadee where I worked on the regulation of the MAP3K MLK3 by CDK1 and CDK2 and their role in controlling cell division and proliferation in ovarian cancer cells (Check out the paper here). For my postdoc in the Rutter lab, I wanted to apply what I learnt during graduate school in the context of mitochondrial metabolism and their signaling pathways that are involved in liver cancer cell proliferation and progression.

How are different cells metabolically heterogeneous within the same tumor? Why is it important to study metabolic heterogeneity in cancer occurrence/progression – in term of both the cells themselves and the microenvironment?

Cells can have different metabolic profiles depending on the metabolites they need or are available in their surroundings. That heterogeneity can also come from where these cells are localized, for example, cells that are in a more hypoxic environment will probably have other metabolic needs than cells that are in a less hypoxic or normal environment. So cells have evolved in a way that they are very smart in choosing or taking what they need to meet their metabolic demands.

Tell us about your current work on metabolic signaling in the context of Wnt/beta-catenin pathway activation in liver cancer cells. How do you link it to the mitochondrial functioning and what future questions are you most excited about?

Our lab has done extensive work in characterizing the importance of the Mitochondrial Pyruvate Carrier (MPC) and its role in proliferation and tumorigenesis. I discovered that activation of beta-catenin represses MPC expression in liver cancer cells, and that this regulation rewires mitochondrial metabolism from glucose oxidation towards fatty acid oxidation. This is particularly interesting in the context of cancers in which MPC is downregulated and fatty acid oxidation is increased. I am very excited for the future since my findings opens up new avenues to explore ways to increase MPC expression in these tumors and increase the quality of life and survival of cancer patients.

Tell us how difficult some of these experiments are – do you have to deal with midnight timepoints or require an army of undergrads/ long hours, has to use some un-conventional/creative tools to overcome experimental challenges etc.

Some of these experiments have been truly a challenge and I have definitely spent many many hours in the lab trying to solve multiple research questions and/or developing new techniques to study the regulation of MPC by beta-catenin. I mentored an amazing summer research student, Nimo Abdi, who helped me a lot in the beginning of this project. I also have excellent collaborators, inside and outside the lab, who have contributed to the development of new ideas and have given me new perspectives on this regulation. I am very grateful to have them as collaborators and truly believe that these efforts will make a great impact in the metabolism field.

Building upon your work in the context of liver cancer metabolism, what are your upcoming plans? What metabolic pathways do you aim to investigate further to understand cancer progression from a cell growth and signaling perspective?

This switch in metabolic profile from glucose towards fatty acid oxidation is very exciting. So we are definitely looking more in depth at the metabolic processes that are changing and at the proteins and enzymes behind that regulation. One of the big questions we are investigating right now is to understand what fatty acids these cells prefer to utilize and their implication in liver cancer progression.

Before this, you studied cell signaling in ovarian cancer cells. How was the transition between fields, and what do you carry over from your previous research? Could you shed some light on your results regarding how MLK3 (Mixed lineage kinase 3) regulates cell cycle of ovarian cancer cells and tell us about your cool findings?

I have always thought about metabolism as another way of cells to sense their environment and metabolites are signaling molecules. These are multiple signaling pathways that are interconnected, and this concept was very similar to what I studied during graduate school. During my PhD, I found that the MAP3K MLK3 (Mixed lineage kinase 3) becomes phosphorylated by CDK1 and CDK2 to control ovarian cancer cell cycle progression. This research was published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry (JBC) doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2022.102263 and I would encourage everyone to read it. It is a very interesting story that shows how these phosphorylation events act as “on” and “off” switches to control ovarian cancer cell division and proliferation.

How do you think scientific paradigms in the field of cancer metabolism will evolve in the coming decades – in regard to the new upcoming tools? Are we moving toward a more nuanced understanding, or do you see potential pitfalls?

I feel like we have bright future in our metabolism community. We have seen the development of great techniques such as mass spectrometry integrated with equilibrium dialysis for the discovery of allostery systematically (MIDAS) that was developed in our lab to identify novel interactions between metabolites and proteins. This is a fast-growing field and we are opening more doors to understand the complexity of metabolic pathways in multiple contexts, including cancer, cardiac function and neurodegenerative diseases, and in development. I am very excited for our future findings and hope that I can contribute significantly and have a positive impact not only in the research field itself but also in training the next generation of scientists.

What role does curiosity play in your life, both within and outside of science? 

I believe that curiosity plays an important role in my scientific career. Understanding what is happening at the cellular level is pivotal in the development of new therapies, and that is what drives my passion for science. I want to be able to use my knowledge from cell and molecular mechanisms to develop new and better ways to treat multiple diseases or to at least increase the quality of life of the people affected by a particular disease.

What are the future research questions you are most excited to ask?

I am very excited about pursing metabolism in the context of cell biology and development. I think it is a field that is also growing very fast and I would like to contribute to it and make new discoveries.

Were there any pivotal moments that shaped your career path —and how have you found ways to build a supportive community in science?

I think that the most pivotal moment in my career path was creating a strong and supportive network of mentors within the cell metabolism and mitochondrial biology field. I have met many of these mentors in conferences and through the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Postdoctoral Diversity Enrichment Program (PDEP) that have been critical in my development as a future independent scientist. I am also very grateful to be part of the biochemistry department at the University of Utah and to receive a lot of internal support as a postdoctoral fellow.

How do you maintain a balance between your rigorous research activities and personal life? Are there hobbies or practices you find particularly rejuvenating?

Music! I have extensive training in classical music and I am actually a member of the Utah Medical Orchestra (UMO) where I play the flute and the piccolo. Music is definitely a big part of who I am.

If you hadn’t embarked on a career in biological research, what other profession might you have pursued, and why?

I would have pursued a law degree or a music degree in flute performance. In the law aspect, I like the complexity of finding new solutions to diverse problems. In the music aspect, I like how we can create art using a universal language and enjoy that art as a whole. Music can bring you different feelings and helps us express ourselves.

Last week we learnt about how viruses rewire and utilize host lipid metabolism using mosquitoes as a host model system with Wolbachia and dengue as viral players, check out the article – Lipids and Labyrinths (Cassandra Koh). Cassandra is a new PI, studying metabolic interactions of symbiosis and virus-virus host interactions. She is seeking motivated students and collaborators.

Check out the article All the world’s a metabolic dance, and how early career scientists are leading the way !!

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