Mastodawn

2nd Asian Xenopus Conference: August 24 (Mon) - 26 (Wed), 2026 - ST Convention Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea https://www.xenbase.org/xenbase/doNewsRead.do?id=1051 #science #devbio #cellbio #xenopus #frogs

Christian Mayer May 28

New preprint from the lab!

How do brain progenitors choose between D1 and D2 medium spiny neurons? We find the *relative levels* of SP9 and DLX TFs tip the balance: SP9 activates D2 genes at promoters, and represses D1 enhancers via DLX/NuRD.

Proud of the team — combining sparse in vivo CRISPR, lineage barcoding, scRNA-seq, ChIP-seq, CUT&RUN and proteomics for mechanistic depth in in vivo functional genomics.

🔗 [https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.05.25.727662]

#newsmayerlab #Neuroscience #DevBio #Transcription #bioRxiv

Xenbase May 7

The American Society for Cell Biology members elected Rebecca Heald, Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, to serve as the Society’s President in 2028. https://www.xenbase.org/xenbase/doNewsRead.do?id=1050 #science #devbio #cellbio #xenopus #frogs

mechanochemistry Apr 29

BMS Seminar:

Kristian Franze (PDN, Cambridge & MPZPM, Erlangen)

The chemo-mechanical regulation of brain development

TODAY! 1315 in MTC LT Gibbet Hill

#DevBio #mechanobiology

mechanochemistry Apr 22

Pierced ears and ear rings: Epithelial fusion and fracture in the developing zebrafish inner ear

Professor Tanya Whitfield
School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield

Wednesday 22 April 2026
1.15pm-2.15pm
IBRB Lecture Theatre, Gibbet Hill Campus

#DevBio

mechanochemistry Apr 2

NEW Paper from the Saunders lab

Identification of optimal fluorophores for use in the Drosophila embryo

Chapa-y-Lazo et al.

https://www.molbiolcell.org/doi/full/10.1091/mbc.E25-12-0600

#microscopy #devbio

Sally Lowell Mar 31

The ABC of my fave things in this paper:

* ABOLISHING both silencing AND leakiness of SynNotch (check out the DTA-based demo of this 😍) while preserving high efficiency, in pluripotent & differentiating cells

* BOOSTING signal during #PUFFFIN neighbour-labelling

* CITING Robbie Burns (1786) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.22.713470v1

#DevBio

KELPE: knock-in exchangeable dual landing pad embryonic stem cells enable efficient screening of synthetic gene circuits

The establishment of genetic circuits in pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) allows to model and manipulate developmental events. However, prototyping complex circuitry remains challenging, due to limitations in screening circuit components and transgene silencing. Here, we introduce KELPE: PSCs with two silencing-resistant insulated genomic landing pads targeted to genomic safe harbour sites. KELPE cells enable the stable integration of multiple transgenes into the same genomic region, facilitating fair comparisons of genetic circuit components. We demonstrate this by fine-tuning "synthetic neighbour-labelling" technologies. We first generate optimised PUFFFIN PSCs, which report on cell-cell interactions by fluorescently labelling wild-type neighbours. We then generate new synNotch "receiver" PSCs, which can trigger expression of any transgene following interaction with a synthetic ligand presented by "sender" cells of interest. We describe an optimised circuit syntax that abolishes ligand-independent transgene induction in receiver PSCs, and showcase this by synthetically programming cell death in receiver cells engineered to express a toxin following interaction with sender cells. In summary, we describe a new cell line that facilitates silencing-resistant transgene expression and prototyping of synthetic biology tools in a developmentally-relevant model. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.

bioRxiv

Daniel MacPhee 🔬🧬🧫🇨🇦Mar 28

“Non-coding RNAs turn out to regulate everything from embryonic development to immune responses to brain function. They help determine which genes get turned on and off, and when. They can promote cancer or suppress it.”
#Science #Scicomm #RNA #Medicine #DevBio
https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/living-world/2026/noncoding-rna-molecules-in-cells

The silent majority: RNAs that don’t make proteins

Once considered cellular junk, non-coding RNAs are emerging as key players in everything from brain development to cancer — with much still to be discovered

Knowable Magazine | Annual Reviews

Xenbase Mar 24

Save the date! Xenopus Resources and Emerging Technologies (XRET) Meeting: October 2-5, 2026 at MBL, Woods Hole, MA https://www.xenbase.org/xenbase/doNewsRead.do?id=1048 #science #devbio #xenopus #frogs

Sally Lowell Mar 24

Favourite talk so far at BSDB2026 was from Cliff Tabin, entitled 'Quack science':

Proper hardcore dev-bio airway-patterning mechanisms... explaining distinct vocalisations in birds!

Estrogen modulates developmental signalling, explaining why male (but not female) ducks can whistle as well as quack.

Left-Right asymmetry during development of airways explains why some songbirds can harmonise with themselves.

#DevBio