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 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 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 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 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 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 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.
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.
From the nitty-gritty aspects of research to the practice of science communication activities, creativity is an essential part of science. The aim of this webinar is to show that creativity lies at the heart of the practice of science communication and to explore how an explicitly creative approach may help you reach the goals of your science communication project.
In the first part of the webinar, Anatolii will give a conceptual overview of how we might understand creativity in science communication. To that end, he will draw on some parallels between science and art, to unpack several dimensions of creativity relevant to science communication.
The second part will involve practical work, where each of the participants will be given exercises and tools to ideate what their creative science communication project might look like. The webinar will conclude with a facilitated group discussion, through which the participants will join in sharing their insights and try to articulate some practical lessons.
This workshop will be limited to 20 participants working in academic settings. The invitations will be sent out on a first-come-first-served basis.
Anatolii Kozlov is a scientist-turned-philosopher of science and science communicator.
Join us to hear two of Development’s PI fellows speaking on the topic of gene regulation, chaired by James Gahan. One of Development’s first PI fellows, James is an Associate Professor in the Centre for Chromosome Biology at the University of Galway. His research focuses on understanding early animal evolution with a particular interest in gene regulation and chromatin biology.
Wednesday 27 August – 15:00 BST
Anzy Miller (University of Manchester) ‘NGN3 oscillatory expression controls the timing of human pancreatic endocrine differentiation’
Marlies Oomen (Helmholtz Munich, Institute of Epigenetics and Stem Cells) ‘Jumping through evolution; Genome regulation of and by transposable elements during mammalian preimplantation development’
At the speakers’ discretion, the webinar will be recorded to view on demand. To see the other webinars scheduled in our series, and to catch up on previous talks, please visit: thenode.biologists.com/devpres
Development has been organising regular meetings on human development for over a decade. For 2026, the journal has teamed up with the Wellcome-funded consortium the Human Developmental Biology Initiative (HDBI) to co-organise this event, which will bring together researchers from around the world, united by an interest in understanding human developmental biology. Topics covered will range from lineage specification, patterning and morphogenesis through to bioengineering and disease modelling.
Organisers: Paula Alexandre, James Briscoe, Emily Calderbank, Claudio Cortes Rodriguez, Muzz Haniffa, Paul Riley, Liz Robertson, Peter Rugg-Gunn, John Russell, Ben Simons, Shankar Srinivas and Pilar Vazquez Arango
Spotted a preprint in this list that you love? If you’re keen to gain some science writing experience and be part of a friendly, diverse and international community, consider joining preLights and writing a preprint highlight article.
Genetic lineage tracing identifies intermediate mesoderm as a novel contributor to mammalian kidney lymphatics Daniyal J Jafree, Lauren G Russell, Athanasia Stathopoulou, Christopher J Rowan, Andrew T White, Charlotte O’Riordan, Maria Kolatsi-Joannou, Karen L Price, Sarah Ivins, Liam A Ridge, Catherine Roberts, Jennie C Chandler, Laura Wilson, Dale Moulding, Julie Siegenthaler, Adrian S Woolf, Paul R Riley, Christiana Ruhrberg, Peter J Scambler, Norman D Rosenblum, David A Long
Loss of CTLH component MAEA impairs DNA repair and replication and leads to developmental delay Soren H. Hough, Satpal S. Jhujh, Samah W. Awwad, Simon Lam, John C. Thomas, Oliver Lewis, Thorsten Mosler, Aldo S. Bader, Lauren E. Bartik, Shane McKee, Shivarajan M. Amudhavalli, Estelle Colin, Nadirah Damseh, Emma Clement, Pilar Cacheiro, Anirban Majumdar, Damian Smedley, Isabelle Thiffault, Guido Zagnoli Vieira, Rimma Belotserkovskaya, Stephen J. Smerdon, Petra Beli, Yaron Galanty, Christopher J. Carnie, Grant S. Stewart, Stephen P. Jackson
Genetics of growth rate in induced pluripotent stem cells Brian N. Lee, Henry J. Taylor, Filippo Cipriani, Narisu Narisu, Catherine C. Robertson, Amy J. Swift, Neelam Sinha, Tingfen Yan, Lori L. Bonnycastle, Nathan Dale, Annie Butt, Hemant Parsaud, Stefan Semrau, NYSCF Global Stem Cell Array Team, GENESiPS Consortium, iPSCORE Consortium, Joshua W. Knowles, Ivan Carcamo-Orive, Agnieszka D’Antonio-Chronowska, Kelly A. Frazer, Leslie G. Biesecker, Scott Noggle, Michael R. Erdos, Daniel Paull, Francis S. Collins, D. Leland Taylor
Two parallel lineage-committed progenitors contribute to the developing brain Carolyn E. Dundes, Rayyan T. Jokhai, Hadia Ahsan, Rachel S. Kang, Rachel E.A. Salomon-Shulman, Arjun Rajan, Yoon Seok Kim, Liam J. Stanton, Christine Xu, Stephanie Do, Brennan D. McDonald, José Miguel Andrade López, Hugo A. Urrutia, Hannah Greenfeld, Alicia Wong, Yimiao Qu, Andrew S. Petkovic, Yi Miao, K. Christopher Garcia, Michelle Monje, Daniel E. Wagner, Marianne E. Bronner, Christopher J. Lowe, Kyle M. Loh
Stem cells actively suppress regenerative plasticity in human colon Joris H. Hageman, Defne Yalcin, Julian R. Buissant des Amorie, Sascha R. Brunner, Thomas A. Kluiver, Aleksandra Balwierz, Franziska L. Langner, Maria C. Puschhof, Yannik Bollen, Thanasis Margaritis, Hugo J.G. Snippert
Fibroblast depletion reveals mammalian epithelial resilience across neonatal and adult stages Isabella M. Gaeta, Shuangshuang Du, Clémentine Villeneuve, David G. Gonzalez, Catherine Matte-Martone, Smirthy Ganesan, Deandra Simpson, Jessica L Moore, Chen Yuan Kam, Sara Gallini, Haoyang Wei, Fabien Bertillot, Dagmar Zeuschner, Lauren E. Gonzalez, Kaelyn D Sumigray, Sara A Wickström, Valentina Greco
Two Spag6 genes control sperm formation and male fertility in mice Yunhao Liu, Wei Li, Tao Li, Cheng Zheng, Changmin Niu, Alain Schmitt, Yi Tian Yap, Mohammad Abdulghani, Shuiqiao Yuan, Christian Melander, Jerome F Strauss III, Aminata Toure, Ling Zhang, Zhibing Zhang
Microtubule curling as an efficient readout to uncover fundamental concepts of axonal cell biology André Voelzmann, Milli Owens, Robin Beaven, William Cairns, Abigail Elliot, Sheng-Hui Feng, Catarina Goncalves-Pimentel, Ines Hahn, Ella Jones, Kodie Norris, Thomas Murphy, Yu-Ting Liew, Lydia Lorenzo-Cisneros, Judith Fuelle, Liliana M. Pinho-Correia, Yue Qu, Natalia, Tarunima Sharma, Sánchez-Soriano, Andreas Prokop
The Company of Biologists is recruiting a new Community Manager for the Node – a community site hosted by Development for developmental and stem cell biologists.
Why are we hiring?
Since the Node was launched 15 years ago, we’ve had five fantastic Community Managers who support the day-to-day running and long-term development of the site. We’ve found that a full-time Community Manager is really instrumental to keeping the site running smoothly, securing a regular stream of content and developing new features. Last month, we said goodbye to Joyce, our most recent Community Manager, as she took on a new challenge in her career, so now, we are recruiting a new Community Manager to lead the site.
Former Community Managers for the Node.
Who are we looking for?
We’re looking for a passionate science communicator with research experience in developmental or stem cell biology, interested in working in a not-for-profit publishing environment, and eager to bring new ideas to the Node. Experience in science communication, using social media to disseminate research and using the WordPress platform makes for a competitive candidate. Knowledge of technical web development is not a requirement since external IT partners support the Node, but some basic coding skills are a plus.
What does the role involve?
From supporting Node users (mostly research-active scientists), to writing posts and commissioning content, there’s variation and opportunity to try new things as a Community Manager. For more details on the tasks that come with the role, including working with the other Community Managers at the Company to help develop early-career researchers, read this recent breakdown from Joyce. The successful candidate will work within the Development journal team, where they will also contribute non-peer-reviewed content to the journal and manage the social media accounts for both the Node and Development.
Where is the job based?
This is a permanent, full-time position. The role requires being able to work from The Company of Biologists’ offices in Cambridge, UK, at least 50% of the working week. The role also requires national and international travel to attend meetings and conferences.
Interested?
Please see the full job description and apply before Friday 5 September 2025. If you have any questions about the role or the recruitment process, feel welcome to contact me informally at alex.eve@biologists.com.
Summary: It is difficult to predict whether newborns will develop autism, but autism can occur alongside congenital heart disease, which is identifiable at birth. Scientists from University of California, San Francisco, USA, are working to understand the shared biology of autism and congenital heart disease to predict the risk that a child has autism earlier. Their latest study, published in Development, shows that hair-like cell structures (cilia) found on all cells link autism and congenital heart disease.
The skin of a frog embryo, with cilia (in magenta and cyan) and the outline of cells (in grey) highlighted. Image credit: James Schmidt
Press release: Autism spectrum disorders are complex neurodevelopmental conditions affecting about 1 in 100 children worldwide. Early diagnosis would allow timely intervention to improve the development and quality of life for children with autism. Scientists have identified over 200 genes associated with autism, but predicting the risk of developing autism based on genetic information is not straightforward. Autism can co-occur with congenital heart disease, which affects the structure, growth and function of the heart. Because congenital heart disease can be readily identified in newborns, a congenital heart disease diagnosis could help identify children at higher risk of developing autism earlier. Scientists have been trying to understand why the two conditions, which affect the development of the brain and the heart respectively, occur together. A team of scientists, led by Dr Helen Willsey from University of California, San Francisco, USA, discovered that tiny hair-like structures called cilia, found on the surface of almost every cell, underlie the shared biology of autism and congenital heart disease, taking us a step closer to early prediction of children at risk of developing autism. This study is published in the journal Development on 24 June 2025.
‘Understanding how autism and congenital heart disease intersect biologically has been technically challenging just due to the sheer number of risk genes involved in both disorders,’ said Willsey. Previous evidence had shown that mutations in 361 genes increased the risk of individuals developing either autism, congenital heart disease, or both. The scientists wondered whether genes linked to congenital heart disease that directly affect nerve cells may be genes that also increase the risk of autism. ‘Here, we looked at how these risk genes function in the development of both the brain and heart and contribute to disease,’ said Willsey.
Nia Teerikorpi, who performed most of the experiments in this study, grew immature human nerve cells that had been mutated to lack one of the 361 key genes in the lab and monitored how well the cells grew. She found 45 genes that affected the growth of the nerve cells. Looking more closely, Teerikorpi and the team found that all 45 genes function in tiny hair-like protrusions (cilia) extending from our cells that are involved in movement, sensation and communication between cells. Willsey explained why one gene in this group – taok1 – caught their attention: ‘Patients with mutations in the taok1 gene appear to have a higher risk of developing autism, and we previously identified taok1 as a predicted congenital heart disease risk gene, but we had not yet tested whether it functions in heart development. So, seeing this gene come up again in this work looking at the shared biology of the two conditions motivated us to study it more closely.’
To study the role of taok1 in the heart and brain, the team altered the gene in frog embryos and then monitored their growth and development. They found that cilia could not form properly on cell surfaces, and they observed defects developing in the heart and brain. This suggests that the other 44 genes identified could also be relevant for the development of the brain and heart, contributing to autism and congenital heart disease.
Building on this work, the team is now actively pursuing the extent to which genes involved in cilia overlap with genes associated with autism and congenital heart disease, ‘what we discovered is the tip of the iceberg for the intersection of autism and congenital heart disease,’ said Willsey, ‘Our findings offer the opportunity to prioritize people with genes associated with both conditions for early monitoring and intervention.’
Join stem cell, gene, and regenerative medicine researchers, manufacturers, and patient representatives in Boston, USA on 11-12 December 2025 for a program focused on developing the next generation of technologies and platforms for the application of therapies to improve human health.
“[This] symposium arrives at a truly exciting time for regenerative medicine. I am thrilled by the incredible potential of PSC-derived cell therapies to tackle intractable diseases, a future powered by the innovative science and the incredibly diverse, international and collaborative community of researchers dedicated to bringing these transformative treatments to patients.” – Stefan Irion, MD, BlueRock Therapeutics (Organizing Committee Member)
With global speakers across a wide variety of disciplines and expertise, this program is sure to spark conversations and collaborations surrounding ESC & iPSC-derived cell therapies.
Submit an abstract by 10 September 2025 for the chance to present alongside pioneers in the field, including our keynote presenter, George Church!
Do not miss this call for mentees from the Drosophila community.
Scan the QR Code & fill the mentee survey !
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
At the end of each month, I pick the same month from a random year from the past 15 years of the Node, and take a look at what people were talking about back then.
Previously, I’ve been busy travelling back to February 2011, March 2013, April 2014, May 2016 and June 2013 to have a look around the Node. It’s now July, and I enjoyed my time travelling back to June of 2013 so much that I decided to stay behind until the end of July…
Read this course report from Alice Accorsi. Fast forward to 2025, Development has published a Perspective article, looking back at the relationship between The Company of Biologists and the Woods Hole course. In the article, we caught up with Alice and others to find out how the course has impacted their careers.
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