James Hammond
banner
jamesehammond.bsky.social
James Hammond
@jamesehammond.bsky.social
Postdoc in Clark lab @geneticscam.bsky.social

Segmentation, Robustness, Evolvability
Lepidoptera and Birds
#embryo2024

jewh2.github.io
Reposted by James Hammond
Really excited to present the results of a fantastic collaboration with Jesse Veenvliet @jesseveenvliet.bsky.social @mpi-cbg.de @poldresden.bsky.social 🤩

We find a unique mechanism for body axis elongation in mammals, different from other vertebrate species

➡️ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
October 28, 2025 at 8:25 AM
Collected leaf-mines of Dialectica scalariella on Viper's Bugloss/Echium vulgare from Freshwater Bay, Portland (VC 9) on 13th Sept - adults emerged on 25th Sept

@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social @dorsetbutterflies.bsky.social
September 27, 2025 at 11:23 AM
Reposted by James Hammond
I am excited to share the first preprint from my postdoc work! We found that ligand-receptor pairs are not static and show an antagonistic spatial localization! We show ligand is important to fine tune the amplitude of Wnt oscillations ensuring robust tissue patterning! Check out the preprint!
Preprint alert!
We combined microfluidics, proteomics, and RNA-seq to map spatiotemporal protein expression during mouse somitogenesis and found a novel regulatory strategy: dynamic antagonistic gradients fine-tune signalling strength.

doi.org/10.1101/2025...
September 11, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Out now in Seminars in Cell & Dev Biol!

doi.org/10.1016/j.se...

With thanks to co-authors @callumbucklow.bsky.social and @bertaverd.bsky.social
September 8, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Reposted by James Hammond
🧪🚨Ever wondered why plant leaves 🍃look the way they do? Glad to contribute to work by Jamie Malone & team on developmental bias toward simple leaves! But there’s a backstory to it 1/4
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Developmental bias explains the evolutionary trend towards simple leaf shapes
The relative influence of developmental bias and natural selection on evolutionary outcomes remains a central, unresolved question in evolutionary biology. Here, we combine large-scale phylogenetic tr...
www.biorxiv.org
August 28, 2025 at 1:10 AM
Haar kept moth numbers down at Findhorn dunes (VC 95) last night, with a meagre return of 15 species across two traps. However i did find a nice Portland moth / Actebia praecox resting on the heather, and an attractive Arctosa perita sought refuge (or prey) inside one of the traps
August 18, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Great night mothing in Wytham Woods on midsummer's day - warm weather brought in 121 species including (presumed) Nemapogon ruricolella, Argyresthia glaucinella, and a very handsome Stephensia brunnichella

@tmbirding.bsky.social #mothsmatter
June 25, 2025 at 7:39 AM
Reposted by James Hammond
In this Perspective, students from the 2024 Embryology Course share their experiences spending the summer at the Marine Biological Laboratory (@mblscience.bsky.social‬) in Woods Hole:
journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
June 10, 2025 at 8:51 AM
Reposted by James Hammond
The Company of Biologists and the Woods Hole Embryology Course

We explore the association of Development and @biologists.bsky.social‬ with the Woods Hole Embryology Course @mblscience.bsky.social‬ and hear from former students about the impact the course has had on them:
doi.org/10.1242/dev....
June 10, 2025 at 8:51 AM
Reposted by James Hammond
From hydra grafts to butterfly gene expression, the 2024 @mblscience.bsky.social #Embryology Course was a playground for #discovery. 🌊 @planaria1.bsky.social Lab postdoc Ekasit Sonpho co-authored a reflection in @dev-journal.bsky.social on what made this summer so transformative: bit.ly/3ZIMRQu
June 4, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Reposted by James Hammond
What a fantastic essay by last year's @mblscience.bsky.social Embryology students! A perfect paean to the most wonderful science: "It's exhausting; it's exhilarating; it's Embryology."

journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
Embryology 2024: a summer like no other
Each summer since 1893, a small group of scientists from around the world have convened at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA, to work on the most exciting model ...
journals.biologists.com
May 30, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Reposted by James Hammond
Somitic Change Drives Changes in Vertebral Regionalisation in African Cichlids Despite Strong Canalisation of Somite Number https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.23.655800v1
May 28, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Reposted by James Hammond
Experimental embryology postdoc available in my lab at the @biology.ox.ac.uk @ox.ac.uk working on the evolution of vertebral counts. Reach out if you’re passionate about EvoDevo, enjoy lab work and microscopy and are into or could get into cichlid fishes. Deadline on the 16th June. Please share!
May 19, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Reposted by James Hammond
Excited to announce my second PhD manuscript is on bioRvix (biorxiv.org/content/10.1...). Thanks to all co-authors, including my supervisors @bertaverd.bsky.social and Roger Benson. Thread below...
African Cichlid Lake Radiations Recapitulate Riverine Axial Morphologies Through Repeated Exploration of Morphospace
African cichlids comprise more than 1800 species of freshwater fishes, with remarkable adaptive radiations in Lakes Tanganyika, Malawi, and Victoria that have given rise to extraordinary morphological...
biorxiv.org
May 16, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Reposted by James Hammond
Reposted by James Hammond
Previously only recorded once in the UK in 2018, records of Pammene juniperana have been increasing since 2022. Pleased to finally share this paper with @jamesehammond.bsky.social confirming that this lovely moth is breeding here, probably both on both wild and garden Junipers: shorturl.at/E2LrU
April 18, 2025 at 9:01 AM
Latest work:

Review on the evolvability of vertebral number, and the developmental processes underpinning it

Written by Callum Bucklow, @bertaverd.bsky.social, and myself

Check it out here: doi.org/10.32942/X2K...
March 24, 2025 at 9:26 PM
LepiLED drew in thirteen Rannoch sprawler (Brachionycha nubeculosa) at Drynachan up the Findhorn valley, including some nice dark specimens. Conditions about perfect, 90 moths of 11 species for 1.5 hrs trapping
March 20, 2025 at 11:09 PM