Nat Clarke
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natclarke.bsky.social
Nat Clarke
@natclarke.bsky.social
Assistant Prof @univmiami.bsky.social. Cellular and Developmental Biology / Evo-Devo / Animal Multicellularity / Cell adhesion. Lover of weird invertebrates. Learn more: clarkelab.com
Pinned
🚨 My lab is hiring at all levels!

Interested in animal origins & evolutionary cell biology?

I'm recruiting a postdoc, PhD students & a research assistant to study the molecular evolution of cell adhesion using marine invertebrates + comparative genomics.

🔗: clarkelab.com/join/

Please repost!
Reposted by Nat Clarke
How could a simple self-replicating system emerge at the origins of life? RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but existing ones are so large that their self-replication seems impossible. Could they be smaller?

Excited to share our latest work in @science.org on a new small polymerase.
1/n
A small polymerase ribozyme that can synthesize itself and its complementary strand
The emergence of a chemical system capable of self-replication and evolution is a critical event in the origin of life. RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but their large size and structural ...
www.science.org
February 13, 2026 at 11:42 AM
Reposted by Nat Clarke
Postdoc position available!!! We are looking for a creative postdoc to develop independent research directions in tissue morphogenesis using embryos, stem cell/organoid systems, and quantitative imaging and/or biophysics. Here are the details: livejohnshopkins-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/person...
February 6, 2026 at 5:05 PM
Reposted by Nat Clarke
I’m recruiting new members to the Farrell Lab this summer. We will have space for 1 postdoc (since Abhinav is leaving to start his own lab at U Arizona!!) and 2 postbacs, since my current two will leave for PhD programs at the end of the summer. More details in thread:
January 29, 2026 at 5:43 PM
Another way to speak up - call your senators: www.callyoursenate.com
January 26, 2026 at 2:32 PM
Reposted by Nat Clarke
📢 Open faculty position – Origins of Life
We have an opening in our section at the University of Geneva! 🧬🚀

SPREAD THE WORD

Apply here: jobs.unige.ch/www/wd_porta...
a woman says " would you like to join us " with her eyes closed
ALT: a woman says " would you like to join us " with her eyes closed
media.tenor.com
January 16, 2026 at 5:49 PM
Reposted by Nat Clarke
New paper out!
We show how mechanosensitive adherens junction proteins link actomyosin contractility to actin assembly using in vitro reconstitution.
Huge congrats to Aurélie Favarin, Rayan Said, & all authors!
In Science Advances: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#actin #myosin #mechanobiology
January 2, 2026 at 4:00 PM
Reposted by Nat Clarke
🚨 POSTDOC OPENING 🚨
NIH-funded Bio-Fluid Mechanics Postdoc in my lab @univmiami.bsky.social
Hofstenia miamia | cilia-driven flows | behavior & neuroscience
Collab w/ Mansi Srivastava @harvard.edu
🕒 Start: Jan–Feb 2026
⏳ 1 yr, renewable | Email me ASAP!
#Postdoc #Biophysics #FluidDynamics
December 23, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Reposted by Nat Clarke
Excited to share the final version of our study on Nematostella cell type regulatory programs. Part of our @erc.europa.eu StG project, this was a challenging 5-year effort extraodinarily led by @aelek.bsky.social and @martaig.bsky.social.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Decoding cnidarian cell type gene regulation - Nature Ecology & Evolution
This study reconstructs the gene regulatory networks that define cell types in the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis, providing a valuable resource for comparative regulatory genomics and the evoluti...
www.nature.com
December 22, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Reposted by Nat Clarke
The Church Evolution Lab (CEL@NYU) is hiring a postdoc! We have several new projects to study the genomic basis of biodiversity in model clades – especially Hawaiian Drosophila. apply.interfolio.com/179354

Come join our new group, you can study bugs and live in NYC! Feel free to share widely!
December 22, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Reposted by Nat Clarke
Happy holidays to one and all ❄️! On the Friday before Christmas 🎄 I’m excited to share my first first-author pre-print. Are you interested in molluscs 🐚, developmental biology, CRISPR F0 KOs, Pax6, eye 👁️ development and evolution? Then here’s a thread for you. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
December 19, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Felt a little festive at the microscope this morning for #FluorescenceFriday 🎄

Here’s the nervous system of a juvenile sea star ⭐️

Green = acetylated tubulin, red = nuclei

Happy holidays!
December 19, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Reposted by Nat Clarke
(1/n) What if you never had to make your bed? What if your laundry could fold itself? Folding is everywhere around us - but did you know that folding flat sheets are at the ❤️ of diversity of shapes in the animal world - since 500 million years ago. Our latest work: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nudC...
Self-folding laundry
YouTube video by PrakashLab
www.youtube.com
December 19, 2025 at 7:47 AM
Reposted by Nat Clarke
📣 #Job alert!
Looking to establish your own independent research in cell biology, development or evo-devo?
The @cnrs.fr is recruiting 7 scientists in that area of research.
Here are updated unofficial guidelines. Reach out to members of the committee if you have questions
c3n-cn.fr/section-24-w...
December 18, 2025 at 8:52 AM
Reposted by Nat Clarke
My lab is hiring a postdoc (ERC funded)! If you're interested, get in touch!
December 18, 2025 at 8:36 AM
Reposted by Nat Clarke
We are now advertising for the position of Assistant Professor of Marine Invertebrate Organismal Biology @uwsafs.bsky.social The position will be based out at Friday Harbor Labs in the San Juan Islands. See the ad below for details. @csucoast.bsky.social
apply.interfolio.com/178804
Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
December 17, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Reposted by Nat Clarke
🚨 PhD Position Available 🚨
I’m recruiting a PhD student to join my lab at the Multiscale Imaging Centre (MIC), Münster, Germany.

www.bischofflab.com/jobs

Fully funded ✅
#Cellbio #Morphogenesis #Microscopy
#Drosophila #PhD
(Details Below)

Original Posting:
stellen.uni-muenster.de/jobposting/d...
December 15, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Reposted by Nat Clarke
Thrilled to share the preprint from my PhD! 🥳 Where I characterised epithelial cell extrusion in a sea anemone
🔗 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Big thanks to my supervisor @prhsteinmetz.bsky.social and coauthors @noahbruderer.bsky.social @lionlchristiaen.bsky.social at🇳🇴 @msarscentre.bsky.social ⬇️🧵
December 16, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Reposted by Nat Clarke
Paper alert! β-catenin forms condensates that help build cell–cell adhesions - showing its role goes beyond simply linking E-cadherin to α-cat/actin. Great collaboration with the Schuijers lab!

👉 nature.com/articles/s41...
December 16, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Echinoderm aficionados, please help - I’m looking for antibody advice! Has anyone used the 12G10 or E7 tubulin antibodies from DSHB to stain cleavage stage embryos?

I’m planning a sea urchin cytokinesis module for my cell biology lab next semester and want the students to do beautiful IF stains.
December 16, 2025 at 12:06 AM
Reposted by Nat Clarke
To build the body plan of an animal, cells must adhere to one another via cell-cell junctions. We now know these assemble as punctate protein complexes containing thousands of proteins, but how this occurs remains mysterious. 1/n 🧪
www.molbiolcell.org/doi/full/10....
December 14, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Reposted by Nat Clarke
Calling all postdocs! Applications are open for Dept. of Molecular Biosciences 3rd Trailblazers Postdoctoral Symposium @utaustin.bsky.social. Come to Austin, meet your peers, showcase your work. Application is easy and all expenses are paid! Spread the word!

tinyurl.com/yw7ffjn9
Microsoft Forms
tinyurl.com
December 10, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Reposted by Nat Clarke
Reposted by Nat Clarke
How do animals with lifelong growth modulate cell #proliferation? @eudaldpascual.bsky.social @ktgarschall.bsky.social @prhsteinmetz.bsky.social show that starvation induces G1/G0 #CellCycle arrest in Vasa2+/Piwi1+ #SeaAnemone cells; cycle re-entry is TOR-dependent @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/48J2o6P
December 9, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Interested in cell adhesion, evolution of multicellularity, or developing tools for emerging marine models?

My lab at UM is hiring a postdoc, and the application is now open:
🔗 tinyurl.com/28jvu4aa

If you know anyone looking for a postdoc, please pass this along!
December 8, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Reposted by Nat Clarke
Nature research paper: Rewiring an olfactory circuit by altering cell-surface combinatorial code

go.nature.com/3MbCoZT
Rewiring an olfactory circuit by altering cell-surface combinatorial code - Nature
In Drosophila, changing the expression of a small set of cell-surface proteins in just one type of olfactory neuron rewires its connections almost entirely to a new postsynaptic partner neuron type, altering the fly’s odour response and courtship behaviour.
go.nature.com
November 21, 2025 at 11:12 AM