Pawel Burkhardt
@pawelburkhardt.bsky.social
Evolution of neurons and nervous systems / choanoflagellates / sponges / ctenophores. Group leader at the Michael Sars Centre (University of Bergen). @msarscentre.bsky.social Webpage: https://www.uib.no/en/michaelsarscentre/114773/burkhardt-group
Pinned
Thrilled to see #choanoflagellates on the cover of Science Advances🤩. Our latest work "Electrical signaling and coordinated behavior in the closest relative of animals" out now. Link: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... 👏 @jeffcolgren.bsky.social @msarscentre.bsky.social
On the importance of marine labs:
"Marine laboratories encourage exploratory and creative thinking... Against the current backdrop of anxiety about the future of science, the scientific community and public need these places now more than ever."
Could not agree more... 🌊 🧪🥼🧫
"Marine laboratories encourage exploratory and creative thinking... Against the current backdrop of anxiety about the future of science, the scientific community and public need these places now more than ever."
Could not agree more... 🌊 🧪🥼🧫
"Saving Science by the Sea" – a piece on the importance of marine laboratories in advancing biomedical science, including the beginning of the Meselson-Stahl collaboration that ultimately elucidated the process of DNA replication:
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Saving science by the sea
As funding for science tightens across the United States, attention has turned to pressures faced by universities and biomedical research institutions. An often overlooked part of the nation’s science...
www.science.org
November 10, 2025 at 7:39 AM
On the importance of marine labs:
"Marine laboratories encourage exploratory and creative thinking... Against the current backdrop of anxiety about the future of science, the scientific community and public need these places now more than ever."
Could not agree more... 🌊 🧪🥼🧫
"Marine laboratories encourage exploratory and creative thinking... Against the current backdrop of anxiety about the future of science, the scientific community and public need these places now more than ever."
Could not agree more... 🌊 🧪🥼🧫
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
If you believe either that Franklin discovered the double helix, and / or Watson and Crick stole her data, ask yourself how you know this. Then take a read of this article.
If I see one more stupid Rosalind Franklin take I'm going to lose my mind. Thank god for @matthewcobb.bsky.social and @nccomfort.bsky.social. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
What Rosalind Franklin truly contributed to the discovery of DNA’s structure
Franklin was no victim in how the DNA double helix was solved. An overlooked letter and an unpublished news article, both written in 1953, reveal that she was an equal player.
www.nature.com
November 8, 2025 at 7:32 AM
If you believe either that Franklin discovered the double helix, and / or Watson and Crick stole her data, ask yourself how you know this. Then take a read of this article.
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
Happy to share our last paper in PNAS! Woo-hoo! 🥳
This article supports once more the hypothesis that sponges (and therefore animals) emerged about 100 million years before the Cambrian, and before we find any animal fossils.
www.pnas.org/doi/suppl/10...
This article supports once more the hypothesis that sponges (and therefore animals) emerged about 100 million years before the Cambrian, and before we find any animal fossils.
www.pnas.org/doi/suppl/10...
Chemical characterization of C31 sterols from sponges and Neoproterozoic fossil sterane counterparts | PNAS
Putative metazoan body fossils from the Precambrian are curiously lacking morphological
characteristics that link them unambiguously to extant anim...
www.pnas.org
November 9, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Happy to share our last paper in PNAS! Woo-hoo! 🥳
This article supports once more the hypothesis that sponges (and therefore animals) emerged about 100 million years before the Cambrian, and before we find any animal fossils.
www.pnas.org/doi/suppl/10...
This article supports once more the hypothesis that sponges (and therefore animals) emerged about 100 million years before the Cambrian, and before we find any animal fossils.
www.pnas.org/doi/suppl/10...
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
Excited to launch an openRxiv partnership with the scientist-run AI review service qed (@qedscience.bsky.social), the brainchild of @odedrechavi.bsky.social 1/n
openrxiv.org/enabling-rev...
openrxiv.org/enabling-rev...
Enabling options for review: from training and transparency to author-centered AI tools - openRxiv
Peer review is widely viewed as a critical aspect of biomedical communication. Ideally, it provides authors with feedback so they can improve manuscripts and gives readers, particularly nonspecialists...
openrxiv.org
November 6, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Excited to launch an openRxiv partnership with the scientist-run AI review service qed (@qedscience.bsky.social), the brainchild of @odedrechavi.bsky.social 1/n
openrxiv.org/enabling-rev...
openrxiv.org/enabling-rev...
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
Only a few days left for abstract submission at the brand new EMBO|EMBL Symposium Collectivity in living systems: emergence, function and evolution. We have stellar speakers in cell, animal collectives & beyond @priscaliberali.bsky.social @icouzin.bsky.social @ricardsole.bsky.social
Join us!
Join us!
November 7, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Only a few days left for abstract submission at the brand new EMBO|EMBL Symposium Collectivity in living systems: emergence, function and evolution. We have stellar speakers in cell, animal collectives & beyond @priscaliberali.bsky.social @icouzin.bsky.social @ricardsole.bsky.social
Join us!
Join us!
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
The evolutionary origins of synaptic proteins and their changing roles in different organisms across evolution — a Review by Jeffrey J. Colgren & Pawel Burkhardt
@jeffcolgren.bsky.social @pawelburkhardt.bsky.social
#neuroscience #neuroskyence
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@jeffcolgren.bsky.social @pawelburkhardt.bsky.social
#neuroscience #neuroskyence
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The evolutionary origins of synaptic proteins and their changing roles in different organisms across evolution - Nature Reviews Neuroscience
Recent studies have shed further light on the evolutionary origins of chemical synapses, In this Review, Colgren and Burkhardt explore how ancient proteins were co-opted into functional assemblies and...
www.nature.com
November 6, 2025 at 4:21 PM
The evolutionary origins of synaptic proteins and their changing roles in different organisms across evolution — a Review by Jeffrey J. Colgren & Pawel Burkhardt
@jeffcolgren.bsky.social @pawelburkhardt.bsky.social
#neuroscience #neuroskyence
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@jeffcolgren.bsky.social @pawelburkhardt.bsky.social
#neuroscience #neuroskyence
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
An Asgard archaeon with internal membrane compartments
Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 7, 2025 at 10:44 AM
An Asgard archaeon with internal membrane compartments
Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
Thrilled to share my newest perspective article with @arnonelab.bsky.social in @dev-journal.bsky.social
journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
In preprints: cell type-specific gene regulation through the lens of echinoderms
One of the most intriguing questions in developmental biology is how a single cell, the zygote, gives rise to hundreds or millions of distinct cell types during embryogenesis. Decades of research have...
journals.biologists.com
November 3, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Thrilled to share my newest perspective article with @arnonelab.bsky.social in @dev-journal.bsky.social
journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
Our study, just published in #ScienceAdvances and funded by @hfspo.bsky.social, explores the post metamorphic cell composition of the sea urchin juvenile, revealing that its body is head-like. Long considered brainless creatures, they’re all brain instead!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Single-nucleus profiling highlights the all-brain echinoderm nervous system
A sea urchin is a head with a brain-like organization and a vertebrate-type retinal signature.
www.science.org
November 5, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Our study, just published in #ScienceAdvances and funded by @hfspo.bsky.social, explores the post metamorphic cell composition of the sea urchin juvenile, revealing that its body is head-like. Long considered brainless creatures, they’re all brain instead!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
Could not be more happy/proud/relieved to finally see this longstanding study published. Bluetorial to follow. @msarscentre.bsky.social
Cell cycle-driven transcriptome maturation confers multilineage competence to cardiopharyngeal progenitors | The EMBO Journal www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
Cell cycle-driven transcriptome maturation confers multilineage competence to cardiopharyngeal progenitors | The EMBO Journal www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
Cell cycle-driven transcriptome maturation confers multilineage competence to cardiopharyngeal progenitors | The EMBO Journal
imageimageDuring development, multipotent cardiopharyngeal progenitors express both cardiac
and pharyngeal muscle transcriptional programs. This study in the tunicate Ciona shows that cell cycle-regul...
www.embopress.org
November 4, 2025 at 6:05 AM
Could not be more happy/proud/relieved to finally see this longstanding study published. Bluetorial to follow. @msarscentre.bsky.social
Cell cycle-driven transcriptome maturation confers multilineage competence to cardiopharyngeal progenitors | The EMBO Journal www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
Cell cycle-driven transcriptome maturation confers multilineage competence to cardiopharyngeal progenitors | The EMBO Journal www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
This paper has been a must! Great collaboration with @mkrupovic.bsky.social and @yifanzhou.bsky.social, a N&V by a legend of halophilic archaea tinyurl.com/yc3dcv72, and one picture of one of our expeditions to Dallol making the cover of the November issue of @natmicrobiol.nature.com
rdcu.be/eLtCH
rdcu.be/eLtCH
November 2, 2025 at 5:52 PM
This paper has been a must! Great collaboration with @mkrupovic.bsky.social and @yifanzhou.bsky.social, a N&V by a legend of halophilic archaea tinyurl.com/yc3dcv72, and one picture of one of our expeditions to Dallol making the cover of the November issue of @natmicrobiol.nature.com
rdcu.be/eLtCH
rdcu.be/eLtCH
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
Exciting day for the lab: our 1rst paper is officially out in @currentbiology.bsky.social 🥳 Wonderful collaboration wt @gautamdey.bsky.social showing how Cryo-ExM achieves consistent immunostaining in diverse diatoms, from the lab and the natural environment 1/n
#ProtistsOnSky
tinyurl.com/2zxaund7
#ProtistsOnSky
tinyurl.com/2zxaund7
October 31, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Exciting day for the lab: our 1rst paper is officially out in @currentbiology.bsky.social 🥳 Wonderful collaboration wt @gautamdey.bsky.social showing how Cryo-ExM achieves consistent immunostaining in diverse diatoms, from the lab and the natural environment 1/n
#ProtistsOnSky
tinyurl.com/2zxaund7
#ProtistsOnSky
tinyurl.com/2zxaund7
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
🚨Our collaboration with @centriolelab.bsky.social & @gautamdey.bsky.social is out today in @cp-cell.bsky.social
We show that #Expansion #Microscopy is a broad-spectrum modality for Euks, enabling 3D phenotypic maps rooted to phylogeny.
#ProtistsOnSky #SciComm #SciSky
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
We show that #Expansion #Microscopy is a broad-spectrum modality for Euks, enabling 3D phenotypic maps rooted to phylogeny.
#ProtistsOnSky #SciComm #SciSky
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
October 31, 2025 at 2:42 PM
🚨Our collaboration with @centriolelab.bsky.social & @gautamdey.bsky.social is out today in @cp-cell.bsky.social
We show that #Expansion #Microscopy is a broad-spectrum modality for Euks, enabling 3D phenotypic maps rooted to phylogeny.
#ProtistsOnSky #SciComm #SciSky
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
We show that #Expansion #Microscopy is a broad-spectrum modality for Euks, enabling 3D phenotypic maps rooted to phylogeny.
#ProtistsOnSky #SciComm #SciSky
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
New preprint out! Evolutionarily conserved transcriptional regulators control monoaminergic neuron development.
We uncover how ancient regulatory programs orchestrate the neurons that produce serotonin and dopamine across 550 million years of evolution.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
We uncover how ancient regulatory programs orchestrate the neurons that produce serotonin and dopamine across 550 million years of evolution.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Evolutionarily conserved transcriptional regulators control monoaminergic neuron development
To what extent conserved developmental programs specify homologous cell types is a central question in biology. Here, we address this by focusing on reconstructing monoaminergic neuron development in ...
doi.org
October 30, 2025 at 9:42 AM
New preprint out! Evolutionarily conserved transcriptional regulators control monoaminergic neuron development.
We uncover how ancient regulatory programs orchestrate the neurons that produce serotonin and dopamine across 550 million years of evolution.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
We uncover how ancient regulatory programs orchestrate the neurons that produce serotonin and dopamine across 550 million years of evolution.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
What happens if your asexual reproduction goes wrong? For instance, you can grow a head instead of a tail. But if you're a flatworm, it's not that bad - as we showed in our newest paper published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: tinyurl.com/4dnp2ffz
October 29, 2025 at 2:53 PM
What happens if your asexual reproduction goes wrong? For instance, you can grow a head instead of a tail. But if you're a flatworm, it's not that bad - as we showed in our newest paper published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: tinyurl.com/4dnp2ffz
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
Very happy to see our paper published online natcomms.nature.com. Thank you to @wellcometrust.bsky.social for funding this work during my time with @robklose.bsky.social and David Booth! Thanks also to collaborators @garcialabms.bsky.social @alexdemendoza.bsky.social and the other authors!
Chromatin profiling identifies putative dual roles for H3K27me3 in regulating cell type-specific genes and transposable elements in choanoflagellates
Nature Communications - Here, the authors investigate chromatin-based gene regulation in the closest relative of animal, choanoflagellates. They uncover a putative dual role for the histone...
rdcu.be
October 29, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Very happy to see our paper published online natcomms.nature.com. Thank you to @wellcometrust.bsky.social for funding this work during my time with @robklose.bsky.social and David Booth! Thanks also to collaborators @garcialabms.bsky.social @alexdemendoza.bsky.social and the other authors!
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
Lab’s first paper is out!! We show the first structures of #Asgard #chromatin by #cryo-EM 🧬❄️
Asgard histones form closed and open hypernucleosomes. Closed are conserved across #Archaea, while open resemble eukaryotic H3–H4 octasomes and are Asgard-specific. More here: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Asgard histones form closed and open hypernucleosomes. Closed are conserved across #Archaea, while open resemble eukaryotic H3–H4 octasomes and are Asgard-specific. More here: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
October 28, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Lab’s first paper is out!! We show the first structures of #Asgard #chromatin by #cryo-EM 🧬❄️
Asgard histones form closed and open hypernucleosomes. Closed are conserved across #Archaea, while open resemble eukaryotic H3–H4 octasomes and are Asgard-specific. More here: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Asgard histones form closed and open hypernucleosomes. Closed are conserved across #Archaea, while open resemble eukaryotic H3–H4 octasomes and are Asgard-specific. More here: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
How did the anus evolve? Researchers led by evolutionary biologist Prof. Dr Andreas Hejnol from #UniJena, in collaboration with the University of Bergen, showed that in sea worms (Xenacoelomorpha), the sperm duct exhibits the same gene pattern as the later rectum.
➡️ www.uni-jena.de/en/367301/th...
➡️ www.uni-jena.de/en/367301/th...
October 24, 2025 at 12:56 PM
How did the anus evolve? Researchers led by evolutionary biologist Prof. Dr Andreas Hejnol from #UniJena, in collaboration with the University of Bergen, showed that in sea worms (Xenacoelomorpha), the sperm duct exhibits the same gene pattern as the later rectum.
➡️ www.uni-jena.de/en/367301/th...
➡️ www.uni-jena.de/en/367301/th...
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
Our ultimate goal: exploring biology beyond well established research organisms, by building tools that will make new things visible
Ending 🧵 with a marker for visualising chanoflagellates, closest unicellular relatives of animals, by @jujumathieu.bsky.social and @thibautbrunet.bsky.social
Ending 🧵 with a marker for visualising chanoflagellates, closest unicellular relatives of animals, by @jujumathieu.bsky.social and @thibautbrunet.bsky.social
October 27, 2025 at 11:19 PM
Our ultimate goal: exploring biology beyond well established research organisms, by building tools that will make new things visible
Ending 🧵 with a marker for visualising chanoflagellates, closest unicellular relatives of animals, by @jujumathieu.bsky.social and @thibautbrunet.bsky.social
Ending 🧵 with a marker for visualising chanoflagellates, closest unicellular relatives of animals, by @jujumathieu.bsky.social and @thibautbrunet.bsky.social
First neurons didn’t appear overnight. We trace their roots to ancient secretory cells - showing how lifestyle & behavior shaped the evolution of first synapses.🧠🌊 #Evolution #Neuroscience
Our latest in @natrevneuro.nature.com
Link: rdcu.be/eMX3E
@jeffcolgren.bsky.social @msarscentre.bsky.social
Our latest in @natrevneuro.nature.com
Link: rdcu.be/eMX3E
@jeffcolgren.bsky.social @msarscentre.bsky.social
The evolutionary origins of synaptic proteins and their changing roles in different organisms across evolution
Nature Reviews Neuroscience - Recent studies have shed further light on the evolutionary origins of chemical synapses, In this Review, Colgren and Burkhardt explore how ancient proteins were...
rdcu.be
October 27, 2025 at 6:48 PM
First neurons didn’t appear overnight. We trace their roots to ancient secretory cells - showing how lifestyle & behavior shaped the evolution of first synapses.🧠🌊 #Evolution #Neuroscience
Our latest in @natrevneuro.nature.com
Link: rdcu.be/eMX3E
@jeffcolgren.bsky.social @msarscentre.bsky.social
Our latest in @natrevneuro.nature.com
Link: rdcu.be/eMX3E
@jeffcolgren.bsky.social @msarscentre.bsky.social
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
🪸 🪸 🪸 Postdoc position in my group at Bristol to study the role of venom in surviving environmental stress in corals! 🪸 Interested in venom biochemistry and coral ecology?Please apply by November 24!
@bristolbiosci.bsky.social
www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...
@bristolbiosci.bsky.social
www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...
October 27, 2025 at 12:43 PM
🪸 🪸 🪸 Postdoc position in my group at Bristol to study the role of venom in surviving environmental stress in corals! 🪸 Interested in venom biochemistry and coral ecology?Please apply by November 24!
@bristolbiosci.bsky.social
www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...
@bristolbiosci.bsky.social
www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...
Some of our favorite covers over the course of the past 11 years have been ones that feature images that beautifully and accurately showcase emerging science.
We might be a bit biased 🫣, but we couldn't agree more @science.org
www.science.org/content/blog...
#ctenophores @msarscentre.bsky.social
We might be a bit biased 🫣, but we couldn't agree more @science.org
www.science.org/content/blog...
#ctenophores @msarscentre.bsky.social
October 27, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Some of our favorite covers over the course of the past 11 years have been ones that feature images that beautifully and accurately showcase emerging science.
We might be a bit biased 🫣, but we couldn't agree more @science.org
www.science.org/content/blog...
#ctenophores @msarscentre.bsky.social
We might be a bit biased 🫣, but we couldn't agree more @science.org
www.science.org/content/blog...
#ctenophores @msarscentre.bsky.social
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
The CRG PhD call is now open. Exciting opportunities across diverse topics and within a world-class scientific environment.
Our group is offering one PhD position to study chromatin evolution.
Consider applying or share with anyone who might be interested!
www.crg.eu/en/content/t...
Our group is offering one PhD position to study chromatin evolution.
Consider applying or share with anyone who might be interested!
www.crg.eu/en/content/t...
Are you looking for a PhD? Join us in Barcelona! You'll dive into a community of >100 PhD students from 30 countries exploring the frontiers of biology. You can also join an online workshop on 6 November (15:00 CET) to learn how to find the right lab for you.
More info: www.crg.eu/en/content/t...
More info: www.crg.eu/en/content/t...
October 23, 2025 at 11:54 AM
The CRG PhD call is now open. Exciting opportunities across diverse topics and within a world-class scientific environment.
Our group is offering one PhD position to study chromatin evolution.
Consider applying or share with anyone who might be interested!
www.crg.eu/en/content/t...
Our group is offering one PhD position to study chromatin evolution.
Consider applying or share with anyone who might be interested!
www.crg.eu/en/content/t...
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
What are these?
You are looking at embryos of a sea squirt. Each of the 'soap bubbles' is a living cell, about a fourtieth of a millimetre in size. The outlines of the cells are visible thanks to fluorescent markers identified by Hitoyoshi Yasuo @hitoyas.bsky.social
see doi.org/10.1101/2024... 🧵
You are looking at embryos of a sea squirt. Each of the 'soap bubbles' is a living cell, about a fourtieth of a millimetre in size. The outlines of the cells are visible thanks to fluorescent markers identified by Hitoyoshi Yasuo @hitoyas.bsky.social
see doi.org/10.1101/2024... 🧵
October 26, 2025 at 8:55 AM
What are these?
You are looking at embryos of a sea squirt. Each of the 'soap bubbles' is a living cell, about a fourtieth of a millimetre in size. The outlines of the cells are visible thanks to fluorescent markers identified by Hitoyoshi Yasuo @hitoyas.bsky.social
see doi.org/10.1101/2024... 🧵
You are looking at embryos of a sea squirt. Each of the 'soap bubbles' is a living cell, about a fourtieth of a millimetre in size. The outlines of the cells are visible thanks to fluorescent markers identified by Hitoyoshi Yasuo @hitoyas.bsky.social
see doi.org/10.1101/2024... 🧵
Reposted by Pawel Burkhardt
“Cellular Olympics” our catalog of freeky ultra fast cellular superhero’s is freely available “Ann Rev of microbiology”
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
This is a compilation of world’s fastest single cell organisms - enjoy this buffet of rare delightful protists with mind bending speeds. 🧪
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
This is a compilation of world’s fastest single cell organisms - enjoy this buffet of rare delightful protists with mind bending speeds. 🧪
October 24, 2025 at 10:57 AM
“Cellular Olympics” our catalog of freeky ultra fast cellular superhero’s is freely available “Ann Rev of microbiology”
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
This is a compilation of world’s fastest single cell organisms - enjoy this buffet of rare delightful protists with mind bending speeds. 🧪
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
This is a compilation of world’s fastest single cell organisms - enjoy this buffet of rare delightful protists with mind bending speeds. 🧪