M. Alejandra Petino Zappala
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petinozappala.bsky.social
M. Alejandra Petino Zappala
@petinozappala.bsky.social
hopefully monstruous evolutionary biologist transitioning into HPS
🇦🇷 in 🇩🇪

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/M-Alejandra-Petino-Zappala
Reposted by M. Alejandra Petino Zappala
This week, we celebrate Democracy Week in the GA building of @ruhr-uni-bochum.de. Come around, if you're on campus! We've put together a really great program: uni.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/sites/uni.ru...
Let's stand together against any queer- and democracy-hostile tendencies! 🏳️‍🌈
November 17, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Today @dsbrooks.bsky.social and I hosted our symposium about conceptual ambiguity at #epsa25, with talks by us, Freek Oude Maatman and Markus Eronen (no pictures of me but you can see my intro slide) 😉
August 28, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Reposted by M. Alejandra Petino Zappala
My paper on the history of biological organization was accepted at HOPOS! The paper looks at organicist efforts in the first half of the 20th century to elevate organization in biology as a central practical and theoretical notion. #hpbio #philbio #histbio www.researchgate.net/publication/...
(PDF) The Problem of Organization in Biology and Its Reception in Mainstream Philosophy of Science in the Mid-20th Century
PDF | In the early to mid-20th century, English-speaking organicist biologists strongly advocated the idea of organization in biological phenomena as a... | Find, read and cite all the research you ne...
www.researchgate.net
July 29, 2025 at 11:38 AM
yesterday at #ishpssb2025‬ I presented my work on JM Rendel's attempts to reunite genetics and developmental biology!
You can read the paper here:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
July 22, 2025 at 8:35 AM
I was thrilled to take part in the 43rd Altenberg workshop on Conrad Hal Waddington at the KLI! Thanks to @alejandrofabregastejeda.com and @fvergara-silva.bsky.social for being such great organizers! (pun very much intended)
June 21, 2025 at 7:30 PM
sorry about chaos, previous posts can be found in the horrible place previously known as twitter: twitter.com/petinozappala
hopeful monster (academia's version) (@PetinoZappala) / X
hopeful monster (academia's version) (@PetinoZappala) / X
x.com
May 1, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Salió publicado nuestro Informe técnico sobre evaluación genética preimplantatoria en Argentina, volumen para el que he contribuido un ensayo sobre PGT-P (test genético poligénico preimplantatorio):
https://t.co/bKSokaHsCr https://t.co/deqNDZY2Vf
December 8, 2024 at 4:05 PM
(The pictures used in this thread were taken by Joe Felsenstein and reproduced with his permission).
December 8, 2024 at 4:05 PM
Finally, the main historical point: it is quite widely contended that Waddington left no heirs and that attempts to include development into evolutionary biology were almost non existent until the 80s (with Evo-Devo)…
December 8, 2024 at 4:05 PM
He also said in 1983 that “the early impact of these findings on evolutionary theory seems now to be forgotten”. This is partly true, but I also show some of these ideas appeared in genetics books without proper citation. 👀
December 8, 2024 at 4:05 PM
More interestingly, he proposed that a severe (genetic or environmental) disruption could disturb development and lead to “outbursts of radically new forms” in populations. Such forms could give rise to new populations. Sounds familiar?
December 8, 2024 at 4:05 PM
A really interesting detail are the implications of this model for macroevolution. Rendel sadly did not expand on this more than a couple of paragraphs in his book, but he explained canalization in terms of organisms as integrated systems.
December 8, 2024 at 4:05 PM
Canalization exists because the developmental system is controlled to buffer a certain amount of variation. However, when the perturbations are great, phenotypic variation will appear.
December 8, 2024 at 4:05 PM
Rendel explained that genetic and environmental changes caused variation in ‘Make’. However, there is a range in which changes in ‘Make’ do not result in phenotypic change. This is the canalized range. https://t.co/4yaX9TtoeQ
December 8, 2024 at 4:05 PM
Even coming from genetics, Rendel did stress that changes in ‘Make’ could be caused by genetic and environmental factors in ways that were impossible to differentiate. He used a very interesting metaphor to describe this: https://t.co/EZlF03x5ln
December 8, 2024 at 4:05 PM
Reasons for this might be that the model was quite complex, abstract and statistically difficult to analyze. He also posited a theoretical variable he called “Make” which was at the time impossible to quantify directly. https://t.co/SZqUUcj8Cy
December 8, 2024 at 4:05 PM
Rendel is mostly cited as someone who empirically studied the phenomenon of phenotypic canalization during his years in Edinburgh, under Waddington. Later he went to CSIRO (Australia) where he worked on breeding, for what he is also quite recognized there. https://t.co/nZWEMdHgTf
December 8, 2024 at 4:05 PM
My first historical paper is out in SHPS!! In my stay in @RotoRub I analyzed the theoretical contributions of James Meadows Rendel, a figure mostly known by his experimental work, to genetics and evolutionary biology:
https://t.co/xQ0xLB55IZ
December 8, 2024 at 4:05 PM
No podemos dejar pasar confusiones que pueden avalar ideas vetustas y dañinas sobre la genética como determinante de las características y/o formas de vida de las personas, la posibilidad de su desarrollo y mucho menos del determinismo biológico como causa de la pobreza.
December 8, 2024 at 4:05 PM
Por lo tanto no existe tal cosa como una "genética de la pobreza". El artículo de PNAS, de hecho, nunca se refiere a modificaciones en la secuencia ni ningún tipo de cambio genético heredable.
December 8, 2024 at 4:05 PM
En el artículo “Socioeconomic inequalities in molecular risk for chronic diseases observed in Young adulthood” de Shanahan y colaboradores (PNAS) se habla de cambios en la expresión de los genes y su correlato con la desigualdad socioeconómica.
December 8, 2024 at 4:05 PM
Desde el plantel docente del curso de Genética Humana de @Exactas_UBA expresamos nuestra preocupación por las versiones periodísticas acerca de la "genética de la pobreza" y explicamos por qué son una interpretación equivocada de un hallazgo científico:
https://t.co/KM4ItXyFl1
December 8, 2024 at 4:05 PM
teaching w/xkcd: type I error inflation https://t.co/QJ2QA8ZO1D
December 8, 2024 at 4:05 PM
teaching w/memes:
no correlation 😶 - yes correlation 🙂 https://t.co/AZ4pSz2xrP
December 8, 2024 at 4:05 PM