Max Heiman
@heiman.bsky.social
Associate Professor of Genetics
Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital
It should be fun, or what's the point?
http://heimanlab.com
Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital
It should be fun, or what's the point?
http://heimanlab.com
Reposted by Max Heiman
#aECM Cub starts next week Nov 18 with talks on patterning the Drosophila lens, mouse tectorial membrane, and C.elegans cuticle furrows. You can still sign up for access using the link below.
The 2025-2026 #aECM club schedule is now posted on our website, where you can also find the link to sign up for access. I’m looking forward to lots of great talks and discussions! sundaramlab.com/blog/aecm-cl...
aECM Club Seminars
A virtual seminar series to highlight work on apical ECM across different systems Organizers: Meera Sundaram, UPennMax Heiman, Boston Children’s, Harvard U.Nathalie Pujol, U. Aix MarseilleJor…
sundaramlab.com
November 14, 2025 at 11:56 AM
#aECM Cub starts next week Nov 18 with talks on patterning the Drosophila lens, mouse tectorial membrane, and C.elegans cuticle furrows. You can still sign up for access using the link below.
Reposted by Max Heiman
High-efficiency targeted integration of extrachromosomal arrays in C. elegans using PhiC31 integrase https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.11.687718v1
November 13, 2025 at 2:32 AM
High-efficiency targeted integration of extrachromosomal arrays in C. elegans using PhiC31 integrase https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.11.687718v1
Reposted by Max Heiman
In this Opinion piece, Rachel Turn, Mohammad Ovais Aziz-Zanjani, Anushweta Asthana & Peter Jackson highlight strategies for multiplexing diverse approaches to map transient phosphorylations driving ciliary function & G0 in health versus disease.
#JCSciliaSI
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
#JCSciliaSI
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
November 10, 2025 at 3:03 PM
In this Opinion piece, Rachel Turn, Mohammad Ovais Aziz-Zanjani, Anushweta Asthana & Peter Jackson highlight strategies for multiplexing diverse approaches to map transient phosphorylations driving ciliary function & G0 in health versus disease.
#JCSciliaSI
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
#JCSciliaSI
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
Reposted by Max Heiman
Wut.
A.I. is to intelligence what a scarecrow is to a human. Sure, some birds might confuse them, but that does not make them the same.
A.I. is to intelligence what a scarecrow is to a human. Sure, some birds might confuse them, but that does not make them the same.
In @nytopinion.nytimes.com
“A.I. is no less a form of intelligence than digital photography is a form of photography,” the philosopher Barbara Gail Montero writes in a guest essay. “And now A.I. is on its way to doing something even more remarkable: becoming conscious.”
“A.I. is no less a form of intelligence than digital photography is a form of photography,” the philosopher Barbara Gail Montero writes in a guest essay. “And now A.I. is on its way to doing something even more remarkable: becoming conscious.”
Opinion | A.I. Is Already Intelligent. This Is How It Becomes Conscious.
Skeptics overlook how our concepts change.
nyti.ms
November 9, 2025 at 3:19 AM
Wut.
A.I. is to intelligence what a scarecrow is to a human. Sure, some birds might confuse them, but that does not make them the same.
A.I. is to intelligence what a scarecrow is to a human. Sure, some birds might confuse them, but that does not make them the same.
How many (active) C. elegans labs are there?
November 7, 2025 at 4:49 PM
How many (active) C. elegans labs are there?
I thought the "most dangerous animal in the world" was us!
A global effort, led by @leslievosshall.bsky.social and @nadavshai.bsky.social, just made the most dangerous animal in the world a lot easier to study—and perhaps defeat one day.
Learn more about the first head-to-toe cellular atlas of the mosquito, published in @cellpress.bsky.social, below.
Learn more about the first head-to-toe cellular atlas of the mosquito, published in @cellpress.bsky.social, below.
Researchers release the world’s first head-to-toe cellular atlas of the mosquito - News
The atlas makes the most dangerous animal in the world a lot easier to study—and perhaps defeat one day.
www.rockefeller.edu
October 30, 2025 at 9:25 PM
I thought the "most dangerous animal in the world" was us!
Reposted by Max Heiman
From the lab of Maxwell Heiman discussing the interesting topic of apical ECM and the function of sensing organs and how these ECM proteins can both mechanically and biochemically modulate the organ's functions.
doi.org/10.1016/j.cd...
doi.org/10.1016/j.cd...
October 30, 2025 at 5:48 PM
From the lab of Maxwell Heiman discussing the interesting topic of apical ECM and the function of sensing organs and how these ECM proteins can both mechanically and biochemically modulate the organ's functions.
doi.org/10.1016/j.cd...
doi.org/10.1016/j.cd...
Reposted by Max Heiman
The ECM is no longer in the back seat when it comes to development. Check out our special issue "Dynamics of the extracellular matrix in development, cell physiology and disease" with 8 selected articles to learn more: A 🧵 www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu...
Cells & Development | Dynamics of the extracellular matrix in development, cell physiology and disease. | ScienceDirect.com by Elsevier
Extracellular matrices (ECMs) are everywhere in our body– from the sheet-like basement membranes that line epithelia and other tissues - to the loose stromal arrays of mesenchyme - to the rigid struct...
www.sciencedirect.com
October 30, 2025 at 5:48 PM
The ECM is no longer in the back seat when it comes to development. Check out our special issue "Dynamics of the extracellular matrix in development, cell physiology and disease" with 8 selected articles to learn more: A 🧵 www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu...
Reposted by Max Heiman
Excited to share our latest work on a new cilia disassembly pathway and a link between this pathway and the neurological disorder focal cortical dysplasia: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Brief summary: we used a genome-wide CRISPRa GOF screen to identify negative regulators of ciliary signaling...
Brief summary: we used a genome-wide CRISPRa GOF screen to identify negative regulators of ciliary signaling...
A CRISPR activation screen reveals a cilia disassembly pathway mutated in focal cortical dysplasia
A gain-of-function screen uncovers a cilia disassembly pathway linked to genes somatically mutated in neurodevelopmental disease.
www.science.org
October 30, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Excited to share our latest work on a new cilia disassembly pathway and a link between this pathway and the neurological disorder focal cortical dysplasia: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Brief summary: we used a genome-wide CRISPRa GOF screen to identify negative regulators of ciliary signaling...
Brief summary: we used a genome-wide CRISPRa GOF screen to identify negative regulators of ciliary signaling...
Reposted by Max Heiman
Micropublication @micropub7n.bsky.social is peer reviewed and PubMed indexed. A great way to get the data out in uncertain times
👇🏼
👇🏼
"Due to a variety of circumstances...many science projects will never be finished, despite years of invested resources and effort. By carefully and strategically documenting scientific work achieved, components of unfinished projects can be salvaged and preserved to benefit future researchers." 🧪
When goodbye comes too soon: How to wrap up science projects quickly
Science projects are designed and funded on the scale of years, so what happens when researchers need to finish prematurely? This Community Page discusses solutions for quickly documenting partially f...
journals.plos.org
October 28, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Micropublication @micropub7n.bsky.social is peer reviewed and PubMed indexed. A great way to get the data out in uncertain times
👇🏼
👇🏼
Reposted by Max Heiman
🔊New preprint from our lab!
Zygotene cilia regulates meiosis, germ cell development, and fertility in zebrafish, mice, and humans
www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-7...
Zygotene cilia regulates meiosis, germ cell development, and fertility in zebrafish, mice, and humans
www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-7...
Zygotene cilia regulate meiosis, germ cell development and fertility in zebrafish, mice, and humans
Germ cells accurately organize their chromosomes through the program of meiosis to successfully generate haploid gametes for fertilization1. Chromosomal pairing, which is essential for homologous reco...
www.researchsquare.com
October 26, 2025 at 4:01 PM
🔊New preprint from our lab!
Zygotene cilia regulates meiosis, germ cell development, and fertility in zebrafish, mice, and humans
www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-7...
Zygotene cilia regulates meiosis, germ cell development, and fertility in zebrafish, mice, and humans
www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-7...
Reposted by Max Heiman
US citizens, if you can please donate to help Paul Maddox run for Congress in his home district in Western NC.
Dear all, A scientist from UNC Chapel Hill, Paul Maddox, is running for congress in NC for a seat currently held by a republican. If you care about science (and democracy) please consider donating to his campaign #Standupforscience secure.actblue.com/donate/paul-...
Donate to Paul Maddox for Congress in NC 11
Paul is running for Congress because there’s a sickness in Washington, and no one is working to cure it.
secure.actblue.com
October 25, 2025 at 1:57 AM
US citizens, if you can please donate to help Paul Maddox run for Congress in his home district in Western NC.
A microscopist with a vision! Go Paul!
Dear all, A scientist from UNC Chapel Hill, Paul Maddox, is running for congress in NC for a seat currently held by a republican. If you care about science (and democracy) please consider donating to his campaign #Standupforscience secure.actblue.com/donate/paul-...
Donate to Paul Maddox for Congress in NC 11
Paul is running for Congress because there’s a sickness in Washington, and no one is working to cure it.
secure.actblue.com
October 21, 2025 at 12:20 AM
A microscopist with a vision! Go Paul!
Reposted by Max Heiman
Jensen, @peiferlabunc.bsky.social et al. @unclineberger.bsky.social reveal that the intrinsically disordered region of Canoe is critical for its role in linking cell–cell adherens junctions to the #cytoskeleton. rupress.org/jcb/article/...
#Development #Adhesion #Drosophila
#Development #Adhesion #Drosophila
October 16, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Jensen, @peiferlabunc.bsky.social et al. @unclineberger.bsky.social reveal that the intrinsically disordered region of Canoe is critical for its role in linking cell–cell adherens junctions to the #cytoskeleton. rupress.org/jcb/article/...
#Development #Adhesion #Drosophila
#Development #Adhesion #Drosophila
Reposted by Max Heiman
Despite the mess, we are grateful to be funded, have exciting science happening, and have an opening for a postdoc!
If you are interested in sensory biology and esp in cilia, thermosensation, or interoception, and would like to join an interactive & supportive group - please email.
Please RT 🙏
If you are interested in sensory biology and esp in cilia, thermosensation, or interoception, and would like to join an interactive & supportive group - please email.
Please RT 🙏
October 16, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Despite the mess, we are grateful to be funded, have exciting science happening, and have an opening for a postdoc!
If you are interested in sensory biology and esp in cilia, thermosensation, or interoception, and would like to join an interactive & supportive group - please email.
Please RT 🙏
If you are interested in sensory biology and esp in cilia, thermosensation, or interoception, and would like to join an interactive & supportive group - please email.
Please RT 🙏
Reposted by Max Heiman
Excited to finally share this pre-print on the eve of my viva: ‘C. elegans septins regulate a subset of sensory neuronal cilia via cell-non autonomous mechanisms in supporting glia’ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
C. elegans septins regulate a subset of sensory neuronal cilia via cell-non autonomous mechanisms in supporting glia
The sensory and signaling roles of primary cilia rely on compartmentalization mechanisms that establish the organelle's protein and lipid composition. Septins, a family of cytoskeletal GTPases, are pr...
www.biorxiv.org
October 16, 2025 at 7:16 AM
Excited to finally share this pre-print on the eve of my viva: ‘C. elegans septins regulate a subset of sensory neuronal cilia via cell-non autonomous mechanisms in supporting glia’ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We pulled this out of a (pre-CRISPR era) EMS screen for CHX resistance around 2008 but never followed through with it! Happy to see others do it, a little sad we never did. Our idea was to use it to make CHX sensitivity in single neurons/glia, to test role of protein synthesis in sensory adaptation.
A new study in #GENETICS identifies how a single amino acid substitution in #Celegans ribosomal protein RPL-36A confers complete resistance to cycloheximide, a known inhibitor of the elongation stage during protein translation. buff.ly/mU7j8H0
October 15, 2025 at 11:29 PM
We pulled this out of a (pre-CRISPR era) EMS screen for CHX resistance around 2008 but never followed through with it! Happy to see others do it, a little sad we never did. Our idea was to use it to make CHX sensitivity in single neurons/glia, to test role of protein synthesis in sensory adaptation.
Reposted by Max Heiman
I am thrilled to share our latest story led by the incredibly talented Brooke D’Arcy and Camila Musso. We discover a rich world of local gene expression in radial glia, essential neural and glial precursors, and develop a new method for sub-cellular mRNA manipulation. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
October 10, 2025 at 10:28 PM
I am thrilled to share our latest story led by the incredibly talented Brooke D’Arcy and Camila Musso. We discover a rich world of local gene expression in radial glia, essential neural and glial precursors, and develop a new method for sub-cellular mRNA manipulation. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Max Heiman
Paper alert! doi.org/10.1038/s443... - "A scheduler for rhythmic gene expression". We show how 9 txn factors suffice for rhythmic gene expression of thousands of genes with any phase or amplitude in #Celegans larvae (and also look at the tissues where oscillations happen) 1/n
October 10, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Paper alert! doi.org/10.1038/s443... - "A scheduler for rhythmic gene expression". We show how 9 txn factors suffice for rhythmic gene expression of thousands of genes with any phase or amplitude in #Celegans larvae (and also look at the tissues where oscillations happen) 1/n
Saturday morning, waiting for kid's soccer game, is a great time to indulge in the lowest form of humor:
LAB HAIKU!
1.
Does anyone know
whose PCR is in there?
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
LAB HAIKU!
1.
Does anyone know
whose PCR is in there?
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
October 4, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Saturday morning, waiting for kid's soccer game, is a great time to indulge in the lowest form of humor:
LAB HAIKU!
1.
Does anyone know
whose PCR is in there?
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
LAB HAIKU!
1.
Does anyone know
whose PCR is in there?
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
Reposted by Max Heiman
🚨 New preprint!
We profile the transcriptome of the C. elegans distal tip cell: a persistent leader cell that invades basement membrane to shape the gonad.
Our dataset defines the molecular signature of invasive leader cells & uncovers new regulators of collective cell invasion.
We profile the transcriptome of the C. elegans distal tip cell: a persistent leader cell that invades basement membrane to shape the gonad.
Our dataset defines the molecular signature of invasive leader cells & uncovers new regulators of collective cell invasion.
Stage-specific transcriptomics of a leader cell reveals cell machineries driving collective invasion
Collective cell invasion underlies organ development, epithelial repair, and cancer metastasis. Leader cells remodel extracellular matrix, sense guidance cues, reorganize their cytoskeleton, and coord...
www.biorxiv.org
October 3, 2025 at 6:24 AM
🚨 New preprint!
We profile the transcriptome of the C. elegans distal tip cell: a persistent leader cell that invades basement membrane to shape the gonad.
Our dataset defines the molecular signature of invasive leader cells & uncovers new regulators of collective cell invasion.
We profile the transcriptome of the C. elegans distal tip cell: a persistent leader cell that invades basement membrane to shape the gonad.
Our dataset defines the molecular signature of invasive leader cells & uncovers new regulators of collective cell invasion.
Reposted by Max Heiman
Thomas Hunt Morgan, born 159 years ago #OTD in 1866.
Happy 1.59 centiMorgans.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_...
Happy 1.59 centiMorgans.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_...
Thomas Hunt Morgan - Wikipedia
en.m.wikipedia.org
September 25, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Thomas Hunt Morgan, born 159 years ago #OTD in 1866.
Happy 1.59 centiMorgans.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_...
Happy 1.59 centiMorgans.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_...
September 23, 2025 at 9:56 AM
Reposted by Max Heiman
The 2025-2026 #aECM club schedule is now posted on our website, where you can also find the link to sign up for access. I’m looking forward to lots of great talks and discussions! sundaramlab.com/blog/aecm-cl...
aECM Club Seminars
A virtual seminar series to highlight work on apical ECM across different systems Organizers: Meera Sundaram, UPennMax Heiman, Boston Children’s, Harvard U.Nathalie Pujol, U. Aix MarseilleJor…
sundaramlab.com
September 23, 2025 at 9:10 AM
The 2025-2026 #aECM club schedule is now posted on our website, where you can also find the link to sign up for access. I’m looking forward to lots of great talks and discussions! sundaramlab.com/blog/aecm-cl...