Yup, everything still blocked here in Lisbon after 2h, no traffic lights, people trapped in elevators in buildings without generators and all the other things that come from lack of power. Fortunately mobile data keeps working so we can get some news on what is going on.

My MEO mobile network in Lisbon is working so far but others are down 🤞 Hearing this is coming all the way from France. Saw mentions to Poland and Hungary. Anyone can confirm or knows of more countries affected?

That’s quite peculiar 😳 It’s what I was getting on the NCBI page. I’m actually preparing classes for an undergrad Bioinformatics course and it’s a real problem with this insecurity about service availability hanging over our heads 😬

Thanks Sandra!

A lot. Although this work is actually an example of what persistence with minimal funding can achieve. It does take much longer than if properly supported but our funding bodies never believed in the project/ team 🤷🏻‍♀️

10/ Science thrives on collaboration, curiosity, and history. I’m grateful to have been part of this journey. 💡

9/ Beyond the science, this project is close to my heart. It reunited a group of seasoned researchers whose history goes back nearly 30 years to the Institute of Histology & Embryology at the Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa—and even earlier to our undergrad Biology days! 😊

8/ The study will feature in the Dec. 24 🎄 issue of Cell Reports, but you can already read it online: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

7/ These results open exciting possibilities for manipulating thymus development, especially in regenerative medicine.

6/ A key insight: the dorsal region of the 2nd pharyngeal arch acts as an inhibitor of thymus formation, highlighting how surrounding tissues shape the pouch endoderm’s potential.

5/ Our findings, from experiments led by Hélia & Isabel Alcobia in Edgar Gomes’ Lab (GIMM) and enriched by Domingos Henrique’s sharp developmental biology insights, reveal a conserved genetic program inducing thymus development—regardless of anatomical position.

4/ To uncover the genetic and molecular drivers of this process, Hélia challenged me to collaborate. Together, we mapped the transcriptome of embryonic regions involved and studied the signaling networks between the pharyngeal arch mesenchyme & pouch endoderm.

3/ Using a quail-chick chimeric in vitro model, Hélia made a groundbreaking discovery: the 2nd pharyngeal pouch can form thymus tissue as efficiently as the 3rd—if it interacts with the correct tissues!

2/ Interestingly, in other vertebrates, thymic primordia arise from distinct pouches. This diversity in thymus development has fascinated researchers, including my colleague & friend Hélia Neves. 🐤

In my school you can apply to a BSc as an international student and then request “equivalences” to specific courses that have a good match to your curriculum to fast forward your graduation. But you will need a B1 level certificate of the local language for a BSc degree (also in other EU countries)

🤔 not sure this is helpful but… currently the predominant scenario in europe is a 3 year bachelors followed by a two year Masters degree before you can go for a PhD

Welcome Claudia! I haven’t been using bluesky much because of limited community size but hopefully now it will start gaining momentum over X 😊