Ornina Merza
omerza.bsky.social
Ornina Merza
@omerza.bsky.social
Early carrer scientist, interested in Development, Microbiome, Evolution and beyond. How the tiny companions influence behaviour.
Reposted by Ornina Merza
I am excited to share our new publication in @pnas.org on the de novo nerve net assembly in Hydra embryos showing that neural circuits self-assemble through activity-driven processes, modulated by temperature and the microbiome. Thanks to all colleagues involved here! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Assembly of a functional neuronal circuit in embryos of an ancestral metazoan is influenced by temperature and the microbiome | PNAS
Understanding how neural populations emerge to give rise to behavior is a major goal in neuroscience. Here, we explore the self-assembly of neural ...
www.pnas.org
June 6, 2025 at 10:24 AM
Reposted by Ornina Merza
Cnidarians are among the earliest animals to possess a nervous system. If you're interested in how neuronal circuits emerge and assemble in Hydra embryos, find me at the #NWG2025 @neurowissg.bsky.social conference and check out my poster on Saturday! (T23-3D). #Cnidaria #Hydra
March 25, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Reposted by Ornina Merza
7 PhD positions in Translational Evolutionary Research available @uni-kiel.de
Application deadline is March 27, 2025
Please spread the word!
www.kec.uni-kiel.de/news_events/...
January 31, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Reposted by Ornina Merza
Finally, the major part of my PhD is now available as preprint showing the de novo assembly of a functioning neural population in Hydra embryos!
Assembly of a functional neuronal circuit in embryos of an ancestral metazoan is influenced by environmental signals including the microbiome https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.12.10.627692v1
December 18, 2024 at 2:38 PM
Reposted by Ornina Merza
Researchers challenged longhorn crazy ants and humans with the same task: maneuvering a T-shaped object through two consecutive open doorways. Single humans always outperformed single ants, but ant groups could beat human groups. In PNAS: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
December 27, 2024 at 9:03 PM
Reposted by Ornina Merza
@science.org isn't just a world-class scientific journal—it's also got the best science journalists in the world writing for it (I'm only a little biased😉). They've hand-picked the most memorable stories from 2024 for this edition of #ScienceAdviser: www.science.org/content/arti...
ScienceAdviser: A year of News from Science
Today in Science and science: Our news editors’ favorite stories of 2024
www.science.org
December 28, 2024 at 12:43 AM
Reposted by Ornina Merza
The non-model organism “renaissance” has arrived
Meet 10 neuroscientists bringing model diversity back
@mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social

www.thetransmitter.org/animal-model...
The non-model organism “renaissance” has arrived
Meet 10 neuroscientists bringing model diversity back with the funky animals they study.
www.thetransmitter.org
December 22, 2024 at 7:01 PM