🚨 PhD Projects 🚨

We are advertising two UKRI funded PhD projects at the @sheffielduni.bsky.social. #stemcells #development #embryology #reproductivephysiology #mathmaticalmodelling #quantitativebiology

To test this, we built a quantitative model of fate specification in the embryo. It predicts a two-step mechanism:

1️⃣ Physical exclusion
2️⃣ FGF4-driven fate bias

And it even works at the level of individual embryos!

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When injected into 8-cell embryos, ESCs displace host cells from the future embryo into extra-embryonic tissues. This happens via physical crowding and, if the donor cells produce FGF4, also via molecular signalling.

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🚨 New paper out in Development! 🚨

We show that donor embryonic stem cells (ESCs) reshape the developing mouse embryo, not just by what they signal, but where they push.

📄 doi.org/10.1242/dev....

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6/10 Forward Progression
10-day XAV capacitation guides naïve domes → primed flats—an in-vitro window on the pre- to post-implantation transition.

5/10 Extra-embryonic power
PD03 + A83 + Y → GATA3⁺ trophoblast cysts.
LIF + ACTIVIN + CHIR → hypoblast/ExEn. Use them for blastoids or placenta work.

4/10 Hallmark naïve identity
Lines keep the classic naïve signature, form domes in t2iLGöXYaa, and map to E5/6 epiblast by bulk RNA-seq.

3/10 Mosaicism in a dish
Two triplet sets showcase natural variation:
• 161.2A/C share a Chr2q deletion, 161.2B does not.
• 255.1B/C carry Chr5 trisomy, 255.1A does not.
Study how karyotype skews lineage choice—no embryos needed.

2/10 Multiple clones per embryo
Instead of one line per blastocyst, we expanded every dome-shaped colony. Result: single embryos now come with paired, triplet or quadruplet lines—perfect for side-by-side comparisons.

1/10🧵 New preprint! 🚀
We built a resource of 20 clonal human naïve pluripotent stem cell lines from 10 blastocysts. Explore embryo-to-embryo and clone-to-clone variation in one place.
👉doi.org/10.1101/2025.06.02.657331

Thanks to Anne Wiblin and the team at abcam for the invitation to share and discuss my research today! #stemcells #development

TIL, I can get excited about a -80. #StrawbridgeLab #NewPI

A fantastic meeting of early career researchers in Vienna this week. It was great to see old friends and to meet new people. Thank you so much for the opportunity to present my work at SY-Stem 2025! @impvienna.bsky.social @imbavienna.bsky.social @maxperutzlabs.bsky.social

It was great to be back @cambridgeuni.bsky.social to give a talk @gurdoninstitute.bsky.social Developmental Biology Seminar Series, and to talk science with people from @scicambridge.bsky.social, @loke-ctr.bsky.social, and @mrclmb.bsky.social!

Spring has sprung @christscollegecam.bsky.social!