Alexey Veraksa
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veraksa.bsky.social
Alexey Veraksa
@veraksa.bsky.social
Drosophila developmental biologist. Cell signaling. Proteomics. Professor at UMass Boston.
Reposted by Alexey Veraksa
Worked in a Drosophila genetics lab for the sole purpose of getting a letter of recommendation from the lab head for medical school. I loved being in the lab so much that I gave up on medical school and went to graduate school instead.
What’s the lore behind choosing your career path ?
November 23, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Reposted by Alexey Veraksa
Congrats Ben, Claude, et al! A beautiful characterization of roles of Ca++ waves and gap junction functions in tissue patterning!

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Retinal calcium waves coordinate uniform tissue patterning of the Drosophila eye
Optimal neural processing relies on precise tissue patterning across diverse cell types. Here, we show that spontaneous calcium waves arise among non-neuronal support cells in the developing Drosophil...
www.science.org
November 21, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Reposted by Alexey Veraksa
The FlyBoard is happy to announce the call for nominations for the Drosophila Community Service Award. Please submit your nomination by 01/16/2026 by email to: drosophilaserviceaward@gmail.com. Please repost.
November 20, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Reposted by Alexey Veraksa
Calling all rising juniors & seniors: Interested in biological or biomedical research? Applications for our ’26 Summer Undergraduate Research Experience Program are now open! Nine weeks, hands-on research, & mentorship from some of the nation’s top scientists — learn more: bit.ly/CechFellows
Summer Undergraduate Research Experience | HHMI
The Cech Fellows Program is a paid, nine-week summer research experience empowering the next generation of scientific leaders.
bit.ly
November 18, 2025 at 2:44 PM
On November 20, I will be participating in Cellular Dance, a multimedia ballet by D. Ibbett. Come and watch the dancers do the #gastrulation, and more! Don't worry, I will not be dancing, but will give a mini-lecture on cellular movement. At the Museum of Science Boston.
#DevBio #SciArt
November 16, 2025 at 1:26 AM
Reposted by Alexey Veraksa
The European Drosophila Society #flyEDS extends the condolences on the passing of Antonio García-Bellido, considered the founder of the Spanish school of #Drosophila genetics and an influential figure in developmental biology research worldwide. May he rest in peace.
November 11, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Reposted by Alexey Veraksa
If you believe either that Franklin discovered the double helix, and / or Watson and Crick stole her data, ask yourself how you know this. Then take a read of this article.
November 8, 2025 at 7:32 AM
Reposted by Alexey Veraksa
Paul Nurse describing the main job of a PI

(From ‘The Thinking Game’, 2024)
October 31, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Reposted by Alexey Veraksa
🪰 folks! Despite Harvard lawsuit outcome, FlyBase NIH grant was not released. FlyBase now runs on the public, like NPR, PBS etc. If we don't step up, it can go away! Donations site on flybase.org homepage. Note: it links to IU stock center, but its for FlyBase, see instructions. pls give+share! 2/2
FlyBase Homepage
FlyBase: a database for drosophila genetics and molecular biology
flybase.org
October 29, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Reposted by Alexey Veraksa
Our department @ucdavisvetmed.bsky.social @ucdavis.bsky.social is hiring! We welcome research that diversifies or complements existing strengths in gastrointestinal, neuroimmune, musculoskeletal, cardiorespiratory
systems and/or developmental biology. @socdevbio.bsky.social @ascbiology.bsky.social
October 22, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Reposted by Alexey Veraksa
TT faculty job opening in #Neuroscience!
We are looking for a colleague to join us in our fantastic Biology Department and Neuroscience Program at Brandeis. We are a group of *very* collaborative, supportive, and productive scientists (& humans!) so please apply
academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30961
Brandeis University, Biology Department
Job #AJO30961, Assistant Professor in Biology and Neuroscience Program, Biology Department, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, US
academicjobsonline.org
October 22, 2025 at 11:28 PM
Reposted by Alexey Veraksa
New paper: A Structure-Guided Kinase-Transcription Factor Interactome Atlas Reveals Docking Landscapes of the Kinome
Kim, Huang, Johnson, Yaron-Barir, Keven Wang, Cantley, Hu, Perrimon
bioRxiv 2025.10.10.681672; doi: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
A Structure-Guided Kinase-Transcription Factor Interactome Atlas Reveals Docking Landscapes of the Kinome
Protein kinases orchestrate cellular processes through phosphorylation, yet the structural basis for their specific binding partner interactions remains largely unmapped. Here, we present a structure-...
doi.org
October 12, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Reposted by Alexey Veraksa
Faculty colleagues, please let your students know about our PhD program in Developmental and Brain Sciences at UMass Boston! Online info session coming up on 10/22 at 4.30 pm. Applications are due 12/1/25
www.umb.edu/academics/pr...
#devpsych #devsky #AcademicSky
Developmental & Brain Sciences PhD
UMass Boston's Developmental and Brain Sciences (DBS) PhD is a research-intensive program focused on understanding cognition, perception, and behavior when underlying neural and hormonal mechanisms ar...
www.umb.edu
October 10, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Reposted by Alexey Veraksa
it's that time of year, it's time to get your flu and covid booster shot unless you're from massachusetts then it's time for your flu and covid borcester shot
October 10, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Reposted by Alexey Veraksa
That's right, folk! THREE TENURE TRACK JOBS IN BIOLOGY AT UMASS BOSTON! You might even be a good fit for more than one! Check 'em out! We'd love to have you!
October 7, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Reposted by Alexey Veraksa
Very sad news, John Gurdon has died.

A developmental biologist's developmental biologist, Nobel prize winner

His work is the foundation of much of today's dev & stem cell bio.

An inspiration to many, including me. Always asking questions & wanting the answers

www.magd.cam.ac.uk/news/profess...
Professor Sir John Gurdon FRS (1933-2025) | Magdalene College
Magdalene College is deeply saddened to announce the death of Professor Sir John Gurdon FRS, who served as Master of the College from 1995 to 2002.
www.magd.cam.ac.uk
October 7, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Reposted by Alexey Veraksa
🪰 A team of researchers has unveiled the complete connectome of a male fruit fly central nervous system—a seamless map of all the neurons in the brain and nerve cord of a single male fruit fly and the millions of connections between them.
🔗 https://hhmi.news/4o3EJnk
October 6, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Reposted by Alexey Veraksa
Ink paintings of mitosis in drosophila embryos were a little too niche for the art festival crowd, but I know my Blooskies will love them #sciart 🧪🪰 www.etsy.com/shop/artolog...
October 6, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Reposted by Alexey Veraksa
Video: a Japanese scientist was attacked by flies while giving the acceptance speech for his Ig Nobel Prize-winning research paper that proved painting Zebra-like stripes on cows led to a decrease in biting fly attacks.
September 19, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Reposted by Alexey Veraksa
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.
October 4, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Reposted by Alexey Veraksa
Identification of optimal fluorophores for use in the Drosophila embryo by Timothy E Saunders and team: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
September 30, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Reposted by Alexey Veraksa
I think the R01 is basically a non-starter at NIGMS now. Data from NIH Reporter for new and competing awards, comparing number of R01s issued relative to R35s (MIRA). This has major ramifications for basic science and basic science investigators that are not yet in the MIRA pool
September 30, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Incredible sunset in Boston today
September 30, 2025 at 12:06 AM
Reposted by Alexey Veraksa
This may be the most important paper ever published about NIH funded research.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
What if NIH had been 40% smaller?
Replaying history with less NIH funding shows widespread impacts on drug-linked research
www.science.org
September 25, 2025 at 9:20 PM