@girishkalephd
Cell and Developmental biologist, expanding into ecological thinking and evolutionary comparative approaches. Interested in how elevated temperatures affect embryo survival, focusing on pre-gastrulation development, in the context of global warming🌡
Can contractile forces that internalize cells and rearrange tissues cause harm? They can, if not mitigated. We show that built-in high stretchability of the extraembryonic cells protects gastrulating Drosophila embryo from being ripped apart. (1/9) doi.org/10.64898/202...
Highlighting preprint stories from within the preLights community 📽️
Here, Teodora narrates her preprint showing that functional decline in the ageing retinal epithelium results from a change in the mechanical balance of the tissue due to natural cell loss!
#Short ⬇️
www.youtube.com/shorts/CWYRX...
Join us for next week’s exciting VGZT session! 🎉
🗓️ Thursday, March 5th
⏰ 9:30 PST / 12:30 EST / 17:30 UTC / 17:30 GMT / 18:30 CET
Our speakers are
👉 David Mörsdorf (@davidmoersdorf.bsky.social)
👉 Lakshmi Balasubramaniam (@lakshmib02.bsky.social)
See you there! 👋
Join us in Vienna for the biggest international 'FISH' meeting in 2026! No matter which fish is your favorite model - zebrafish, medaka, killifish, cavefish, Danionella, cichlids, stickleback, you name them...- this meeting is for you!
www.ezm2026.org
Abstract submission deadline is March 15th.
Development presents... Wednesday 25 February – 15:00 GMT/UTC Chair: Polina Kameneva Joaquín Navajas Acedo (University of Basel) ‘Spatiotemporal emergence of somatosensory neuron diversity’ Carlo Donato Caiaffa (Universidade de São Paulo) ‘Decoding the role of HNRNPH2 in neural development using brain organoids and antisense oligonucleotides’ Clarisse Brunet (Institut Curie) ‘Decoding the gliogenic switch: how human brain organoids reveal the secrets of glial cell fate’ #DevPres @dev-journal.bsky.social theNode.biologists.com/devpres The Company of Biologists logo Development logo QR code
📢Register for our #DevPres webinar on neurodevelopment
The webinar, chaired by Polina Kameneva, features talks from Joaquín Navajas Acedo @mads100tist.bsky.social, Carlo Donato Caiaffa & Clarisse Brunet @clarissebrunet.bsky.social.
🗓️25 February, 15:00 GMT/UTC
us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
VGZT is back this Thursday with two exciting talks! 🎉
🗓️ Thursday, February 19th
⏰ 9:30 PST / 12:30 EST / 17:30 UTC / 17:30 GMT / 18:30 CET
Our speakers are
👉 Raquel Fueyo (@fueyoraquel.bsky.social)
👉 Margarete Diaz Cuadros (@mdiazcuadros.bsky.social)
See you on there! 👋
We‘re looking for a motivated Master student to join our team!
Do you want to optogenetically control metabolic activity to see how metabolism affects patterning and morphogenesis? 💡🧫🧬🔬
Then please apply!
#optogenetics #metabolism #devbio #hESCs
Please RT. Thank you!🙏
Join us next week for two exciting talks in the Eastern VGZT session! ☀️
🗓️ Wednesday, February 11th
⏰ 9:00 GMT / 10:00 CET / 14:30 IST / 18:00 JST / 20:00 AEDT
Don’t miss:
👉 Pragathi Masamsetti (on X: @PMasamsetti)
👉 Marc Trani-Bustos (@mtrani.bsky.social)
See you there! 👋
🎉 The Developmental Mechanics Seminar Series is back!
🗓️ Thurs, Jan 22
🎙️ Opening talks:
🧬Guy Tanentzapf (UBC)
— How cell adhesion molecules wire into the cytoskeleton
🌀Juan Manuel Gomez Elliff (EMBL)
@gomezjm-devmech.bsky.social
— Mapping tissue mechanics with Brillouin microscopy
Join us for the next VGZT, featuring complementary approaches to understanding dynamic tissue organization!
🗓️ Thursday, January 22nd
⏰ 9:30 PST / 12:30 EST / 17:30 GMT / 18:30 CET
Our speakers are
👉 Chen Yuan Kam (@chenyuankam.bsky.social)
👉 Camilla Autorino (@cami-autorino.bsky.social)
There's still time to apply to be a 2026 @dev-journal.bsky.social Pathway to Independence fellow
For those about to apply for their first independent academic position, the programme offers
- mentoring
- leadership training
- profile rising
- networking
journals.biologists.com/dev/pages/pi...
Apply for a PhD in Singapore at NUS! Deadline Jan 12. I'm recruiting:
Here with Mechanobiology Institute: www.mbi.nus.edu.sg/education/gr...
and
Here with Biomedical Engineering dept: cde.nus.edu.sg/bme/
The CENTURI PhD Call 2026 is still ongoing. Applications are open until the end of the month, on January 28th!
Visit centuri-livingsystems.org/recruitment/ to apply.
#PHD #CENTURI
🎉 Happy New Year! We’re kicking off 2026 with an exciting VGZT seminar!
🗓️ Thursday, January 8th
⏰ 9:30 PST / 12:30 EST / 17:30 UTC / 17:30 GMT / 18:30 CET
Our speakers are
👉 Jan Jakub Zylicz (@jzylicz.bsky.social)
👉 Anahi Binagui-Casas (@abinagui.bsky.social)
See you there 👋
Development presents… Wednesday 14 January 15:00 GMT/UTC Chair: Priti Agarwal Chee Kiang (Ethan) Ewe Tel Aviv University ‘Neuronal oversight of germline small RNAs prevents heat-induced sterility in Caenorhabditis elegans’ Max Farnworth University of Bristol ‘How the evolution of spatial foraging shaped centres of cognition in Heliconiini butterflies’ Sonya Widen IMBA, Vienna BioCenter ‘“Unpacking” eukaryotic horizontal gene transfer: Mavericks transfer novel “cargo” genes across the globe’ #DevPres | @dev-journal.bsky.social thenode.biologists.com/devpres
Join us next week for #DevPres to hear 3 of our PI fellows talk about the environment & evolution
14 January 15:00 GMT/UTC
With talks from @ethanewe.bsky.social, @maxfarnworth.bsky.social & @sonyawiden.bsky.social, chaired by @pritiagarwal.bsky.social.
us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
#DevPres
📣 #Job alert!
Looking to establish your own independent research in cell biology, development or evo-devo?
The @cnrs.fr is recruiting 7 scientists in that area of research.
Here are updated unofficial guidelines. Reach out to members of the committee if you have questions
c3n-cn.fr/section-24-w...
Call for Letters of Intent - HFSP Research Grants 2027
Attention scientists from all over the world🙃
The Call for Letters of Intent for #HFSPResearchGrants 2027 is now open! 🧪
Get your international & interdisciplinary team. It's time to put your bold research idea into practice!
🔗https://bit.ly/48VsGCG
📅 15 Dec 2025–26 Mar 2026
#sts #LifeSciences
Join us next week for the second Eastern VGZT of the season! 🤩
🗓️ Wednesday, December 10th
⏰ 9:00 UTC / 9:00 GMT / 10:00 CET / 14:30 IST / 18:00 JST / 20:00 AEDT
Our speakers are:
👉 Guojun Sheng
👉 Jennifer Zenker
See you there! ✨
Reminder: Tomorrow is VGZT day! 🚀
Don’t miss great talks from
👉 Luca Braccioli (@bracciolilab.bsky.social)
👉 Komal Makwana (on X: @Komal_Makwana4)
This is a great program to support postdocs during the transition to group leader position. I know from first-hand experience :)
The 2023 PI fellows outside The Company of Biologists' office in Histon, Cambridge, UK. From left to right: Leah Greenspan, Loic Fort, Priti Agarwal (front), Thomas Juan (back), Clotilde Cadart, James Gahan, Yuchuan Miao and Polina Kameneva. Originally posted on the Node (https://thenode.biologists.com/sharing-is-caring-developments-pathway-to-independence-programme/news/).
Learn more about why this programme was started in 2022, and some of the PI fellows we have supported so far, in this #biologists100 Perspective article by Reviews Editor, @ingridtsang.bsky.social:
doi.org/10.1242/dev....
Come join us in beautiful Roscoff for this Conference Jacques Monod on Developmental regulation: from molecular to ecological niches
May 18-22, 2026 Roscoff, France
Abstract deadline: January 31, 2026
Apply here: cjm.sb-roscoff.fr/en
Fintastic webinar series is expanding! Do follow for more great gastrula gossip 🥚
Cover image of Journal of Cell Science showing two cells expressing RFFL–EGFP and labelled for mitochondria and lipid droplets.
Why choose JCS?
- FREE to publish (OA options available)
- Fast-track option for papers with reports
- Preprint friendly, format-free submission + scoop protection
- Published by a not-for-profit publisher
- A tree planted for every peer-reviewed article🌳
journals.biologists.com/jcs/pages/re...
Tomorrow is VGZT day! 🚀
Don’t miss the great talks from
👉 Allison Kann (@apkann.bsky.social)
👉 Joana da Silva (on X: @joanamsilva14)
Join us for next week’s exciting VGZT session! 🎉
🗓️ Thursday, November 20th
⏰ 9:30 PST / 12:30 EST / 17:30 UTC / 17:30 GMT / 18:30 CET
Our speakers are
👉 Allison Kann (@apkann.bsky.social)
👉 Joana da Silva (on X: @joanamsilva14)
See you there 👋
1/ I’m very excited to share my postdoc work with @kseskv.bsky.social, in collaboration with @oligriffith.bsky.social. We explore embryonic DNA methylation reprogramming in the fat-tailed dunnart, an Australian marsupial 🦘🌏 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Our next #DevPres webinar focusses on regeneration with talks from Stephanie Tsai and Ben Cox @beeeencox.bsky.social.
📆Wed 19 November
🕓16:00 GMT/UTC
For more info and to register: thenode.biologists.com/development-...
We are excited to announce the first Eastern ☀️VGZT session for this season!✨🎉
📅Tomorrow, November 12th
⏰ 9:00 UTC / 9:00 GMT / 10:00 CET / 14:30 IST / 18:00 JST / 20:00 AEDT
Our speakers are:
👉Sameer Thukral (on X: @SameerThukral6)
👉Axel Newton (on X: @AxelHNewton)
See you on tomorrow☕️👋
A table showing profit margins of major publishers. A snippet of text related to this table is below. 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year.
A figure detailing the drain on researcher time. 1. The four-fold drain 1.2 Time The number of papers published each year is growing faster than the scientific workforce, with the number of papers per researcher almost doubling between 1996 and 2022 (Figure 1A). This reflects the fact that publishers’ commercial desire to publish (sell) more material has aligned well with the competitive prestige culture in which publications help secure jobs, grants, promotions, and awards. To the extent that this growth is driven by a pressure for profit, rather than scholarly imperatives, it distorts the way researchers spend their time. The publishing system depends on unpaid reviewer labour, estimated to be over 130 million unpaid hours annually in 2020 alone (9). Researchers have complained about the demands of peer-review for decades, but the scale of the problem is now worse, with editors reporting widespread difficulties recruiting reviewers. The growth in publications involves not only the authors’ time, but that of academic editors and reviewers who are dealing with so many review demands. Even more seriously, the imperative to produce ever more articles reshapes the nature of scientific inquiry. Evidence across multiple fields shows that more papers result in ‘ossification’, not new ideas (10). It may seem paradoxical that more papers can slow progress until one considers how it affects researchers’ time. While rewards remain tied to volume, prestige, and impact of publications, researchers will be nudged away from riskier, local, interdisciplinary, and long-term work. The result is a treadmill of constant activity with limited progress whereas core scholarly practices – such as reading, reflecting and engaging with others’ contributions – is de-prioritized. What looks like productivity often masks intellectual exhaustion built on a demoralizing, narrowing scientific vision.
A table of profit margins across industries. The section of text related to this table is below: 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year.
The costs of inaction are plain: wasted public funds, lost researcher time, compromised scientific integrity and eroded public trust. Today, the system rewards commercial publishers first, and science second. Without bold action from the funders we risk continuing to pour resources into a system that prioritizes profit over the advancement of scientific knowledge.
We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing:
a 🧵 1/n
Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...