Shifaan Thowfeequ

@shifaant.bsky.social @srinivas-lab.bsky.social peaking into the chick heart - love it!!

The 'sparks' of life! Our latest work on the role of #calcium dynamics in the early #embryo. 🎇🔬🐁

@idrm.ox.ac.uk @oxforddpag.bsky.social @srinivas-lab.bsky.social #lightsheetmicroscopy #GCAMP

Epiblast Ca2+ waves propagate from the apical to basal domain. The images show selected time points from movies of E5.5 GCaMP6f embryos imaged using a ZEISS lattice light-sheet 7 microscope. Top row: An example of an epiblast wave involving a large proportion of the tissue captured by imaging a volume of the embryo at 20-s intervals. A total of 9/16 embryos showed at least one epiblast Ca2+ wave. Bottom row: Faster imaging at 5-s interval revealed that the Ca2+ wave in the epiblast can be preceded by a transient in a neighboring VE cell—this was observed in 5/19 events from 9 embryos (white arrowheads).

During #development, distal visceral #endoderm (DVE) cells migrate to shape A-P axis specification. @m-stower.bsky.social @srinivas-lab.bsky.social &co reveal the role of Ca2+ dynamics in this, showing that inhibition of #calcium transients causes DVE arrest @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4nHWxF4

#OnThisDay in 1858, a seminal journal article comprised of papers by Alfred Russel Wallace FRS and Charles Darwin FRS on the theory of evolution by natural selection was published by the Linnean Society, the first public announcement of the theory of evolution. bit.ly/3k8fq4u

Development presents... Wednesday 4 June 15:00 BST. BSDB poster prize winners. Chair: Abigail Tucker. Talk 1: Giulia Paci (University College London) ‘3D cell topology regulates signalling range to promote precise patterning of wing sensory organs’ Talk 2: Shifaan Thowfeequ (University of Oxford) ‘Visualising calcium dynamics in the developing embryo : from fertilisation to the first heartbeat’

*TODAY Wed 4 June 15:00 BST (UTC+1)*

Development presents... webinar, celebrating the winners of the @bsdb.bsky.social postdoc poster prize from the Biologists @ 100 conference. We'll hear from @giuliapaci.bsky.social and @shifaant.bsky.social

Register here: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Feto-placental blood vessel development Summary: This Review contains an overview of placental vascular development and pathologies in mice and humans and highlights key remaining questions in the field.

Very happy to share I've written a review on placental vascular formation in mice and humans, now published in @dev-journal.bsky.social.

journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...

@idrm.ox.ac.uk Funded by the @thebhf.bsky.social

Development presents... Wednesday 4 June 15:00 BST. BSDB poster prize winners. Chair: Abigail Tucker. Talk 1: Giulia Paci (University College London) ‘3D cell topology regulates signalling range to promote precise patterning of wing sensory organs’ Talk 2: Shifaan Thowfeequ (University of Oxford) ‘Visualising calcium dynamics in the developing embryo : from fertilisation to the first heartbeat’

*This Wed 4 June 15:00 BST* Register to attend our next Development presents... webinar, celebrating the winners of the @bsdb.bsky.social‬ postdoc poster prize from the Biologists @ 100 conference. We'll hear from @giuliapaci.bsky.social‬ and @shifaant.bsky.social‬
us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Development presents... Wednesday 4 June 15:00 BST BSDB poster prize winners. CHair: Abigail Tucker Giulia Paci University College London - ‘3D cell topology regulates signalling range to promote precise patterning of wing sensory organs’ Shifaan Thowfeequ University of Oxford - ‘Visualising calcium dynamics in the developing embryo: from fertilisation to the first heartbeat’

Register now to attend our #DevPres webinar next week, featuring the winners of the @bsdb.bsky.social poster prize, @shifaant.bsky.social and @giuliapaci.bsky.social, and chaired by Abigail Tucker.

4 June at 15:00 BST

us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

High UK visa costs deter international scientists and engineers It took Ed Roberts over a year to find a senior scientist to work at his cancer research laboratory in Scotland, a delay he blames on high UK visa costs that made it harder to attract international workers.

Visa costs will limit Britain's ability to court those who may seek to leave the U.S. after Trump's administration cut funding for universities and research bodies, says Professor Alison Noble FRS, Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society: www.reuters.com/world/uk/hig...

This is the head of a chicken embryo after 16 days of development, imaged with light sheet microscopy 🐣🔬🧪

The sun is shining over the beautiful city of Liverpool for @biologists.bsky.social ‘s Centenary Meeting ( #biologists100)

Very happy to share our work on lymphatic endothelial cell specification, which was published in Nature Cardiovascular Research this week.

Direct specification of lymphatic endothelium from mesenchymal progenitors - Nature Cardiovascular Research Lupu, Grainger, Kirschnick et al. show that, contrary to prevailing belief, the initial specification of mammalian lymphatic endothelial cells primarily occurs from previously unidentified mesenchymal...

✨Excited to share our work revisiting the developmental origins of mammalian lymphatic endothelial cells.✨

A summary of our key findings using scRNA-seq, snMultiome-seq and imaging to show the direct specification of mesenchymal progenitors to LECs🧵 #blutorial #blabstract

tinyurl.com/LECspec

Excited to have provided the cover images for the new Kaufman's Atlas of Mouse Development Supplement (edited by Gillian Morriss-Kay & Shankar Srinivas) – the go-to reference resource for all mammalian developmental biologists.

Spade-toothed whale reveals new discoveries Vestigial teeth were just one of many new discoveries made by scientists during the dissection of the rarest whale in the world, Te Rūnanga o Ōtākou says.

Have always been fascinated about these elusive giants–the beaked whales. Until now nothing was known about this extant species; known from only seven records and have never been seen alive at sea. Turns out it has a nine-chambered stomach and vestigial teeth! www.doc.govt.nz/news/media-r...

Origin, fate and function of extraembryonic tissues during mammalian development - Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology During mammalian embryogenesis, extraembryonic tissues are required for the patterning and morphogenesis of the embryo. This Review discusses how signalling networks and epigenetic modifications regul...

Happy to share our latest review by @shifaant.bsky.social with @cwhanna.bsky.social. A detailed look at extraembryonic tissues – the 'other half' of the conceptus.

www.nature.com/articles/s41... @natrevmcb.bsky.social

After 3,000 years of science, the embryo is very different | Aeon Essays For 3,000 years, humans have struggled to understand the embryo. Now there is a revolution underway

Beautifully written essay by @jbwallingford.bsky.social that every developmental biologist should read. aeon.co/essays/after...

Origin, fate and function of extraembryonic tissues during mammalian development - Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology During mammalian embryogenesis, extraembryonic tissues are required for the patterning and morphogenesis of the embryo. This Review discusses how signalling networks and epigenetic modifications regul...

Nice to see our latest review published in
@natrevmcb.bsky.social today – a collaborative exploration of mammalian extraembryonic development with @cwhanna.bsky.social for an invaluable epigenetic focus. @srinivas-lab.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A scenic walk to work this morning. Oxford, Oxfordshire.

Happy to have the Srinivas lab on Bluesky!

Even our embryos are starting to feel a little festive in the Srinivas lab! We are excited to share our new bioRχiv pre-print – investigating the role of calcium in the early embryo
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Feeling Festive! Very happy to share our new bioRχiv pre-print – investigating the role of calcium signalling in the early mouse embryo:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Calcium signalling is required for anterior patterning in the mouse embryo https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.11.14.623160v1 Anterior-Posterior axis formation in the mouse embryo requires the active migration of the DVE cell

Calcium signalling is required for anterior patterning in the mouse embryo https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.11.14.623160v1