Congratulations, @leahvanicek.bsky.social! Truly deserved!
13.03.2026 13:51
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Congratulations, @leahvanicek.bsky.social! Truly deserved!
Our collaboration with the team of JL de la Pompa is finally out! 🥳🥳
Working model for endothelial USP8 function: USP8 acts as an encouraging swift mother, leading its VEGFR2 children to try the outer world again and again, and be activated by angiogenic signals. When the mother is out hunting bugs, they don't risk outside and pERK can't induce angiogenesis.
Mechanistically, they found that loss of endothelial Usp8 led to VEGFR2 accumulation in early endosome aggregates and reduced phospho-ERK signaling. Congratulations to all!
USP8 deletion in the endothelium disrupted formation of intersomitic vessels, both in the rostral and the caudal regions. More in Angiogenesis (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10456-025-10027-3)!
Today Alba is not a flamingo, but a stork (_Ciconia ciconia_). OK, it was published on the 28th of january, not on the 3rd of february, but around San Blas, las cigüeñas verás (At St Blaise, their flight the storks raise). Credit to Fernando Losada Rodríguez (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Drow_male) for the picture.
Great, great news! We just published a paper!🥳 Alba Pau Navalón, other members of our lab and @henarcuervo.bsky.social identified endothelial USP8 as a key regulator of angiogenesis across developmental and postnatal context. Even more interesting details in Angiogenesis (doi.org/10.1007/s104...)!
Look how scientific. We even had presentations!
Thankfully for us, this stunning cow took the responsibility of guiding us for a good stretch of the hike.
Ornithology is a science, by the way. Brief introduction to common birds in the area for the new members of the lab (and a lot of deserved praises to magpies). We had a good share of spotted starlings in the neighbourhood, too.
We hope that (almost) everyone has a happy 2026. Right before holidays we held an great lab retreat in Cercedilla, with a beautiful trek in @pnsierraguadarrama.bsky.social, lots of fun, science and, of course, birds! Thanks to @fundlacaixa (not in BSky, sorry) and the CARDIOGENOMICS project!
He took part in the symposium organised by @iscb.bsky.social RSG-Spain and NEBiUM Portugal. He had a great time and came back to the lab with lots of great ideas!
Here is Carlos enjoying science at its best...
...as this _Regulus ignicapilla_ (Common firecrest or Reyezuelo listado) is enjoying his oak in the Dehesa de la Villa. Picture from: https://amigosdehesa.blogspot.com/2013/02/6-reyezuelo-listado-conoce-las-aves-de.html
Well, well! While some of us were struggling with the (scientific) hangover from granada, Carlos Relaño Rupérez was showing (off) his bits and bytes and lines of code in the city with the best tap water in the world, beautiful as well, historic as well: Madrid.
Look how cool, Felix Trogisch and Joerg Heineke highlight our decorin paper academic.oup.com/cardiovascre... in their last editorial in Cardiovascular Research academic.oup.com/cardiovascre.... I love the title 💃🏻💃🏻
Decorin expression is increased by ageing and contributes to inflammation and leakage.
We know you can only look at the precious Alhambra and Patio de los Leones, but here you have a cuadrilla from our lab doing the guiri
Bar tailed godwit! _Limosa lapponica_ has the record as the longest non-stop migrator. Donal comes from remote lands too, and performs non-stop!
And we had dinner at the Peña Flamenca (pun intended) where we enjoyed a wonderful show by professional and amateur singers!
How dearly will we miss you, Tamara. And how lucky will they be, wherever you go!
Our envoy to Europe brought the same great smile she took with her to Marseille, great science and cool stories from Zaffran's lab. Apparently they are being really nice (ha!) and she is enjoying an awesome stay. Good part (for her), bad part (for us), she went back to France - but only for a bit more.
Marcos saw (and heard) some superb birds and loved the Alhambra, but for the Carlos V part, of course
Look at that smiley face!! She is almost as proud as we are of how well she presented her poster. We had VERY interesting poster sessions, but Alba's was surely one of the busiest posters, and she left everyone amazed
Some briefing from the last days in Granada:
On thursday, Brenda Flores Garza, Tamara González Costa, and Marcos Siguero Álvarez (thanks, @biologists.bsky.social ) presented their posters. What is more: Alba Pau won the prize for the best poster!! Well done, flamingo!
Yes, we have birds, too. We came together as migratory (and local) birds do in wetlands all around the globe during this time of the year! Some from closeby areas, some from farther away lands, but all sharing the resources. Beautiful tarro canelo (_Tadorna ferruginea_) in the front, by the way.
It was awesome having them all in Madrid and sharing with us their great science!
Here we are! Some of the participants tried to hide, but noone could escape from our communication staff!
Hi, there! After some rest from last week's social agenda, we bring you the picture we took with our placheart.org project (funded by Leducq Foundation) colleagues at CNIC. Of course, with Fraser’s, Kahn’s, Karumanchi’s, Hemberger’s,
@aranylab.bsky.social and @stainierlab.bsky.social labs.
Have a fruitful time on the other end of the Pond, by the way!
To be completely honest, this elegant pal (_Oenanthes oenanthes_) does not fly FROM Germany to USA, but it does fly TO both places from Africa. The other option were puffins, but they are not fond of the quasi-mediterranean climate in Frankfurt. Credit: https://avesenaturezadafonsagrada.blogspot.com/2010/05/actualizacion-ornitoloxica.html?m=1
Well, this was a tough one. We have done a bit of research while coming back from Granada, and the closest hit we find is the northern wheatear, a curious and savvy species that thrives at both sides of the Atlantic, as @leahvanicek.bsky.social will surely do!
@navbo.bsky.social 2025 starts this Sunday and the great @leahvanicek.bsky.social will be flying the colours of the @instcardregffm.bsky.social. She will present her work on HFpEF and microvascular cells. Watch out for funky pericyte stuff 💃🏻🤘🏻🫀
@cpi-exstra.bsky.social
@dzhk.de
@sfb1531.bsky.social
Tamara showed off her great vocal skills
as the _Sylvia atricapilla_ keeps doing through the centuries there!
Tamara González Costa also took the central stage, but in the Alhambra (damn, Carlos V). Awesome guided visit to the beautiful andalusi fortress/palace/medina. Lots of flowers, scientists and birds, such as the eurasian blackcap. Now back to the meeting!
Super clear presentation, super professional attitude despite the enemy software...
... and enjoying science at its best!
For our North American followers, these are European robins (_Erithacus rubecula_). Smaller than yours, but great singers and really proud of their chests
Today we are having the second ICDAR day, with a first session including the great Maria Teresa Soto Navarrete and her Actc1 model of HCM. She sang her presentation as beautifully as robins do in october dawns in Madrid.
My first post in Bluesky: Mesodermal lineage tracing (green) in embryonic mouse hearts. Tg(Mef2c-AHF-Cre) and Mesp1-cre lines were used above and below, respectively, to trace mesodermal cells (green) at E9.5 (left) and E14.5 (right) stages. #science #heart #development #artwork #biology
These are our colleagues...
Always as elegant and always together, as flamingos.
Now it is turn for two of our PhD candidates, Alba Pau Navalón and Violeta Sebastián Serrano, to defend their work during the first poster session. Come around posters 1 and 3, if you happen to be in Granada.
eventos.ujaen.es/126123/detai...
Organized by our colleagues in @universidadjaen.bsky.social Diego Franco et al.
No birds... Yet. But a beautiful granado (_Punica granatum_). We can understand that muslims, christians, jews, francmasons and even Spanish and Castilian kings take them as symbols, and Boabdil cried when leaving them behind.
Just arrived to Granada to enjoy ICDAR conference. Anxious to enjoy this beautiful city with this beautiful company and the beatiful science this meeting always brings.
Although rare, _Antigone canadensis_ individuals have been seen in Spain and Germany. Keep an eye on the sky!
Great first day of the #Leducq Foundation's PlacHeart.org meeting, this time hosted at #CNIC. Pictures coming soon, but since we had long travellers, we'll share some Sandhill cranes to honor their rare trip to Europe.
Of course, we want to thank all the attendants and their feedback (too kind, most likely to avoid hurting our hearts)
We had fun with histology, of course!
And even Marcos wore his labcoat
This is a dinosaur. If you want to know more, come to our next show in November for the Science Week
On Friday we held a dissemination activity as part of the European Researchers' Night. We showed to a curious and participative audience why what we do is important and how we do it (and they could take a souvenir with them!). We will repeat the show in November for the Science Week, so stay tuned!
Where are our Wallies? Hint: You won't find José Luis, he went past the finish line and might be still running around Madrid Rio.
This one is not in our lab, but you can see Madrid's TV tower on the background, and how amazed it is of the speed of our labmates.
This Saturday we had our peregrine falcons zooming through Madrid in the Carrera del Corazón organized by
@cuidarcorazon.bsky.social
to promote cardiovascular health as part of the CNIC team. Carlos, Tamara and José Luis enjoyed the first sunny weekend morning in fall while fulfilling the 10 Km
Leah showed really interesting data regarding HFpEF and pericytes...
...Guille showed how important ECM and stiffness are for microvasculature and ageing...
... and they worked hard to collect MANY samples in our lab.
And this is a red kite, because they are majestic and fly from Central Europe to the Iberian Peninsula in autumn
This week we had @gluxan.bsky.social and @leahvanicek.bsky.social from @instcardregffm.bsky.social . They flew from Frankfurt am Main to Madrid as red kites do around this time each year, and brought great science under their wings! Looking forward to learning about how your projects develop!
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Our group: www.cnic.es/es/investiga...
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The astounding Albayzín with Sierra de Moclín in the background, in the limit with Jaén
Apparently that sierra was not enough to keep this iberian bull from the IV century b.c.e. in Jaén. (No birds but the early today)
Former editions were great and we are sure that this year the organizing committee from @universidadjaen.bsky.social are doing an awesome job! Remember: 15th-17th October, 2025 in Granada, home to the Alhambra and María Pacheco (damn, Carlos V).