Bethan Lloyd-Lewis

Tissue mechanics and systemic signaling safeguard epithelial tissue against spindle misorientation Bosveld et al. identified a multilayered system of safeguards that reuses homeostatic mechanisms to maintain epithelial integrity and cell number in the face of spindle misorientation. This work delin...

How resilient are tissues to cell mispositioning and loss, and how do they restore their cell numbers?

Check our latest work, from @ybellaichelab.bsky.social
Congratulations to all authors.

Artwork from the artist @lale-alpar.bsky.social
(lalealpar.com)

www.cell.com/developmenta...

So now we have it- not only the reduction from 12-13 to 3 grants from each board recommended for funding but the budget for applicant-led research to be reduced from £200 million to £113 million per year. This is appalling, Especially given all that is happening with medical research in the US.

UK’s £8bn research fund faces “hard decisions” as it pauses new grants UKRI boss Ian Chapman said it had been told by the government to

Helpful update into UKRI and research council funding changes from Zoe Kleinman @zsk.bsky.social

But please more focus on 2 things...

1) Immediate effects (eg funding decisions expected in March)

2) Likely disproportionate effects on early career scientists

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I think Ian Chapman's focus throughout this process has been excessively PI-centred and ignores early career researchers and training.
A big funding pause doesn't cause them to worry about their jobs. It causes them to lose their jobs. And to be unable to get new ones. Their careers will be ended.

🚨 New preprint!
We built a single-cell atlas of 14 multilayered epithelia and revealed a conserved transcriptomic program guiding tissue architecture and fate composition. Our work brings decades of tissue-specific studies together into a unified evo-devo framework.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Add our first pre-print to your reading list?

Using AF2 and MD, we've characterised structures and conformational ensembles of human rhomboid proteases - and revealed some surprises along the way. Feel v.lucky to work alongside Bryony & @robincorey.bsky.social!

Please share: tinyurl.com/3h8r7f5y

Anti-progestin therapy targets hallmarks of breast cancer risk Nature - Results of an early-phase breast cancer prevention trial demonstrate the potential for breast cancer prevention in premenopausal women with anti-progestin therapy by inducing...

Really happy to share a link to our work showing that anti-progestin therapy could help prevent breast cancer before menopause.
Published today in Nature, the study suggests this could be a new way to stop breast cancer before it starts: urldefense.com/v3/__https:/...
Brilliant team science

This was a fun chat. Thanks @jcellsci.bsky.social for featuring me and spotlighting our work.

Check out the special issue on Cilia and Flagella journals.biologists.com/jcs/issue/13....

We have an article on Axonemal Dynein Assembly Factors (DNAAFs) which may be useful for the field.

Robust pan-junctional reinforcement preserves the gut epithelial barrier under mechanical stress Epithelia are specialized tissue barriers that safeguard the organism's internal milieu from the hostile external environment, a function critically dependent on intercellular junctions. In the colon,...

Ever wondered how adult organs preserve epithelial barrier integrity while continuously exposed to mechanical stress? We tackled this question in our new preprint – led by our brilliant PhD student Vishnu Krishnakumar! (1/11)
🔗 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Photo of whale at Museum of Zoology and photo of 100 cake

This week has been special for us, marking 100 years of supporting biologists and inspiring biology. We celebrated our achievements at @zoologymuseum.bsky.social last night. We want to thank all our staff, whose continual inspiration and daily support for one another make our work possible.

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...

Thrilled to share the first story from my postdoc! 🎉 A wonderful experiment + simulations collaboration. In the Drosophila wing, we find that 3D cell shapes affect signalling range and fine-tune developmental patterning www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Thread below ⬇️

I’m looking for a Postdoc to join my new lab @pdncambridge.bsky.social on an MRC-funded project and explore maternal inter-organ communication with a focus on the mammary gland, using a novel mouse model.

📍 Tenure: 3 years
⏳ Deadline: 15 August 2025

Please RT 🙏
👉 www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/51984/

Fantastic opportunity to start your independent career at the JIC here. Great startup package. Repost = nice. Thank you!!!

Enhancer adoption by an LTR retrotransposon generates viral-like particles, causing developmental limb phenotypes - Nature Genetics Activation of an LTR retrotransposon inserted upstream of the Fgf8 gene produces viral-like particles in the mouse developing limb, triggering apoptosis and causing limb malformation. This phenotype c...

Finally out! 🥳 Our paper showing how a transposable element (TE) insertion can cause developmental phenotypes is now published @natgenet.nature.com 🧬🦠🐁
Below is a brief description of the major findings. Check the full version of the paper for more details: www.nature.com/articles/s41588-025-02248-5

Excellent news, congratulations Geula!

MSCA opens €404.3 million call for Postdoctoral Fellowships Postdoctoral Fellowships offer researchers holding a PhD the opportunity to acquire new skills through advanced training and international, interdisciplinary, and inter-sectoral mobility.

Get in touch if you are interested in applying for an MSCA fellowship to come work with us on the mechanisms regulating epithelial cell fate decisions during mammary gland morphogenesis and cancer. Great environment in a vibrant city!

Congratulations Robin, Silvia and team!

Could this be the future of cancer prevention?

Walid Khaled‬, a new ERC Advanced Grant recipient @cam.ac.uk‬, will work on a preventive vaccine for breast cancer.

Learn more 👉 buff.ly/s6cBCwL

#ERCAdG #CancerResearch #FrontierResearch @wtklab.bsky.social‬

Congrats Walid, very exciting news!

Our latest paper from is out! Congratulations to all members the lab that contributed over the years!

No UMAPs in this one!

@phar.cam.ac.uk @scicambridge.bsky.social

Thanks to our funders @cancerresearchuk.org @breastcancernow.bsky.social

🥳 Thrilled to share our lab's first preprint, led by our talented postdoc Justine Creff! 👩🏻‍🔬 We tackled a fundamental question: how the epithelium withstands mechanical stress at the interface of cells with distinct geometries and mechanics, such as enterocytes (E) and goblet cells (G) (1/9)

Welsh: the language that shaped Britain Owen Williams Listen carefully, and you’ll hear it: a language older than the hills, older than the state. The names of rivers and mountains still whisper it – Pen-y-Fan, Penicuik, Aberystwyth, Aberde...

"Welsh is not a “minority language.” It is an indigenous language of Britain. It’s a language that grew here, shaped by the deep time of these islands – by the millennia it has spent in, and of, this land, shaping it and being shaped by it."

nation.cymru/opinion/wels...

Pls re-skeet! There's a postdoc job available to join us in Bristol! We're looking for a molecular cell biologist to help us investigate plasma membrane proteostasis in neurons. Apply here by 23 April: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DMO097/r.... If interested, do contact me and check out grieve-lab.com! Thanks!

Check out our latest Comment in Nature Cell Biology on #autophagy (the mechanism that cells of your body use to recycle damaged material and slow ageing). While declining autophagy is often seen as a hallmark of #ageing, we explore emerging exceptions to this idea.

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

Remembering David Stephens (1971–2024) In the autumn of 2024, David Stephens, a prominent member of the UK cell biology community and a brilliant scientist, leader and mentor, passed away. With his pragmatism and natural authority, combine...

A great tribute to David Stevens, a terrific cell biologist and missed by so many of his friends and colleagues. As they say 'one of the good guys'. journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...

BSDB - The Fascinating World of Developmental Biology (full length) In this half-hour long documentary we showcase some of the beauty, as well as the translatability, of developmental biology research being undertaken current...

Are you enjoying all the exciting science at #biologists100? Want to spread the love of developmental biology to your friends and family? Together with @bsdb.bsky.social, we've produced a documentary video to showcase the fascinating world of #DevBio:

🎥

If you’re a PhD or postdoc developmental biologist in the UK who cares about the field and the community, please nominate yourself to join the BSDB committee. Great opportunity to get involved, have real input and give back to the community @bsdb.bsky.social #biologists100

We are looking for a doctoral candidate to join the lab! If you are interested in working with human breast tissue samples straight from the clinic and do not fear large data sets, this might just be your dream project ☺️ Apply now ⬇️
ats.talentadore.com/apply/vaitos...
📸 @oonapaavolainen.bsky.social