Dr. Brittany J. Carr

I think I can announce it (it's on the website now), but I'm really excited to say that I got the journal cover for the November issue of JCS! The retina is so beautiful, and I'm so happy I get to share that. doi.org/10.1242/jcs.... 🐸 🧪 #neuroskyence #academicsky #sciart 🐡

A few images from a recent trip to Finland. I am fully enamored by these buildings made of brick and iron slag in Fiskars. I have never seen this before and would love to see more buildings like this.

Xenopus oocytes contribute to the 2026 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology. Drs. Nagel and Hegemann expressed channelrhodopsin-2 from single-celled algae in Xenopus oocytes. Light induces membrane channels to open. www.xenbase.org/xenbase/doNe... #science #devbio #cellbio #xenopus #frogs

If I could snap my fingers and be anywhere I wanted right now, I'd go back to sky lagoon spa in Iceland and do the 7 rituals again. Especially that room where it rains. Chef's kiss.

I wish I too was in Iceland, listening to the wind. Congratulations to Anne!

Researchers from cilia biology and microscopy, as well as primary ciliary dyskinesia clinicians, have written an open letter to Nikon regarding the winning video in their Small World in Motion competition. To read the open letter and find out how to add you name:

Mouse retina optical section labeled with a polySia marker (green), calretinin (magenta), and a nuclear label (blue). #MicroscopyMonday

If anyone wants to know how stupid our provincial government is, the question "Should Alberta hold a referendum on separation from Canada?" is being asked at the same time as the question "Should Alberta elections should require proof of Canadian citizenship to vote?" 💩

Can someone please explain like I'm 5 the actual sample prep steps for bulk RNA-seq because published paper methods are like 4 sentences long, and I feel as if I may be greatly overthinking this...🧪🐸

Gambling ads should be outlawed.

Mine are pretty tame. In 2021, they put me in a small library to do my talk over zoom, so I didn't have to mask. That was fine, but then they forgot about me (?!) I opened the door to a darkened empty space and had to find my own way out of the bowels of a closed building I've never been in before 💀

My new nemesis is officially the University of Calgary medical school reference form.

‼️ attention Canadian health researchers ‼️ #CIHR has posted the Project Grants Discussion Paper and a related *survey* cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/54821.html Please please participate 🙏

In the latest development of #justlablife a rascally frog has figured out how to open the rack lids and escape. They have done this TWICE now (same frog, who we have now named Drainy Houdini). Now we have to shim the lids shut using lily pads. At least its on theme. 🐸 🧪

Two funded MSc positions are available with us thanks to an NSERC-Alliance grant. Working with the McDonald lab, the focus will be on the neurobehavioural effects of chronic exposure to microplastics in rodents. If you or anyone you know are interested, contact us! #neuroskyence #neuroethology

Yi-Rong is looking for a postdoctoral fellow! She's not on Bluesky so helping spread the word. Please follow the link to apply #retina 🧪 www.nature.com/naturecareer...

My work on the turquoise killifish photoreceptor mosaic was published last week - check it out if you’re interested in photoreceptors, cell organization, and pretty pictures! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

People talk about getting exhausted in academia and then how balls start dropping. I didn't realize that a dropped ball of mine would be accidentally stealing a rental car in Helsinki for 5 days lmaooooooo 💀 It's all good, they just let pay the difference when I dropped it off. I love Finland 💙🤍

Such beautiful chandeliers in this lecture hall.

I’ve spent much of my career studying the eye, but having a dear friend diagnosed with an inherited retinal disease has made this work feel much more personal. Please consider helping us reach our VisionWalk goal, every donation big or small counts: give.fightingblindness.org/fundraiser/7...

New preprint! We analyzed 190 pathogenic PROM1 variants and found positive associations between dominant missense variants and milder cone-specifc phenotypes (maculopathies). We also share some rare and unique PROM1 case series, including patients with SDD/drusen.🧪👀 www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6...

As the two most-cited #ctenophore papers, Ryan et al (2013) won the race to publish the first genome (M. leidyi) while Moroz et al (2014) further provided evidence to support Ctenophora as the most basal animal lineage. Published in @science.org & @nature.com, respectively. #CtenophoreFunFacts 🦑

Another moment of pride! 🎉 Emily Tom’s PhD work is finally published! Her work reveals a fascinating consequence of aging: plasma membrane damage increases, and lysosomes step in to repair the membrane and keep cells alive. Let us know what you think, and repost it! link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Nothing like leaving the office to the building lights turned off to relieve nostalgia of being a grad student/postdoc. Spooooky 👻

I had so much fun. I can't wait until the next one!

Making this my grant rebuttal and not elaborating any further. 🐸🧪

My Garmin is getting sent in for exchange so I'm back to regular watches for a bit. That's ok tho, because I haven't worn my newest fun watch very much yet.

Dr. Helen Willsey, Associate Proffessor at the University of San Francisco shares her insights and experiences in an interview with Ingrid Tsang, Reviews Editor at Development. www.xenbase.org/xenbase/doNe... #science #devbio #cellbio #xenopus #frogs

Alright, do I prioritize the paper resubmission, the other paper initial submission, grant 1 which needs a near full write, or grant 2, which needs revisions. 😵‍💫🧪

Lots of fantastic Xenopus research at the SDB meeting in Las Vegas. Consider publishing your research in the Society of Developmental Biology's official journal, Developmental Biology. Publication free for SDB members! www.sciencedirect.com/journal/deve... #science #devbio #cellbio #xenopus #frogs

I've got a new chapter out, Insights Into Retinal Remodeling In Retinal Degenerative Disease: bryanwjones.com/2026/07/insi...

It's been a while since I've taken my camera out. I accidentally chose some story board setting instead of sport mode. Behold, pride pelican! #birding

12th Aquatic Models for Human Disease (AQMHD) Conference: October 17-21, 2026; Marine Biological Labratory; Woods Hole, Massachusetts Abstract submission deadline: August 10 www.xenbase.org/xenbase/doNe... #science #devbio #cellbio #xenopus #frogs #AQMHD2026

I love jasmine plants sometimes because even though you can barely underwater them and they might decide to up and die, you can also abuse them a fair bit: rip out their roots and cut them way back and they're like "yeah, I'll grow back and flower. No problem".

#2026SDB with amazing fluorescent imaging again. However, every session I attended so far has talks with red-green LUTs. 6-8% of us have color vision issues, especially for red-green. More visible color combos are easy to generate. As scientists, we can do better. 🧬🪰🐭🐟🧫🦎 #WeTheColorBlind #devbio

I'm trying a new coping mechanism where whenever my job upsets me or I get frustrated, I go to go to the gym and lift weights. The way things are going, I fully expect to look like this in about a year #science

This Norfolk pine has been with me since Dec 2020. I just repotted it and sat it next to its original pot for comparison. Hoping for many more years with it 💚🌲

One thing about working with a unique model organism is that most animal ethics guidelines are based on mice or larger. So, now, CCAC wants us to list anticipated number of offspring from each breeding activity as part of research projects. Healthy frogs lay clutches of 10,000+ eggs, soooooo...🫣🐸

Walkies. We're so lucky to live here. 🌲

Finally found some time to make a website of sorts. Better (five years) late than never!

2026 Xenopus Researcher Survey - OPEN NOW - forms.gle/uDUkGCrhpXCc... Your feedback is highly valuable. Help us make Xenbase more helpful to your research! #science #devbio #cellbio #xenopus #frogs

Lovely micrograph of oil red o and toluidine blue staining in the liver, from one of the summer students in my lab.

Plein air watercolor kit is a success! It's fun to see the differences between the reference/outdoors spot and the painting.

Currently at this part of the manuscript discussion writing process.

A quick sketch of some Scottish mountains from a youtube livestream to test my fully assembled plein air kit. I think its ready to go on walks with me. #sketchbook #urbansketching

sorry, here are working links for the 2nd Asian Xenopus Conference: www.xenbase.org/xenbase/doNe... 2026.xenopus-asia.org #science #devbio #cellbio #xenopus #frogs

Set my balcony up all nice today, and then I drew it. I guess this sketchbook page could be called "views from home".

Getting a bug stuck in my ear certainly wasn't how I envisioned ending my first outdoor bike ride of the year 😭😭😭 (I saw a dr, they got it out!)