Phil Abitua

Phil Abitua

@ohnolog.bsky.social

Assistant Professor at UW studying, evo-devo, annual killifish, & cell type evolution.

259 followers213 following48 posts

Pinned

Phil Abitua
@ohnolog.bsky.social

Annual killifish continue to surprise us: they make neutrophils before almost every other cell type, even before gastrulation. Neutrophils usually arise from the lateral plate mesoderm (forming in cyan), but in killifish they are already patrolling around the embryo in gold. tinyurl.com/killiphil

Phil Abitua
@ohnolog.bsky.social

I still can’t get over the fact that I lived through every microscopist’s worst nightmare: a building fire, sprinklers going off, and massive water damage. By some miracle, our microscope room was spared. Other labs weren’t so lucky…

Phil Abitua
@ohnolog.bsky.social

This is what a multiciliated cell looks like in Xenopus. There are about 150 cilia per cell, which is roughly the same as in humans.

Jeremy Reiter@reitergroup.bsky.social

What in the world am I looking at here? @Nikon? www.nikonsmallworld.com/galleries/20...

nikonsmallworld.comAbnormal beating of airway cilia from a child with Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia (PCD) | 2026 Small World in Motion CompetitionNing Xu - Abnormal beating of airway cilia from a child with Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia (PCD), a genetic disorder affecting respiratory function.

Phil Abitua reposted

Philippe Batut
@philippebatut.bsky.social

🧬🔬 Why are enhancers transcribed and how does that impact gene regulation? I’m really excited to share our new paper in @science.org showing that noncoding RNAs control the timing of gene activation in embryos. With Mike Levine #ScienceResearch @columbiamed.bsky.social A few highlights below... 🧵👇

science.orgNoncoding transcription controls the developmental dynamics of long-range gene regulationThe genomic regions regulating gene expression are often themselves transcribed into a variety of noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs). However, the regulatory roles of this noncoding transcription remain largely ...
Phil Abitua
@ohnolog.bsky.social

lol. The replication crisis isn't due to a select few having "magic hands."

Carl Zimmer@carlzimmer.com

The lab is a mysterious place--where some people have "magic hands," and some experiments just won't work. Here's my story about the unspoken knowledge of science, and the struggle to share it. Gift link: nyti.ms/3UccF7Z

Phil Abitua
@ohnolog.bsky.social

After ReadCube bought Papers, they took library full-text search and locked it behind “Enterprise” pricing. WTF. Searching the full text of your own PDF library is one of the most basic functions of a reference manager.

Phil Abitua reposted

Alex Eve
@amjeve.uk

Congratulations, @jeffreyafarrell.bsky.social, on winning the @socdevbio.bsky.social #2026SDB Elizabeth D. Hay New Investigator Award! Learn more about Jeff's science and career in his @dev-journal.bsky.social interview with @saanjbati.bsky.social.

doi.orgTransitions in development – an interview with Jeffrey FarrellJeffrey Farrell is an Earl Stadtman Investigator at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), USA, where he heads the Unit on Cell Specification and ...

Phil Abitua reposted

Alex Eve
@amjeve.uk

Kaitlyn Loubet-Senear studies how gene networks (GN) evolve to adapt to external effectors for robust development. By comparing the African turquoise killifish (with unique stages of early dev) with model organisms, Kaitlyn shows that the GN is more similar to that of mice than zebrafish. #2026SDB

Phil Abitua reposted

Rosa Uribe, PhD
@uribelab.bsky.social

I am excited to be in Vegas for #2026SDB! We will have posters presented by PhD candidates from the lab on zebrafish ENS development: Hannah Johnson, Poster Session A #111 (A11) Onyekachi Idigo, Poster Session A #116 (A16) Both present on Thursday July 23 from 7:15-10:15 pm! 🐟🎣🍿

Phil Abitua reposted

James Briscoe
@jamesbriscoe.bsky.social

Our latest: Minimal essential requirements for neural tube self-organisation How does a single cell give rise to a tissue with the right cell types in the right proportions? We deconstruct and rebuild a self-organising tissue from first principles A thread🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

biorxiv.orgMinimal essential requirements for neural tube self-organisationThe reliable generation of diverse cell types in precise proportions is essential for the formation of functional tissues during embryonic development. Three-dimensional organoid models derived from p...

Phil Abitua reposted

Austin Seroka
@austinseroka1.bsky.social

We're excited to present a single-cell atlas of vertebrate cranial motor neuron development, the first story from my postdoctoral work in the Moens lab, up now on bioRxiv!

Phil Abitua
@ohnolog.bsky.social

Neutrophils are basically fireworks in reverse. Happy 250th birthday, America! 🎆🇺🇸

Phil Abitua@ohnolog.bsky.social

Remarkably, these cells look and act like neutrophils in other vertebrates — transcriptionally and behaviorally. They are just way ahead of schedule. Here, you can see them responding to a wound before organogenesis even begins.

Phil Abitua reposted

Syd Sattler
@sydsat.bsky.social

What if an embryo made immune cells before it finished building the tissue they usually come from? In our new preprint, we show that annual killifish embryos specify neutrophils before germ layers are fully resolved. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Huge thanks to my PI, @ohnolog.bsky.social ! 🧵

biorxiv.orgEarly immune cell development precedes gastrulation in annual killifishDuring embryogenesis, cell types arise in a predictable order because developmental regulators act sequentially. But how evolutionary changes in morphogenesis reshape the signaling environments that a...

Phil Abitua reposted

Richard Sever
@richardsever.bsky.social

Last month was another record for bioRxiv submissions. The pandemic surge and lag now clearly in the past and the growth continues. Thanks as ever to all the authors, readers affiliates, funders and amazing internal openRxiv team who make this happen!

Phil Abitua reposted

Michael Metzger
@metzgerm.bsky.social

I am excited to present our newest report on a severe outbreak of transmissible cancer in clams in the Pacific Northwest, with a lot of unexpected twists. Led by Sydney Weinandt and Zach Child. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2611852123 1/14

pnas.orgAtlantic to Pacific: Outbreak of bivalve transmissible neoplasia detected in hybridizing soft-shell clams and eDNA in Puget Sound | PNASBivalve transmissible neoplasias (BTNs) are transmissible cancers that have arisen in multiple bivalve species, including Eastern soft-shell clam (...
Phil Abitua
@ohnolog.bsky.social

Annual killifish continue to surprise us: they make neutrophils before almost every other cell type, even before gastrulation. Neutrophils usually arise from the lateral plate mesoderm (forming in cyan), but in killifish they are already patrolling around the embryo in gold. tinyurl.com/killiphil

View full thread
Phil Abitua
@ohnolog.bsky.social

That uncoupling has real implications for cell type homology. Developmental origin is often used as evidence that cell types are homologous across species, but here the origin has changed while the cell type identity has been preserved.

Phil Abitua
@ohnolog.bsky.social

So proud of @sydsat.bsky.social, the lab’s first graduate student, for leading this work! Special thanks to the Searle Scholars Program and the Royalty Research Fund for making it possible. Check out the preprint here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

biorxiv.orgEarly immune cell development precedes gastrulation in annual killifishDuring embryogenesis, cell types arise in a predictable order because developmental regulators act sequentially. But how evolutionary changes in morphogenesis reshape the signaling environments that a...
Phil Abitua
@ohnolog.bsky.social

Annual killifish continue to surprise us: they make neutrophils before almost every other cell type, even before gastrulation. Neutrophils usually arise from the lateral plate mesoderm (forming in cyan), but in killifish they are already patrolling around the embryo in gold. tinyurl.com/killiphil

View full thread
Phil Abitua
@ohnolog.bsky.social

From an evo-devo perspective, what I find most interesting is that these cells are clearly homologous to neutrophils in other vertebrates, yet their developmental origin is completely different.

Phil Abitua
@ohnolog.bsky.social

Annual killifish continue to surprise us: they make neutrophils before almost every other cell type, even before gastrulation. Neutrophils usually arise from the lateral plate mesoderm (forming in cyan), but in killifish they are already patrolling around the embryo in gold. tinyurl.com/killiphil

Phil Abitua
@ohnolog.bsky.social

But where do they come from? This Mercator projection shows neutrophils emerging along the periphery of the self-organized axis as cells transition from the dispersed phase into the incipient aggregate, a morphogenetic novelty unique to annual killifish.

Phil Abitua
@ohnolog.bsky.social

Remarkably, these cells look and act like neutrophils in other vertebrates — transcriptionally and behaviorally. They are just way ahead of schedule. Here, you can see them responding to a wound before organogenesis even begins.

Phil Abitua reposted

M. Brent Hawkins
@homeobox.bsky.social

Excited to share the final published version of our work on the evolution of dorsal-ventral patterning in fins and limbs, now up on @currentbiology.bsky.social In review we added new single LARM element deletions to assess their impact on dorsality. Take a look! 🔬🧪🐟🐁 www.cell.com/current-biol...

M. Brent Hawkins@homeobox.bsky.social

We take for granted that our hands have two sides and can articulate in an endless number of ways. But what about a fish’s fin? Can a fish know something “like the back of its fin,” or have its future told with a fin palm reading? Check out this bluetorial to find out 👇🧪🧬🐟 doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Phil Abitua reposted

Harvard_MCB
@harvardmcb.bsky.social

Rich Losick’s Farewell Publication Reexamines a Molecular Biology Milestone 🧪 🧬 #AcademicSky #higherEd www.mcb.harvard.edu/department/n... @cryptogenomicon.bsky.social @craigphunter.bsky.social @rachellegaudet.bsky.social @harvardmagazine.bsky.social @naoshigeuchida.bsky.social

mcb.harvard.eduRich Losick’s Farewell Publication Reexamines a Molecular Biology Milestone - Harvard University - Department of Molecular & Cellular BiologyRichard Losick, Maria Moors Cabot Professor of Biology, Emeritus in Harvard’s Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, is about to publish what he describes as his “last paper”—though […]