Our latest work on the squid lens is now out in BMC Biology!
Way to go co-first authors Kyle McCulloch and Stephanie Neal!! Great work by the whole lab!
New preprint out on bioRxiv! Squid retinal neurogenesis is similar to vertebrate processes
We are excited to share our newest preprint looking at the cell biology of neurogenesis in the squid retina! Great job by the lab and first authors Francesca Napoli and Christina Daly! Check out cells undergoing interkinetic nuclear migration.
Apple picking with the Srivastava Lab!!!!
We had our annual joint lab hang again this year! We went to human size hedge maze and apple picking. It’s always the best to hang with these excellent folks!!!!!
Read MoreNew prepub out on bioRxiv! Co-option of the canonical limb patterning program in Cephalopod lens development.
We have posted the preprint on bioRxiv following up Kyle’s previous paper identifying SP6-9 gene duplication in cephalopods. Stephanie and Kyle are both co-first authors and they and the lab worked hard to get this work in the world. Congrats!
Kyle's paper about gene duplication and squid eye evolution in Proceedings B comes out TODAY
Way to go Kyle! The product of a lot of hard work.
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2020.2055
Review on the Evolution and Development of Eyes Published in Development!
A review by Kristen and Jeff Gross over at University of Pittsburgh is published in Development today celebrating the diversity of animal eyes and how they get made. Take a look to see what’s cool about jellyfish, lamprey and scallop eyes (among others)!
Shell eyes found in the adult chiton and scallop pallial eyes. (A) Cartoon of the polyplacophoran Acanthopleura granulata. These chiton species have hundreds of aragonite lens-containing eyes embedded in their shells. (B) Cartoon rendering of a magnified view of the chiton shell surface. Sensory pores (aesthetes) are evident in the shell surface. The blue arrow shows a lens-containing eye; the red arrowhead shows non-eye aesthetes. (C) High magnification cartoon rendering of the lens-containing eyes found in Acanthopleura. Figure based on Speiser et al. (2011). (D) Cartoon of a bay scallop with dozens of blue pallial eyes. A single eye is highlighted by a red arrowhead. (E) Cross-section of a single pallial eye. Proximal and distal retina, and corresponding axon tracts, cornea, lens, pigment cell layer and argentea (mirror) are shown. Anatomy based on Dakin (1928), Barber et al. (1967) and McReynolds and Gorman (1970).
CRISPR Squids!
Kristen has been a part of a group effort to establish CRISPR-Cas9 targeted mutagenesis in cephalopods. The first paper knocking out TDO and making pigment-less squid is published in Current Biology!
PRESS:
Stephanie Goes To Grad School
Our beloved technician Stephanie Neal is off to graduate school at the prestigious Scripps Institution of Oceanography where she will join the Lyons lab. We are sad to see her go, although excited to see what she does next. We are also excited to see the collection of going-away plants from the Koenig lab that will now be hanging out to wish her well during her PhD!
Welcome Francesca!
We have a new lab technician joining us! Francesca Napoli was an undergraduate at Middlebury College where she studied neuroscience and global health. Welcome Fran! We are so glad to have you!
Koenig Lab Goes to SICB 2020
Kristen, Kyle, Stephanie and Alex all head to this year’s SICB in Austin, Texas. Stephanie, Alex and Kyle all have posters and Kristen is giving a talk. Check out the meeting page to see times.
We hope to see folks there!
Fall Lab Hang
We took a break from the bench to hang. The Koenig and Srivastava Labs went to the local corn maze. It certainly exposed the different approaches in the lab to problem solving ;) There was also some apple picking and giant trampoline action.
Kristen and Kyle go to Evolution 2019 and get some press!
Both Kristen and Kyle present posters at Evolution in Providence RI. Their work was highlighted in Science!
Welcome Kyle McCulloch to the lab!
Kyle received his Ph.D. in the Briscoe Lab at UC Irvine and is now joining the Koenig lab as a postdoc. Kyle actually drove all the way across the United States directly to lab (stopping at some national parks along the way). We are so excited to have him!
Check out some of his previous work in butterflies here.
KRISTEN IS AWARDED THE NIH DIRECTOR'S EARLY INDEPENDENCE AWARD!
Learn more about the award and this year's recipients on the NIH's website here.
