Filippo Nicolini 🧬
🧬🦪🦗🧽 Dealing/struggling with invertebrate evolutionary genomics
🎓 he/him postodoc in @robertofeuda.bsky.social lab at Uni of Leicester (UK), former PhD student at Uni of Bologna (IT)
🎨💭 Also drawing & science communication
filonico.github.io
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- Reposted by Filippo Nicolini 🧬Thrilled to share that I’ve been awarded a FIS-3 Advanced Grant (ERC-inspired) to study the evolution of neurogenic GRNs. Recruiting soon: 4 postdocs + 3 PhDs Press release in Italian — to decolonise scientific language 😄 magazine.unibo.it/it/articoli/... Email me if interested in joining the lab
- Reposted by Filippo Nicolini 🧬Our latest: Independent origins of spicules reconcile paleontological and molecular evidence of sponge evolutionary history, led by @meleonora-rossi.bsky.social with help from friends @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social including @anariesgo.bsky.social @evopalaeo.bsky.social Davide Pisani and many others
- 1/2🧵What a way to end 2025! NEW PAPER OUT with ppl from Uni of Bologna & @szndohrn.bsky.social Did you know that some bivalves🦪 transmit mitochondria through both the maternal and paternal lines? We looked at molecular signatures of this through comp #genomics & #RNAseq 🖥️🧬🦑 doi.org/10.1186/s129...
- 2/2🧵In the image below you can see embryos of the Mediterranean mussel🦪 under a fluorescent #microscope 🦑🖥️🧬🔬 In green are sperm mitochondria: ♂️ If they are aggregated (left column), the embryo will develop into a male ♀️ If they are dispersed (right column), the embryo will develop into a female
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- Look mum, I'm famous! 🖥️🧬🐜
- 1/2🧵 After >1 month I can finally share my #invertober2025 phylogenetic wrap-up!! Actually it was done weeks ago, but I just didn't have the time to put everything together. #phylogenetics 🖥️🧬 Find the full-size version plus caption and additional content on github.com/filonico/inv...
- Just gave a seminar on the #genomics of #SexDet for students of the uni of Bologna. I included these wonderful plates by Nettie M Stevens, the scientist who first linked XY chromosomes to SexDet: she was a woman and, guess what, she is rarely acknowledged for her work #EndViolenceAgainstWomen
- Reposted by Filippo Nicolini 🧬NEW pub in @science.org 🥳 Is it sponges (panels A & B) or comb jellies (C & D) that root the animal tree of life? For over 15 years, #phylogenomic studies have been divided. We provide new evidence suggesting that... 🔗: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
- This is the end 💥 I approached #invertober with no clear expectations, and now I can say it was exciting+painful+rewarding+exhausting! #SciArt What's the most appropriate subject for Day 31 of #invertober2025 if not the death's-head hawk moth? Stay tuned as I'll be publishing a wrap-up soon 👀
- Reposted by Filippo Nicolini 🧬An impressive review on classification and study of #ants, taken from an historical perspective 🖥️🧬🐜 includes also loads of insightful sections 👀 #bugsky #phylogenetics academic.oup.com/isd/article/...
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- BEHOLD y'all the hecking bloody bobbit worm, who finally decided to get out from their sand burrow for the begone Day 14 of #invertober2025 #MarineLife This took way longer than I expected (3 sessions of 2+ hours each). The problem was not the body structure itself, but the freaking segments 💀
- 1/3 🧵 Im entering my 2nd year as a postdoc, & since Ive started my journey in academia I can't help but asking myself: is this work culture sustainable? is this what I want to do for the rest of my life? Stimulating editorial with a stimulating book👇 doi.org/10.1177/1570... [Continues below]
- Reposted by Filippo Nicolini 🧬Just gonna put this here for now www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... bsky.app/profile/jlst...
- Art train time🚆🎨 Next stops: @dinoserious.bsky.social @whistberry.bsky.social @fossilforager.bsky.social @hexerite.bsky.social Ive always been keen on drawing nature-related stuff, but recently I found a very pleasant comfort zone in sculptures too. Jump to comments for details of the drawings
- 🖥️🧬 imo AI is extremely helpful for coding & learning, or getting inspired on how to nicely style your code. But AI can also be dangerous if ppl don't know first the right questions to ask or how to read the language: the times I got codes with silent errors and bugs are countless!
- Reposted by Filippo Nicolini 🧬Pleased to share our latest paper led by @tomlewin.bsky.social, now out in @currentbiology.bsky.social! We present the first chromosome-level genome of a phoronid and show that shared chromosomal fusions unite phoronids and bryozoans as sister groups. www.cell.com/current-biol...
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- This was pretty smooth, I don't have much to say about this chunky buddy 🥹 Day 30 of #invertober2025 is the Christmas beetle! #bugsky
- What the heck was this?! I suspected sea urchins were difficult to draw, but this was just random spikes here & there 😵💫 I knew from skeletons that there should be a precise arrangement, but I gave up in few minutes #marineLife Almost done with #invertober2025, Day29 is with the red sea urchin
- This is peak programming, period 🖥️🧬
- Do you teach #rstats? Do your students complain about how lame and old-fashioned dplyr is? Don't worry: I have the solution for you: github.com/hadley/genzp.... genzplyr is dplyr, but bussin fr fr no cap.
- Dude has loooooong wings, I had to reduce its size a lot 💀 at least this time I wasn't defeated by venations (see below), so I also managed to put legs 🥳 In #invertober2025 Day 28 we caught a pearly green lacewing
- Second #invertober2025 where I almost gave up and didn't go for legs. Can you guess how many times you can re-do wing veins from scratch, assuming that one time you use the wrong layer & the whole drawing messes up? A hint for you: at least 4 times... Day 21: the flame skimmer dragonfly! #bugsky
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- FUN FACT. Ticks are #arachnids, so they usually have 8 legs. But not always! When they hatch, they have only 6—the additional pair grows after the first molt 🕵 don't be fooled by mistaking them for insects! #bugsky Day 27 of #invertober2025 features the American dog tick and its sexual dimorphism
- This is an outstanding work from the @arnonelab.bsky.social! Not only for the science behind (they literally blew..sea urchins' head off!), but also because of the extreme attention they put on the M&Ms section. This is what you call REPRODUCIBLE SCIENCE. Each of us should aim for this! Well done🥳
- Our study, just published in #ScienceAdvances and funded by @hfspo.bsky.social, explores the post metamorphic cell composition of the sea urchin juvenile, revealing that its body is head-like. Long considered brainless creatures, they’re all brain instead! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
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- 1/2 🧵 Aren't nudibranchs the most precious marine crawlers? 🥹 #marineLife #SciArt Double feature for Day 26 of #invertober2025, with the cute sea bunny here. And scroll down to meet its buddy!
- Reposted by Filippo Nicolini 🧬A productive month for the lab — between new preprints and papers! Monoaminergic neurons evo and devo www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Opsin evolution in plankton academic.oup.com/gbe/article/... Mosquito Cell Atlas (small contrib.) www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
- Back on track for #invertober2025 with the house centipede! I usually like all kinds of critters, but must admit that I find centipedes quite intimidating: maybe it's their unpredictable and slithery movements 👀 #bugsky Stay tuned, as I'm preparing an epilogue for my #invertober
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- Follow-up on this with a belated post of another bivalve friend🫶 the main question now is: how👏on👏earth👏have👏I👏never👏come👏across👏such👏a👏beautiful👏mussel👏during👏my👏PhD?! 😮💨😮💨 Anyway, Day 24 of #invertober2025 pleases us with the marvelous (and I'd say queer as well👀) New Zealand mussel #marineLife
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- I know body hairs shouldve been white, but they were just not looking right to me👀 Also, multi-color metallic iridescence is the next boss to fight, straight after gelatinous bodies, wing veins, and +10-legged animals Day23 of #invertober2025 is a beetle with a very long name that you'll find below
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- Wanted to keep this in its good-vibing and peace-bearing state instead of the demoniac one it turns out to be when preying on other sea snails (yes, this is a sea snail as well). #MarineLife For day 22 of #invertober2025, witness the sea angel #SciArt
- Me looking up for references for day 22 of #invertober2025 😌 "Oh look how graceful, I love this... No wonder they call it a sea angel" 🥹🫶 ... ... "Oh wait... wha..." 🤨 ... ... "WHAT THE HELL MAN?!"
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- Me looking up for references for day 22 of #invertober2025 😌 "Oh look how graceful, I love this... No wonder they call it a sea angel" 🥹🫶 ... ... "Oh wait... wha..." 🤨 ... ... "WHAT THE HELL MAN?!"
- Reposted by Filippo Nicolini 🧬📣 Fully-funded PhD opportunity in my Lab @bristolbiosci.bsky.social @bristoluni.bsky.social 🔬We will explore how coral larvae sense their environment and guide settlement. Check out the details! 👇 www.findaphd.com/phds/project... #Coral #SensoryEcology #PhD #MarineScience
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- Second #invertober2025 where I almost gave up and didn't go for legs. Can you guess how many times you can re-do wing veins from scratch, assuming that one time you use the wrong layer & the whole drawing messes up? A hint for you: at least 4 times... Day 21: the flame skimmer dragonfly! #bugsky
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- That's another incredible animal living out there: something that resembles a jellyfish, but is instead a floating colony of polyps, and produces tiny jellyfish itself!! #marineLife 2/3 into #invertober2025, and day 20 features the by-the-wind sailor #SciArt
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- Cephalopods are cute indeed 🫶 and today's pal reminded me of the last Star Makers from Courage the Cowardly Dog 🥹 hope y'all know what am talking bout, otherwise please do yourselves a favor a watch this masterpiece Day19 of #invertober2025 drags us again in the ocean depths, with the vampire squid
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- 1/2🧵 FUNFACT: did u know that mud-dauber wasps...are not technically wasps? Last time I checked, Sphecidae (the family they belong to) fell within the Apoidea, the group including e.g. bees & bumblebees. So theyre more related to them than to wasps Day18 #invertober2025: the mud-dauber wasp #bugsky
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- The astonishing diversity of flatworms always make me speechless—hows it possible that they're among the most colourful & elegant marine animals, but also the most horrendous and creepy endoparasites?! (Yes tapeworm, am talkin bout u..) #MarineLife Day 17 of #invertober2025: the blue-lined flatworm
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