Jake Cornwall-Scoones
2025 Schmidt Science Fellow
CDB UCL London and Gurdon Institute Cambridge
Wilson, Simons and Norden labs
Developmental, Systems and Synthetic Biology
Prev: Briscoe, Crick Institute; Zernicka-Goetz and Thomson, Caltech; Banerjee and Goehring, UCL
- Reposted by Jake Cornwall-Scoones[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Jake Cornwall-ScoonesFeb 1 deadline approaching for our @kitp-ucsb.bsky.social QBio summer course on Physical Principles of Morphogenesis in Plants and Animals. @streichan.bsky.social @maurazimmermann.bsky.social @maizel-lab.org @yusuke-mori.bsky.social @akankshi.bsky.social @nicolettapetridou.bsky.social
- Reposted by Jake Cornwall-ScoonesExcited to share Alison's @alisonkickuth.bsky.social paper from the lab out in @nature.com this week! We uncovered how a mechanical ratchet mechanism drives cytokinesis in early #zebrafish embryos. Read more in this thread 🧵 and at www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🤩 @poldresden.bsky.social @mpi-cbg.de
- Reposted by Jake Cornwall-ScoonesVery happy to share our 'Evoscape' paper, now published in PNAS ! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
- Reposted by Jake Cornwall-ScoonesMeeting schedule now online for @bsdb.bsky.social 2026 spring meeting: Molecules to Morphogenesis! ***Abstracts due in by January 16*** Join the outstanding line up! Submit your abstract for a short talk, flash talk, or poster presentation: 👇👇👇 bsdb.org/meetings/
- Reposted by Jake Cornwall-ScoonesPleased to say that Jonas Hartmann (bs-less) and I have finally released DySTrack (“diss track”) - Dynamic Sample Tracking. It’s a Python-based, modular tool that brings smart microscopy to everyday imaging on commercial systems. Preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... [1/6]
- Reposted by Jake Cornwall-Scoones🎉 Our deconstructed, stem-cell–based approach to studying signaling centers and limb-development cell types is out! 🥳 So nice to see it in its final form after the preprint— and huge thanks to the community for all the enthusiasm and interest since then! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
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- Reposted by Jake Cornwall-Scoones📣 I hereby make my Bluesky debut to announce that our work linking DNA binding affinities and kinetics 𝘪𝘯 𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘳𝘰 and 𝘪𝘯 𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘰 for the human transcription factor KLF1 just got published in Cell! @cp-cell.bsky.social www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... Key findings in a thread (1/6):
- Reposted by Jake Cornwall-ScoonesBoris Shraiman points a physicist’s eye on biological quandaries news.ucsb.edu/2025/022264/... 🧪
- Reposted by Jake Cornwall-ScoonesThe lab’s first pre-print! We investigated how growth-inducing Erk activity waves are regulated in regenerating zebrafish scales. We discovered that Erk waves are followed by waves of expression of their own inhibitors, as predicted by excitable waves theory. tinyurl.com/26r2cmpj
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- Reposted by Jake Cornwall-ScoonesIt's always special when you find your own paper in the table of contents of the journal 😍 "The cis-regulatory logic integrating spatial and temporal patterning in the vertebrate neural tube" -> Now out in its final form www.cell.com/developmenta...
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[Not loaded yet] - Reposted by Jake Cornwall-ScoonesHow can we organize current theoretical approaches for developmental biology - from information to dynamical systems & GRNs - into a common framework? We propose to think along Marr's 3 levels: computational problem, algorithm, implementation Check out our review: arxiv.org/abs/2510.24536
- Reposted by Jake Cornwall-ScoonesThrilled to share my main postdoc work with @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social We used genomic barcoding + scRNAseq in chick & human embryos to reveal a lineage architecture that reshapes how we understand neural tube development & cell fate decisions 🧵👇 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Jake Cornwall-ScoonesHierarchical lineage architecture of human and avian spinal cord revealed by single-cell genomic barcoding biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/202…
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- Reposted by Jake Cornwall-ScoonesHappy to share the last version of our story @currentbiology.bsky.social on the role of interfacial tension in mechanical cell competition led by @leovalon.bsky.social and Alexis Matamoro Vidal www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
- Reposted by Jake Cornwall-ScoonesI wrote something on developmental biology and disability and put it up on the node last night: thenode.biologists.com/developmenta... I've been nervous to share because some of it veers a bit personal but they are thoughts that won't stay quiet. Would love to know what people think about it!
- Reposted by Jake Cornwall-ScoonesReally excited to share our latest work led by @mattiaubertini.bsky.social and @nesslfy.bsky.social: we report that cohesin loop extrusion creates rare but long-lived encounters between genomic sequences which underlie efficient enhancer-promoter communication. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... A🧵👇
- Reposted by Jake Cornwall-Scoones🚨 Excited to introduce FuChi (Fucci chicken), the first avian cell cycle reporter line. Thank you to all those who contributed to putting this paper together. I really think it showcases the power and beauty of the chick embryo as a developmental biology model. 🐥 🥚 🔬 @roslininstitute.bsky.social
- FuChi: A cell cycle biosensor for investigating cell-cycle kinetics during avian development. biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/202…
- Reposted by Jake Cornwall-ScoonesDevelopment does not happen in isolation! Material properties, geometry, stiffness, fluid flows...can all steer how development unfolds. If you’re exploring these kinds of questions, we’d love to see your work @dev-journal.bsky.social More info below ⬇️
- 📢Call for papers. Submit your latest research to our upcoming special issue – The Extracellular Environment in Development, Regeneration and Stem Cells Guest Editors: Alex Hughes and Rashmi Priya 📅 Deadline: 1 March 2026 journals.biologists.com/dev/pages/ex... #DevBio
- Reposted by Jake Cornwall-ScoonesFresh from the press💥 We asked what happens when you evolve gene regulatory networks computationally at scale. Do general principles of GRN evolution jump out? Is the process predictable? Read on to find out @prxlife.bsky.social @crick.ac.uk @ucl-ipls.bsky.social 👉 journals.aps.org/prxlife/abst...
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- Reposted by Jake Cornwall-ScoonesCan a single cell learn? Even without a brain, some microbes show simple forms of cognition. Can this basal cognition be engineered? Check our new paper with @jordiplam.bsky.social on the minimal synthetic circuits & their cognitive limits. @drmichaellevin.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Beautiful work led by @oliveringe.bsky.social. It was great fun to be involved with this project. See Ollie’s paper and thread 👇
- 1/7 Really happy to see my PhD work published in ✨Developmental Cell✨ today! We find human endoderm is specified by two developmental trajectories 🔀, and the choice between alternate routes is dictated by the combinatorial BMP4/Activin signalling. www.cell.com/developmenta...
- Reposted by Jake Cornwall-ScoonesOur latest: We developed a chemo-optogenetic system for precise spatiotemporal control of morphogen production. Using dual light + small molecule control of Sonic Hedgehog production, we recapitulated neural tube patterning in vitro & measured spread of Shh 🧵 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
- Reposted by Jake Cornwall-ScoonesOur new paper is out in @currentbiology.bsky.social! Using 3D reconstructions and volume measurements in Drosophila wing primordia, we show that growth can be uncoupled from cell proliferation and uncover a new time window for growth arrest. With @leopoldlab.bsky.social www.cell.com/current-biol...
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- Reposted by Jake Cornwall-ScoonesThrilled 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 ⬇️
- Apply by Friday! 👇
- We’re excited to announce that Naomi Moris @nmoris.bsky.social will join us in Oct Don’t forget to register before the 15th August for a chance to give a short talk Talk submissions can be received only after confirmation of registration (link 👇) so sign up ASAP if you’re interested in presenting
- Beautiful work from @tobyandrews.bsky.social @rashmi-priya.bsky.social. It was a joy to collaborate on the modelling here. Check out Toby’s paper and thread 👇
- Thrilled to bits to see our latest work online in Dev Cell! 🥳 We wanted to know how cells build functional organs with precision🫀🫁📏 Here we show how coupling of cell shape and organ function fine tunes the form and contractile power of the developing #zebrafish heart 1/n tinyurl.com/cell-stretch
- 8 days left to submit an abstract!
- We’re excited to announce that Naomi Moris @nmoris.bsky.social will join us in Oct Don’t forget to register before the 15th August for a chance to give a short talk Talk submissions can be received only after confirmation of registration (link 👇) so sign up ASAP if you’re interested in presenting
- Reposted by Jake Cornwall-ScoonesThrilled to bits to see our latest work online in Dev Cell! 🥳 We wanted to know how cells build functional organs with precision🫀🫁📏 Here we show how coupling of cell shape and organ function fine tunes the form and contractile power of the developing #zebrafish heart 1/n tinyurl.com/cell-stretch
- Reposted by Jake Cornwall-Scoones[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Jake Cornwall-Scoones[Not loaded yet]
- We’re excited to announce that Naomi Moris @nmoris.bsky.social will join us in Oct Don’t forget to register before the 15th August for a chance to give a short talk Talk submissions can be received only after confirmation of registration (link 👇) so sign up ASAP if you’re interested in presenting
- Speaker update for our Generative Biology workshop: we are delighted to have @nmoris.bsky.social join us. See full list of speakers on the attached flyer or on our website. Apply by 15th August. Places available for short talks. royalsociety.org/science-even...
- Beautiful work from @isazhang.bsky.social @joadelas.bsky.social @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social. An honour to have played a small part
- Reposted by Jake Cornwall-Scoones1/ Mapping synaptic connectivity between individual neurons is extremely laborious. We developed BRISC, a new method that makes it possible to map inputs onto 100s of neurons in the same animal in a matter of weeks! Led by Alex Becalick and @antblot.bsky.social. 🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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- Reposted by Jake Cornwall-Scoones🚨 Second preprint of the week! We uncover the multiscale dynamics of active viscoelastic buckling in epithelia. We harness these mechanical instabilities for synthetic morphogenesis. Led by @onenimesa.bsky.social 🙌. Theory by Marino Arroyo etal. @ibecbarcelona.eu www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Can using synthetic approaches to build biology help teach us the design principles of how embryos build themselves? 👷♀️🔧 If this is a question that interests you, come and share your thoughts at this Royal Society Workshop on Generative Biology royalsociety.org/science-even...
- Attendance is free. Sign up here: royalsociety.org/science-even... Plenty of slots for short talks and posters
- Reposted by Jake Cornwall-Scoones📣 New paper out! How do thousands of cells shape the emergent geometry of the avian embryo? We identify distinct, independently controllable mechanisms that contribute to embryo size and shape. @alex-plum.bsky.social @bensteventon.bsky.social @Guillermo Serrano Najera www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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- Reposted by Jake Cornwall-Scoones🚨 theory/math devbio preprint alert!!! 🚨 Led by my v. talented PhD student, Daniel Muzatko, we’ve found some rather general and intriguing constraints on reaction-diffusion systems that allow them to self-organize developmental patterns: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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- Reposted by Jake Cornwall-Scoones📣 Preprint alert! We developed a framework to uncover Coherent Structures in flows on dynamic surfaces—revealing dynamic attractors, repellers and deformation directions in nematic vesicles, pancreatic spheroids, and beating zebrafish hearts. @sreejithsanthosh.bsky.social biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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- Reposted by Jake Cornwall-ScoonesDelighted that our work on positional memory is now published. We asked how axolotl cells 'know' which part of the limb to regenerate after injury. www.nature.com/articles/s41... A joy to work with super team Sarah Plattner, Yuka Sugiura, Francisco Falcon and Elly Tanaka. 🧵1/14
- It was a lot of fun to speak at YEN this week @yen-network.bsky.social. It is such an honour to be awarded the Sammy Lee Medal for my work on engineering CREs
- Reposted by Jake Cornwall-ScoonesBeautiful work from @santoslab.bsky.social A 3D model of human amnion from hESCs These recapitulate amniotic sac development, revealing GATA3 as key amniogenesis driver & autoregulatory BMP/Wnt feedback loops And check out the size of them in the video www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
- Successfully defended my thesis on predictable engineering of CREs yesterday. An end of an era. Thank you @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social. And my examiners @wbickmor.bsky.social @kabirhusain.bsky.social
- Reposted by Jake Cornwall-ScoonesLatest from the lab! @callumbucklow.bsky.social's beautiful paper on the dynamics of morphological evolution using African cichlids & showing that evolution repeats itself. Congrats Callum and co-authors. Check out the tutorial below.
- Excited to announce my second PhD manuscript is on bioRvix (biorxiv.org/content/10.1...). Thanks to all co-authors, including my supervisors @bertaverd.bsky.social and Roger Benson. Thread below...
