New preprint from my Postdoc in Zak Swartz’s lab at the @mblscience.bsky.social, in collaboration with Carsten Wolff and @. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

As non-chordate deuterostomes, echinoderms provide key evolutionary insights into cell, tissue, and organ development. By combining high-resolution microscopy, scRNA-seq, and spatial gene expression analysis, we defined the ovarian cell types, their organization, and assessed their evolution.

We found evidence that some of these cell types share striking similarities with their mammalian counterparts. Last, we report an intrinsic nerve net, that surprisingly, expresses neuropeptides associated with the mammalian hypothalamus and pituitary, which may regulate egg production.

We hope this work will set a new framework for reproductive studies and will be a useful resource for the EvoDevo and oogenesis communities.

I am grateful to the support provided to me by the Global Consortium for Productive Health as well as to NICHD R00 awarded to Zak.