Justin Waletich

Tardigrades withstand extreme DNA damage—even radiation that would obliterate most life. But they’re not invincible. We uncover their Achilles’ heel: 🧬 DNA replication. When replication fails, even tardigrades fall. doi.org/10.1111/febs.7… @FEBSJournal #tardigrades

Excited to share my PhD work!🎉 By characterizing and comparing the cells at the aboral end of the planula larva in 3 cnidarian species, we identified shared molecular features and propose a model for settlement regulation in cnidarians 🪼🪸. @Clytia_Vlfr tinyurl.com/37z2ma2f

Excited to share the preprint of our research project on the Beta-Catenin functions in the ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi. biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

Whitney-ites past and present, reunited at #cnidofest2024. So many #cnidarian enthusiasts!

#Hydractinia preprint alert! We characterized eight new i-cell marker genes from our scAtlas, investigated their expression in different tissues and biological contexts, ultimately providing a broader view of this cnidarian’s stem cell population: tinyurl.com/3ss8f98h

Over the moon! Thank you to everyone who has been a part of this journey, especially my advisors who have mentored me throughout 🪸

Congratulations @florigonian, @artigas_quiroga & @christyschnitz for their paper, "The genome of the colonial hydroid 𝘏𝘺𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘢 reveals that their stem cells use a toolkit of evolutionarily shared genes with all animals," published in @genomeresearch. Link in 🧵