October 2026

 We welcome three new lab members this month!

• Sophie Quinlan, who will undertake her MSc research project in the lab this year.  Sophie studied for her BSc degree at the University of Sussex.

• Niamh Rodgers, who joins us on an MRC DiMeN PhD studentship to study adhesion GPCR signalling in the zebrafish and its association with cancer (supervisors: Tanya Whitfield, Freek van Eeden, Joe Harrity).  Niamh graduated with a BSc in Biomedicine and Health Science from Sheffield Hallam University, with a placement year at Calibre Scientific UK, where she rotated around five different manufacturing businesses in the life sciences.

• Georgia Tattersall, who joins us on an Anatomical Society PhD studentship to analyse post-embryonic morphogenesis of the zebrafish inner ear (supervisors: Tanya Whitfield, Emily Noël).  Georgia graduated with an MSci in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Manchester, where she undertook a summer project on Drosophila Notch signalling in the Baron lab, and a final year project on mammalian HES oscillatory dynamics in the Manning lab.

September 2026

Ethan and Tanya attended the 19th Zebrafish Disease Models meeting, held at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford.  Tanya gave a talk, presenting the lab's work on Adgrg6 as a disease model and for drug discovery.  Ethan presented a poster and gave a great flash talk.  He also demonstrated the light-sheet microscope that he has built together with Ashley Cadby, in collaboration with Jan de Sonneville (Life Science Methods, Leiden).

Discussions at the poster session

Ethan delivering his flash talk

Nahal and Tanya attended the 12th Adhesion GPCR workshop in Düsseldorf, Germany.  Nahal gave an excellent talk on her project and the lab's work on the Adgrg6 (Gpr126) signalling pathway in the zebrafish model, and Tanya chaired the session Shaping Tissues: Development, Polarity & Morphogenesis.

Nahal delivering her talk at the aGPCR workshop

We also enjoyed the School of Biosciences Annual Research Symposium here in Sheffield, with fascinating and thought-provoking guest lectures from Martin Warren (Quadram Institute) and Nick Lane (University College London).  

Aaron and Nick submitted images from the lab to the Jarema Malicki Image Competition:

It's Morphin' Time

A time-depth colour-coded image showing growing microtubule ends labelled with the transgenic lineTg(sox10:EB3-GFP) during inner-ear morphogenesis of a zebrafish embryo.  Nikon NSPARC imaging.  

Credit: Aaron Bailiff, Nick van Hateren, Sarah Baxendale

Fiery Olfaction

Antibody staining of cilia (pink/orange) and phalloidin staining of actin (white) to show the olfactory pit of a 5-day-old zebrafish embryo. The cilia beat continuously to draw water into the olfactory pit which brings odorant molecules into close proximity with odorant receptors. This allows the fish to smell their environment in real time. A lateral line neuromast is also visible (top left). Zeiss Airyscan 2 imaging.

Credit: Nick van Hateren, Aaron Bailiff

July 2026

Congratulations to Nahal on her PhD graduation!

Our collaborator Elena Scarpa (University of Cambridge) has led a project using the beautiful sox10-driven EB3-GFP transgenic line that Sarah and Mar generated in our lab.  The line can be used to visualise growing microtubule ends (EB3 comets) in the ear and in neural crest cells, and is based on previous published studies, including Stepanova et al., 2003 and Butler et al., 2010.  

Full details and source references are in the manuscript, which is now available on bioRxiv:

Congratulations to first author Soraya Villaseca and all the team!  

The video clip below shows the transgenic line in action:

EB3 comets (growing microtubule ends) in cells of the developing zebrafish ear.

Imaging: Nikon confocal microscope equipped with an NSPARC detector.

Sarah, Aaron, Ethan and Tanya all attended the lively 13th European Zebrafish Meeting in Vienna, Austria.  Aaron and Tanya gave talks, and Sarah and Ethan presented posters. 

Aaron delivering his talk in the Morphogenesis and Organogenesis session

June 2026

We attended the Bateson Centre Symposium, where Nahal gave an excellent talk on her research project, and other lab members presented posters.  Many thanks to Phil Elks and Emily Noël for organising a great day of science!

Tanya gave a talk on zebrafish olfactory ionocytes and rod cells at the UK Cilia and Centrosome Network Spring Meeting at the University of Leeds.  Many thanks to Colin Johnson, Pleasantine Mill and the leadership team for organising such a great meeting.

Ethan gave an excellent talk on his PhD work in the 3rd year Postgraduate Symposium in the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

May 2026

Aaron gave an excellent talk on his PhD project work at the DRN and MCB annual Postgraduate Research Symposium.

Congratulations to Aaron and Ethan, who have both been awarded travel grants to attend the 13th European Zebrafish Meeting in Vienna in July.

Aaron's grant is from the European Zebrafish Society, and Ethan's is from the Institute of Physics.

April 2026

A warm welcome to Keira Bond, who is joining us from April–June as a part-time technical assistant.  Keira is currently a final year student on our Biochemistry and Genetics degree programme, and has completed a genomics placement at the Julia Garnham Centre. She holds an Elite Sports Performance Scholarship and has represented the USA in National and World Championship Cycling events. Keira is also the Co-President of the University of Sheffield Cycling club, and a Volunteer Coach for the Sheffield Youth Cycling Club.

https://thebritishcontinental.co.uk/2024/11/26/keira-bond-interview-from-boulder-to-cobbles/

Nahal, Sarah and Aaron busy at the microscopes, analysing gene expression staining patterns

Aaron presented a poster of his PhD work at the Faculty of Science Doctoral School Showcase 2026:

It was a lively event, with around 100 posters from PhD students across the Faculty of Science.

Tanya gave a talk "Pierced ears and ear rings: Epithelial fusion and fracture in the developing zebrafish inner ear" at the Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, hosted by Professor Tim Saunders, with a full day of discussions with staff and students.

March 2026

Sarah and Tanya presented a poster of the lab's work at the BSDB Spring Meeting 'Molecules to Morphogenesis' at the University of Warwick.  

As part of a showcase of the Human Developmental Biology Resource (HDBR) Atlas, there was a beautiful 3D-printed human inner ear on display:

Model of an 8-week old human embryonic inner ear.  In the embryo, the organ is about 6 mm long at this stage.  Generated from data in the HDBR atlas

 

February 2026

Goodbye and good luck to Haseeb Qureshi, who has finished his postdoc in the lab and leaves us for new adventures.  Pints, pies and peas at Nottingham House for a good Sheffield send-off!

Emily Noël and Haseeb taking part in last year's Big Walk for neuroscience research 

- featured on the University's page for this year's walk!

The lab also enjoyed a delicious Iranian dinner at Qashqai Kitchen, Sheffield.  Thanks to Nahal for organising!

January 2026

 Happy New Year!

Congratulations to Anna Tythacott, who has graduated with an MSc in Biomedical Science!

Nahal hosted five Y12 students from High Storrs School, giving them a tour of the labs and facilities and an opportunity to observe zebrafish embryos.  They also explored the University of Sheffield campus and joined in a lab meeting.