news

In the Neolithic, agriculture established itself gradually

• news
• 22-08-2025

A study from UNIGE shows that European hunter-gatherers and farmers from Anatolia mixed gradually during the Neolithic.

Alexandros Tsoupas wins the 2025 PSLS Annual Thesis Prize

• news
• 27-06-2025

His thesis, "Inferring Population Dynamics During Past Expansion Events Using Spatiotemporal Molecular Patterns", explores how genetic data distributed across space and time can reveal the demographic processes underlying past population expansions.

How Tortoises Grow Their Scales: Two Systems, One Head

• news
• 25-06-2025

Chemical signals versus mechanical stress: tortoise head scales reveal nature’s dual process.

Prof. Emi Nagoshi Joins Azure Cell Therapies as Chair of Scientific Advisory Board

• news
• 03-06-2025

We are thrilled to share that Prof. Emi Nagoshi, a member of our department, is playing a leading role in the newly launched biotech startup Azure Cell Therapies.

Milinkovitch's lab makes the cover of PLOS Biology

• news
• 16-04-2025

The editorial team of PLOS Biology selects one light-sheet microscopy image produced by LANE lab.

Kostas Kampourakis is the 2024 winner of the Friend of Darwin award

• news
• 10-12-2024

Honored with Prestigious Award: Kostas Kampourakis Receives "Friend of Darwin 2024"

How the dog, cow and ferret make their noses

• news
• 31-10-2024

Milinkovitch's team found that nose patterns form in embryos due to differential skin growth supported by blood vessels.

Skin colour patterns: predicting the unseen

• news
• 20-10-2023

In ‘Physical Review X (PRX)’, Milinkovitch's team predicts & confirms a secondary colour pattern in ocellated lizards. This pattern is too subtle for our eyes to see.

The encounter between Neanderthals and Sapiens as told by their genomes

• news
• 19-10-2023

By analyzing genomes up to 40,000 years old, Mathias Currat's team has traced the history of migrations between Sapiens and Neanderthals.

Parkinson’s: are our neurons more vulnerable at night?

• news
• 28-09-2023

Emi Nagoshi's team shows that disruptions to the circadian clock increase the risk of developing a neurodegenerative disease.

The University of Geneva enters the ‘top 50’ in world ranking

• news
• 18-08-2023

The UNIGE is indeed now ranked 49th in the world

The secret behind the Nikon Photomicrography 1st prize revealed

• news
• 04-04-2023

We publish today a new method that provides unmatched visualisation of collagen 3D network architecture.

It makes the cover of Current Biology

• news
• 06-12-2022

The quantitative analysis of scale-by-scale patterning in lizards by Ebrahim Jahanbakhsh & Michel Milinkovitch makes the cover of Current Biology.

How lizards got their skin colour patterns

• news
• 14-11-2022

In the journal Current Biology, researchers in the Department of Genetics and Evolution quantify the predictability of scale-by-scale patterns in multiple divergent species of lizards.

A PhD student of our Department wins the 2022 Nikon Small World Competition

• news
• 11-10-2022

The 48th annual Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition’s first place prize was awarded to Grigorii Timin, a PhD student supervised by Prof. Michel Milinkovitch from the GenEv Dpt

Olfactory neurons adapt to the surrounding environment

• news
• 30-05-2022

The team of Professors Ivan Rodriguez and Alan Carleton of the UNIGE has highlighted the great variability and continuous adaptation of olfactory neurons.

An HFSP grant to study reptilian coloration

• news
• 21-03-2022

Dr. Athanasia Tzika is awarded an HFSP grant to study reptilian coloration.

Où est le monstre?

• news
• 07-03-2022

This is the question posed by the new exhibition, which offers a journey through three Geneva locations. The groups of professors Birgitte Galliot, Denis Duboule, Ivan Rodriguez and Michel Milinkovitch took part in the realization of this exhibition.

The mathematical simplicity of lizard camouflage

• news
• 01-02-2022

We uncover the amazing parallels between ferromagnetism modeling and lizard skin colour patterning

New behaviors dating back to ca. 35’000 years identified at Toumboura III archaeological site, Eastern Senegal

• news
• 26-11-2021

The excavation of the archaeological site of Toumboura III has provided more than 13’000 stone artefacts resulting from the production of very specific stone tools: bifacial tools, among which small bifacial points probably intended to be hafted on wooden shafts and used as projectiles.

A genetic circuit that extends the useful range of a BMP morphogen arose alongside insect wing evolution.

• publication
• 19-11-2025

Huang, Cocconi, Nicholls-Mindlin, Alexandre, Salbreux, Vincent. Curr Biol 2025 Nov ; 10.1016/j.cub.2025.10.059. S0960-9822(25)01406-X.

Candidate genes underlying hypomelanistic morphs in squamate reptiles.

• publication
• 04-11-2025

Beaudier, Ullate-Agote, Tzika. Genetics 2025 Nov ; 10.1093/genetics/iyaf236. 8313584.

Molecular and morphological taxonomy and biogeography of living Cribroelphidiidae, Elphidiellidae, Elphidiidae, Haynesinidae and related taxa (Foraminifera, Rotalioidea)

• publication
• 01-11-2025

Hayward, B.W., Holzmann, M., Langer, M., Parker, J.H., Tsuchiya, M.. Micropaleontology vol. 71, no.5-6, 433-803. https://doi.org/10.47894/mpal.71.5.01

Two new freshwater foraminiferal species (SAR, Rhizaria) from Dinaric karst caves (southeastern Europe).

• publication
• 29-10-2025

Baković, Siemensma, Holzmann. Eur J Protistol 2025 Oct (101); 126172 10.1016/j.ejop.2025.126172. S0932-4739(25)00040-9.

Two new freshwater foraminiferal species (SAR, Rhizaria) from Dinaric karst caves (southeastern Europe)

• publication
• 24-10-2025

Bakovic, N., Siemensma, F., Holzmann, M.. European Journal of Protistology 101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejop.2025.126172

Adhaerentella dendrocorona gen. and sp. nov: An Attached Monothalamid Foraminifera From the Abyssal Pacific

• publication
• 10-10-2025

Burkett, A., Anandu, J., Holzmann, M., Pawlowski, J., Pratt, R.B., Rathburn. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology, 72: e70045, https://doi.org/10.1111/jeu.70045

Flaviatella gen. nov., a new genus of monothalamous foraminifera with a wide geographical and bathymetrical distribution

• publication
• 10-10-2025

Holzmann, M., Gooday, A.J., Pawlowski, J.. Progress in Oceanography, 103589, ISSN 0079-6611, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2025.103589

Adhaerentella dendrocorona gen. and sp. nov: An Attached Monothalamid Foraminifera From the Abyssal Pacific.

• publication
• 10-10-2025

Burkett, Anadu, Holzmann, Pawlowski, Pratt, Rathburn. J Eukaryot Microbiol 2025 (72:6); e70045 10.1111/jeu.70045.

First record of the foraminiferal species Ammonia confertitesta in southeastern Baltic sea.

• publication
• 30-09-2025

Szymańska, Devendra, Nguyen, Stachowiak, Garbień, Kotwicki, Lintner, Keul, Melaniuk, Łącka, Zajączkowski, Pawłowski. Sci Rep 2025 Sep (15:1); 33562 PMC12479747. 10.1038/s41598-025-18578-7. 10.1038/s41598-025-18578-7.

First record of the foraminiferal species Ammonia confertitesta in southeastern Baltic sea

• publication
• 29-09-2025

Szymańska, N., Devendra, D., Nguyen, N.L., Holzmann, M., Garbień, A., Stachowiak, M., Kotwicki, L., Lintner, M., Keul, N., Zajączkowski, M, Pawłowski, J.. Scientific Reports, 15, 33562. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-18578-7

Signaling-dependent refinement of cell fate choice during tissue remodeling in Drosophila pupal wings.

• publication
• 20-09-2025

Herszterg, Cicolini, de Gennes, Huang, Matamoro-Vidal, Alexandre, Smith, Araujo, Levayer, Vincent, Salbreux. Dev Cell 2025 Sep ; 10.1016/j.devcel.2025.08.016. S1534-5807(25)00535-0.

Analysis of a human-mediated microbioinvasion: the global spread of the benthic foraminifer Trochammina hadai Uchio, 1962

• publication
• 08-09-2025

McGann, M., Holzmann, M., Bouchet, V. M. P., Disaró, S. T., Eichler, P. P. B., Haig, D. W., Himson, S. J., Kitazato, H., Pavard, J.-C., Polovodova Asteman, I., Rodrigues, A. R., Tremblin, C. M., Tsuchiya, M., Williams, M., O'Brien, P., Asplund, J., Axelsson, M., and Lorenson, T. D.. Journal of Micropaleontology, 44, 275-317. https://doi.org/10.5194/jm-44-275-2025

video-assisted activity monitor (DrosoVAM): a versatile method for behaviour monitoring.

• publication
• 08-09-2025

Revel, Nagoshi, Maeda. R Soc Open Sci 2025 Sep (12:9); 250764 PMC12410964. 10.1098/rsos.250764. rsos250764.

A Later Stone Age quartz knapping workshop and fireplace dated to the Early Holocene in Senegal: The Ravin Blanc X site (RBX).

• publication
• 03-09-2025

Pruvost, Huysecom, Garnier, Hajdas, Höhn, Lespez, Rasse, Douze, Soriano, Fichet, Saulnier-Copard, Ndiaye, Mayor. PLoS One 2025 (20:9); e0329824 PMC12407453. 10.1371/journal.pone.0329824. PONE-D-25-11702.

A spatial single-cell atlas of the claustro-insular region uncovers key regulators of neuronal identity and excitability.

• publication
• 26-08-2025

Fodoulian, Boillat, Moulinier, Carleton, Rodriguez. Nat Commun 2025 Aug (16:1); 7830 PMC12373765. 10.1038/s41467-025-63138-2. 10.1038/s41467-025-63138-2.

Local increases in admixture with hunter-gatherers followed the initial expansion of Neolithic farmers across continental Europe

• publication
• 22-08-2025

Tsoupas A, Reyna-Blanco Carlos S, Quilodran C, Blöcher J, Brami M, Wegmann D, Burger J, Currat M. Science advances, 2025, vol. 11, n° 34, p. eadq9976. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adq9976

Local increases in admixture with hunter-gatherers followed the initial expansion of Neolithic farmers across continental Europe.

• publication
• 20-08-2025

Tsoupas, Reyna-Blanco, Quilodrán, Blöcher, Brami, Wegmann, Burger, Currat. Sci Adv 2025 Aug (11:34); eadq9976 PMC12366693. 10.1126/sciadv.adq9976.

Gradients, waves and nematics: quantitative perspectives on regeneration.

• publication
• 23-07-2025

Guyomar, De Simone. Semin Cell Dev Biol 2025 Jul (174); 103632 10.1016/j.semcdb.2025.103632. S1084-9521(25)00042-4.

Integrative taxonomy of new xenophyophores (Rhizaria, Foraminifera) from the abyssal northwest Pacific

• publication
• 22-07-2025

Gooday, A. J., Ishitani, Y., Chen, C., Holzmann, M., Richirt, J., Seike, K., Yamashita, M., Tsuchiya, M., & Nomaki, H.. European Journal of Taxonomy, 1004(1), 144–189. https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2025.1004.2973

On the Incompleteness of the Coelacanth Fossil Record

• publication
• 08-07-2025

Yuan, Z., Cavin, L., Song, H.. Fossil Studies 2025, 3, 10. https://doi.org/10.3390/fossils3030010

Energetics of biological systems

• event
• Physics of biology
• 09.11.2023 12:00, Amphithéâtre Stueckelberg (École de physique)

Jonathan Rodenfels (Max Plank Institut).
hosted by: Guillaume Salbreux .

Tissue growth and developmental pattern formation

• event
• Physics of biology
• 27.10.2023 12:00, Amphithéâtre Stueckelberg (École de physique)

Anna Kicheva (The Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA)).
hosted by: Guillaume Salbreux .

TO BE ANNOUNOUCED

• event
• Geneva Plant Seminars
• 25.10.2023 11:15, 1S059 (Sciences III)

Marco Catoni (University of Birmingham).
hosted by: Luis Lopez Molina .

to be announced

• event
• Geneva Plant Seminars
• 11.10.2023 11:15, 1S059 (Sciences III)

Leonie Luginbuehl (Cambridge University (UK)).
hosted by: Theresa Fitzpatrick .

Mechanobiology of cell shape control

• event
• Physics of biology
• 29.09.2023 12:00, Amphithéâtre Stueckelberg (École de physique)

Ewa Paluch (Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge).
hosted by: Guillaume Salbreux .

to be announced

• event
• Dpt of Plant Sciences
• 30.08.2023 10:15, unknown (unknown)

Francesco Di Nezio (UNIGE and SUPSI - Mauro Tonolla's group).
hosted by: Roman Ulm .

Understanding Architecture And Evolutionary Patterns In Haplolepidous Peristomes (Dicranidae, Bryophyta) Using Histology And Micro-Morphology

• event
• Dpt of Plant Sciences
• 25.07.2023 14:00, Salle de conférence (Museum of Natural History)

Mathilde Ruche (Michelle Price's group).
hosted by: Michelle Price .

GENOMES UNCOUPLED1-dependent biogenic thermal stress responses

• event
• Geneva Plant Seminars
• 28.06.2023 12:15, 1S059 (Sciences III)

Chahong Kim (Shanghai Center for Plant Stress Biology (PSC) ).
hosted by: Theresa Fitzpatrick .

Advanced otopical tools for life sciences

• event
• Physics of biology
• 23.06.2023 12:00, Amphithéâtre Stueckelberg (École de physique)

Robert Predevel (Cell Biology and Biophysics Unit, EMBL Heidelberg).
hosted by: Guillaume Salbreux .

HOW TO MAKE APICAL CILIA: COORDINATION BETWEEN CILIA FORMATION AND EPITHELIA POLARIZATION

• event
• Dpt of Molecular and Cellular Biology
• 23.06.2023 10:30, A100 (Sciences II)

Prof. Rytis Prekeris (University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus Aurora (CO), USA).
hosted by: Sandra Citi .

The DNA-binding protein WHIRLY1 of barley promotes chloroplast development and responsivenesss to environment

• event
• Geneva Plant Seminars
• 22.06.2023 14:30, 1S081 (Sciences III)

Karin Krupinska (Christian-Albrechts University Kiel, Germany).
hosted by: Theresa Fitzpatrick .

Revisiting the plant immune system from an evolutionary point of view

• event
• Geneva Plant Seminars
• 21.06.2023 11:15, A100 (Sciences II)

Hirofumi Nakagami (Max-Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne).
hosted by: Roman Ulm .

Symmetry breaking and tissue flow in gastruloids

• event
• Life Science Seminar Series
• 06.06.2023 11:00, A150 (Sciences II)

Pierre-François Lenne (CNRS (IBDML)).
hosted by: Karsten Kruse .

Multi-cellular coordination

• event
• Physics of biology
• 26.05.2023 12:00, Amphithéâtre Stueckelberg (École de physique)

Takashi Hiragii (Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Biology).
hosted by: Guillaume Salbreux .

Channelling organ growth via intercellular communication

• event
• Geneva Plant Seminars
• 24.05.2023 12:15, 1S059 (Sciences III)

Joop Vermeer (University of Basel).
hosted by: Marie Barberon .

mRNAs as cytoplasmic organizers of subcellular compartments

• event
• cancelled
• 09.05.2023 14:00, Virtual seminar (unknown)

Christine Mayr (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center).
hosted by: Ramesh Pillai .

Active cell matter

• event
• Physics of biology
• 28.04.2023 12:00, Amphithéâtre Stueckelberg (École de physique)

Cécile Sykes (Laboratoire Physico Chimie Curie).
hosted by: Guillaume Salbreux .

Optogenetic manipulation of phototropin receptor function to improve plant physiology and growth

• event
• Geneva Plant Seminars
• 27.04.2023 16:15, 1S059 (Sciences III)

John Christie (University of Glasgow).
hosted by: Roman Ulm .

internal seminar

• event
• Plant Science Seminar (BIVEG internal seminar)
• 24.04.2023 12:15, A50A (Sciences III)

Florian Laurent (Michael Hothorn's lab).
hosted by: Roman Ulm .