Gert Jan C. Veenstra @gjcveenstra@qoto.org

In our lab we study heart development and heart disease. To better understand these processes in humans, we analyze human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiac microtissues and human patient tissues. However, many lessons can be learned from other species, which tend to be understudied.

Happy to see this Marine Biological Laboratory feature article about our work on heart development in 🐸 and 🦑

https://www.mbl.edu/news/inhuman-hearts-whitman-fellow-explores-cardiovascular-disease-through-frogs-and-squids

After a couple of days on #Mastodon I’m very impressed & excited to be part of this growing community! #mastodonmigration

My only humble suggestion is that it needs more #tardigrades aka "water bears."

Tardigrades have survived every mass #extinction on Earth since they evolved about a 1/2 billion years ago. There are ~1,300 known species. And millions of years from now, they won’t even notice we’re gone.

It's really quite exciting starting up on Mastodon.
Rather like opening a door in a wall and suddenly finding you are in a party with some old friends and lots of new interesting people.
As one who was an early adopter of Twitter, it also is very reminiscent of the old days when I first realised how useful social media could be for meeting new people and learning new stuff.

We zitten hier nu met z'n allen op Mastodon & maken olifanten-grapjes. Maar wat is een mastodon - in het Nederlands mastodont - eigenlijk? Even een kleine 🧵 met weetjes 🙂.

Mastodonten zijn inderdaad familie van mammoeten & hedendaagse olifanten. Maar ze zijn minder nauw verwant dan je misschien zou denken. Ze splitsen al behoorlijk lang (zo'n 30 miljoen jaar) geleden af van een gezamenlijke voorouder, zoals je kunt zien in dit evolutionaire boompje. Ver voordat wij mensen in the picture kwamen