Latest spotLight
spotLights is an interview series dedicated to highlighting exciting new preprints in the biological sciences and the early-career researchers driving the work.
Preprint highlights, selected by the biological community
A single genetic innovation at the origin of plant terrestrialization
Selected by
MechanoMaST – a multimodal pipeline for spatially registering mechanical and transcriptomic tissue data; Paired-surface spatial mechanomics links tissue stiffness maps to spatial transcriptomics
Selected by
Choreographed morphogenetic events underlie early foregut development in the mouse embryo
Selected by
Clonal embeddings allow exploratory analysis of lineage-resolved single-cell data
Selected by
Expanded implementation of Fast & Fair paid peer review reduces time to first decision without reducing review quality in a biology journal; Fast & Fair peer review: a pilot study demonstrating feasibility of rapid, high-quality peer review in a biology journal
Selected by
Vectorial efference copy and visuomotor transformation through gap junctions
Selected by
E-cadherin clustering as a regulator of morphogenesis
Additive baselines furnish no evidence for epistasis learning by MULTI-evolve
Selected by
'Preprints by preLighters': A novel reaction-diffusion architecture for engineering self-organized patterns in mammalian cells
Selected by
30 September 2026
Reinier Prosee, Benjamin Swedlund
A single genetic innovation at the origin of plant terrestrialization
Selected by
29 September 2026
Naveenkumar Muthiah
MechanoMaST – a multimodal pipeline for spatially registering mechanical and transcriptomic tissue data
AND
Paired-surface spatial mechanomics links tissue stiffness maps to spatial transcriptomics
Selected by
28 September 2026
Felipe Del Valle Batalla
Choreographed morphogenetic events underlie early foregut development in the mouse embryo
Selected by
23 September 2026
Ruoheng Li
Clonal embeddings allow exploratory analysis of lineage-resolved single-cell data
Selected by
23 September 2026
Marine Secchi
Expanded implementation of Fast & Fair paid peer review reduces time to first decision without reducing review quality in a biology journal
AND
Fast & Fair peer review: a pilot study demonstrating feasibility of rapid, high-quality peer review in a biology journal
Selected by
21 September 2026
Jonathan Townson
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New spotLights conversation on machine learning, epistasis and scientific rigor
Machine learning is increasingly shaping protein engineering, but how can we tell whether models truly capture complex biological phenomena such as epistasis, where the effect of one mutation depends on the presence of others? In our latest spotLights episode hosted by Leonie Brüne, Gian Marco Visani and William S. DeWitt…
| Posted on | 16 September 2026 |
New Preprint Highlights published with Development’s Special Issue
The latest Special Issue of Development – titled ‘The Extracellular Environment in Development, Regeneration and Stem Cells’ - includes a companion article that features a selection of recent preprints chosen and highlighted by members of the preLights community. Building on the themed Preprint Highlights format introduced in Journal of Cell…
| Posted on | 7 September 2026 |
Introducing Preprint Highlights for Special Issues
The latest Journal of Cell Science (JCS) Special Issue, Cell Biology of the Nucleus, includes a companion article, Preprint highlights in nuclear cell biology, featuring a selection of recent preprints chosen and highlighted by members of our community. Although JCS has published Preprint Highlights articles previously, this collection represents a…
| Posted on | 8 July 2026 |
Santa Cruz Developmental Biology Meeting 2026
This preList brings together a selection of preprints discussed at the Santa Cruz Developmental Biology Meeting 2026, held at UC Santa Cruz with the theme “Biomedicine, Biomechanics, and the Biosphere.” Reflecting the meeting’s broad scientific scope, from development and regeneration to evolution, tissue mechanics, and emerging technologies, this curated collection showcases work that contributed to conversations throughout the meeting.
| List by | Ingrid Tsang |
Developmental regulation: molecular and ecological niches
This conference was held at the Station Biologique de Roscoff (France) and brought together researchers exploring how diverse niche environments shape developmental processes across scales. Spanning topics from ecological and metabolic influences to signalling networks, mechanics and gene regulation, the meeting highlighted the interplay between intrinsic and extrinsic factors in controlling cell fate and tissue organisation. This preList gathers preprints discussed by speakers and poster presenters during the meeting. Please do get in touch at preLights@biologists.com if you notice any relevant preprints that we may have missed.
| List by | Ingrid Tsang |
preLighters’ choice – Handpicked DevBio preprints
preLighters with expertise across developmental and stem cell biology have nominated a few developmental biology (and related) preprints they’re excited about and explain in a few paragraph why. Concise preprint highlights, prepared by the preLighter community – a quick way to spot upcoming trends, new methods and fresh ideas.
| List by | Theodora Stougiannou et al. |
BSDB Spring Meeting: Molecules to Morphogenesis
The British Society for Developmental Biology (BSDB) Spring Meeting Molecules to Morphogenesis was held from 23–26 March 2026 at the University of Warwick (UK). This meeting brought together a vibrant community of researchers to discuss how molecular mechanisms are integrated across scales to drive morphogenesis, spanning diverse model systems and approaches. This preList contains preprints by presenters from the talk and poster sessions at the meeting. Please do get in touch at preLights@biologists.com if you notice any relevant preprints that we may have missed.
| List by | Ingrid Tsang |
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