The paper identifies a pressure-sensitive aboral valve in cnidarians that regulates hydraulic pressure during morphogenesis through mesogleal basement membrane dynamics.

Science Advances · Apr 17, 2026Peer-reviewedDevelopmental Biology

Ethology of morphogenesis reveals the design principles of cnidarian size and shape development

Anniek Stokkermans, Aditi Chakrabarti, Kaushikaram Subramanian, Ling Wang, Sifan Yin, Prachiti Moghe, Peter J. Steenbergen, Gregor Mönke, Takashi Hiiragi, Robert Prevedel, L. Mahadevan, Aissam Ikmi

The paper shows how muscular hydraulic behavior in Nematostella vectensis drives larva-polyp morphogenesis through antagonistic muscle pressures.

Current Biology · Sep 16, 2022Peer-reviewedDevelopmental Biology

Feeding-dependent tentacle development in the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis

Aissam Ikmi, Peter J. Steenbergen, Marie Anzo, Mason R. McMullen, Anniek Stokkermans, Lacey R. Ellington, Matthew C. Gibson

The paper studies feeding-dependent tentacle development in Nematostella vectensis, showing that TOR and FGFRb pathways coordinate post-embryonic patterning with food availability.

Nature Communications · Sep 2, 2020Peer-reviewedDevelopmental Biology

In vivo high-content screening in zebrafish for developmental nephrotoxicity of approved drugs

Jens Hendrik Westhoff, Peter J. Steenbergen, Laurent S. V. Thomas, Jana Heigwer, Thomas M. Bruckner, Ledean Cooper, Burkhard Tönshoff, Georg Friedrich Hoffmann, Jochen Gehrig

The paper screens approved drugs for developmental nephrotoxicity in zebrafish embryos using high-content imaging and analysis tools, identifying 10% of tested drugs as potentially nephrotoxic.

Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology · Jul 10, 2020Peer-reviewedDevelopmental Biology