Sensory cells in marine invertebrates play a fundamental role in detecting environmental cues and translating them into biological responses that enable survival, feeding, reproduction, and interaction with the environment. These cells detect chemical and mechanical stimuli, gravity, temperature, and salinity, guiding behaviours such as predator avoidance, navigation, and larval settlement. However, the diversity and evolutionary relationships of sensory cell types across animal phyla, and the mechanisms by which they have been adapted, modified, reused, or lost, remain poorly understood.
ZooCELL aims to uncover the evolutionary principles governing cell type diversification, with a particular focus on sensory cells. The project is based on identifying recurrent patterns of genetic programs and sub-cellular organization across a wide range of animals. By integrating cellular ultrastructure analysis with genetics, two fields that have largely developed separately, ZooCELL establishes a novel framework for comparative cell type analysis.
By combining volume electron microscopy (vEM) with cellular-resolution gene expression profiling of entire organs or whole organisms, we link the ultrastructural complexity of sensory cells to their gene expression profiles at single-cell resolution. This integrative approach overcomes the traditional separation between morphological and molecular analyses and enables evolutionary comparisons at the level of individual cell types across species. These efforts lay the foundation for a new field of comparative integrative cell biology.
At the same time, ZooCELL provides advanced interdisciplinary training to doctoral candidates (DCs), equipping them with expertise in cutting-edge imaging, molecular profiling, data integration, and evolutionary analysis. Through its comprehensive training programme, ZooCELL fosters scientific excellence, critical thinking, and transferable skills, strengthening the career perspectives and employability of the DCs. The main impact of the action is the development of outstanding early-stage researchers who will contribute to reinforcing the European life-science landscape and the knowledge-based economy.
In addition, the programme includes strong dissemination and public outreach components, contributing to the development of well-rounded scientists and increasing societal awareness of fundamental research in evolutionary and cell biology.
