New preprint alert!!! Super proud to finally share an authentic 'tour-de-force' from the amazing PhD students Shivani Gunnan @shivanigunnan.bsky.social, Max Kotz and Lucas Ribas, in collaboration with @friedrich-group.bsky.social 👇a small thread www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Developmental growth rates adapt to enable self-correction of organ morphology after injury.

Proportional organ growth requires tissue-level control of cell behavior. Yet the cues that adapt growth rates, especially after organ injury, remain unclear. Here, we uncover that developing organs a...

biorxiv.org

Lipids build the membranes of all cells, but identifying their precise functions is extremely challenging. Here’s our attempt to change that: How to find and understand lipid-protein interactions, by Katelyn Cook & company. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Latest work from the team driven by our fantastic post-doc Maribel Arjona. Using cytoplasm extract fractions and active rheology, we adress how endomembranes, that pack the cell interior, influence the mechanics of the cytoplasm! @ijmonod.bsky.social @cnrsbiologie.bsky.social

bioRxiv Biophysics@biorxiv-biophys.bsky.social · 2w ago

A Composite Endomembrane Suspension Governs Cytoplasm Rheology https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.20.739612v1

I'm looking forward to presenting at the Physics of the Cell DGZ Focus Workshop! Join if you want to learn about a ratchet mechanism in cell division!

DGZ.bsky.social@dgz.bsky.social · 3w ago

Join us on July 21 at noon for the next #DGZ #FocusWorkshop on #PhysicsOfTheCell, organized by @lmoeckl.bsky.social and @lepuslapis.bsky.social. Topics include mechanics of reproduction, glycan atlassing, embodied computation in ciliates, and physics of cell division @alisonkickuth.bsky.social

I am thrilled to share my PhD work with @nicolettapetridou.bsky.social @embl.org: www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/... A fun collaboration with Bernat Corominas-Murtra, Adrián Aguirre-Tamaral, @bart-smeets.bsky.social , Jef Vanghel and Tom Belpaire! Read the story in the comments below ⤵️

🎉Congratulations to former PoL PhD student Alison Kickuth @alisonkickuth.bsky.social who received the Otto Hahn medal! 👩‍🔬Alison's thesis uncovered a new mechanism of unilateral cytokinesis, and was completed at @brugueslab.bsky.social, also a fellow at @mpi-cbg.de ➡️Read our news: tud.link/gcyqua

New in @science.org ...since our first discoveries of early tetrapods, they have been thought of as "amphibians" characterized by aquatic larvae. But is this true? For the first time, we report exceptional fossils of stem tetrapod babies that upend this paradigm. 1/n www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Direct development of stem tetrapods across the fin-to-limb transition

Modern amphibians are characterized by an aquatic larval stage that ends abruptly with a period of widespread tissue remodeling (metamorphosis) upon transition to terrestrial adulthood. A transient la...

science.org

I am honoured to have received the Otto Hahn Medal! Thank you Jan @brugueslab.bsky.social, @ursa-ursic.bsky.social, Michael Staddon, @mpi-cbg.de, and @poldresden.bsky.social for your support during this scientific journey!

Brugues Lab@brugueslab.bsky.social · 2mo ago

It was an honor to introduce @alisonkickuth.bsky.social during the Otto Hahn medal ceremony from the @maxplanck.de in recognition for her amazing PhD, where she discovered a new mechanism for unilateral cytokinesis (www.nature.com/articles/s41...)

Congratulations Dr. Uršič!

ursa-ursic.bsky.social@ursa-ursic.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Exciting news: I successfully defended my PhD thesis last week! I am extremely grateful to my supervisor Jan Brugués and @brugueslab.bsky.social for a wonderful scientific journey. 🎉🎉🎉

We present: Index-agnostic oblique plane light sheet microscopy of centimetre-scale cleared tissues at subcellular resolution www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Excited to share that I have started my postdoc position at the @mrclmb.ac.uk in Cambridge. Looking forward to doing amazing science with the @deriverylab.bsky.social lab!

Learn about the incredible #zebrafish tools and imaging created by @brugueslab.bsky.social & @alisonkickuth.bsky.social 🐟

FocalPlane @focalplane.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Our latest ‘Imaging spotlight’ is from Jan Brugués @brugueslab.bsky.social & Alison Kickuth @alisonkickuth.bsky.social where they discuss the microscopy & microrheology techniques that they used in their research dissecting the mechanics of cytokinesis. focalplane.biologists.com/2026/02/10/i...

Our latest ‘Imaging spotlight’ is from Jan Brugués @brugueslab.bsky.social & Alison Kickuth @alisonkickuth.bsky.social where they discuss the microscopy & microrheology techniques that they used in their research dissecting the mechanics of cytokinesis. focalplane.biologists.com/2026/02/10/i...

🎉Exciting new findings out in @nature.com today by the Brugués lab! @brugueslab.bsky.social @mpi-cbg.de 👨‍🔬 The authors describe how physical instability of the cytoskeleton works with the cell cycle to drive organization in the embryo during early development Read our press release: tud.link/kctu4s

Really excited to share our new paper in @nature.com! We uncovered how a physical instability of the cytoplasm coupled with the cell cycle drives cytoplasmic partitioning in early embryos #zebrafish #drosophila. Read more in this🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🤩 @poldresden.bsky.social @mpi-cbg.de

Excited to share Alison's @alisonkickuth.bsky.social paper from the lab out in @nature.com this week! We uncovered how a mechanical ratchet mechanism drives cytokinesis in early #zebrafish embryos. Read more in this thread 🧵 and at www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🤩 @poldresden.bsky.social @mpi-cbg.de

🎉Exciting findings out today in Nature @nature.com from the PoL group of Jan Brugués @brugueslab.bsky.social! The authors describe a new mechanism driving cell division during early development in #zebrafish, fundamentally altering our view of the process. Read the press release: tud.link/2s3bxj

Really happy to see my PhD first-author paper published in @nature.com! I’m very grateful to have worked with such a great team. Huge thanks to Urša Uršič, Michael Staddon, and Jan Brugués, as well as the @brugueslab.bsky.social, and the @poldresden.bsky.social and @mpi-cbg.de community!

Brugues Lab@brugueslab.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Excited to share Alison's @alisonkickuth.bsky.social paper from the lab out in @nature.com this week! We uncovered how a mechanical ratchet mechanism drives cytokinesis in early #zebrafish embryos. Read more in this thread 🧵 and at www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🤩 @poldresden.bsky.social @mpi-cbg.de

I'll also miss Dresden very much and especially being part of the Brugues lab! It has been a great time :)

Brugues Lab@brugueslab.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Today was Alison Kickuth's @alisonkickuth.bsky.social last day in the lab. We are very sad to see her go but very excited about what is coming next for her at Cambridge LMB. Alison is amazing and we will miss her a lot! We also celebrated her accepted paper which should come out really soon.

Another successful Brugues lab retreat. Starting out with a great art workshop! and ending in a group hug!

⚡Ready to grow and be inspired as a scientist? We’re looking for a *PhD student* to join our lab at @crg.eu in Barcelona and explore how cells self-organize, uncovering life’s inner design💡 We offer strong mentoring, cutting-edge science, and a vibrant international team🌍 Check the link below!

We hire! The CytoMorpho Lab is looking for an engineer with a background in cell and molecular biology to join our team in Paris. This is a 18-month contract position, but we're open to exploring long-term opportunities. More details here: cytomorpholab.com/index.php/jo...

Our call for PhD students within our International Max Planck Research School for Cell, Developmental and Systems Biology is open! Apply until October 28th. We are looking forward hearing from you! imprs.mpi-cbg.de

What a pleasure to collaborate with Laura #Schaedel and her team at @uni-saarland.de to study #microtubule damage and repair under mechanical load.

bioRxivpreprint@biorxivpreprint.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Kinesin-induced buckling reveals the limits of microtubule self-repair https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.08.672697v1

Dresden researchers @paveltomancak.bsky.social @bruvellu.bsky.social, Carl Modes, @cuencam15.bsky.social ‬ & colleagues published in @nature.com that a tissue fold in fruit fly embryos buffers mechanical stresses & may have evolved in response to mechanical forces. www.mpi-cbg.de/news-outreac...

Mechanical forces drive evolutionary change

A small tissue fold present in fruit fly embryos buffers mechanical stresses and may have evolved in response to mechanical forces.

mpi-cbg.de

Patrick's paper is finally out, a label-free method to measure the composition of multicomponent biomolecular condensates!

A label-free method for measuring the composition of multicomponent biomolecular condensates - Nature Chemistry

Biomolecular condensates are made of multiple components but current techniques cannot capture their complex composition quantitatively. Now it has been shown that the dense-phase binodal point defini...

nature.com

Physics of Life Dresden@poldresden.bsky.social · 11mo ago

New findings out today in Nature Chemistry from the Brugués @brugueslab.bsky.social at PoL, alongside colleagues at @mpi-cbg.de and the IPF Dresden 🧪 The authors have discovered a new method to identify the molecular makeup of biomolecular condensates Read our press release here: tud.link/ajwtaz

Just started our @bcube-tud.bsky.social - organized Engineering Life 2025 #25EngLife conference in #Dresden! Excited to have everybody around!

The maturation process of oocytes remains paused for several years. Researchers from #UniKonstanz and @uni-goettingen.de have now found out which protein ensures this state is maintained over such a long period. Full story: https://t1p.de/nvejp

Very happy that the first article from my postdoc work in the Tomancak lab is now published @PNAS! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/.... We studied the self-organization of actin in aggregates made from Hydra cells. Thread below (1/9)

Thrilled to share our work using live imaging to understand how Epiblast (future embryo proper) and Primitive Endoderm (future extraembryonic tissues) cell fates segregate in the preimplantation mouse embryo. Gargantuan effort led by amazing @rpkimyip.bsky.social, David Denberg and Denis Faerberg!