How do tissues safely remove cells? Join me, @marija-matejcic.bsky.social in this perspective on the past, present and future of epithelial cell extrusion 🧵 0/16

Thrilled to share our new work on the coupling between cell proliferation and intercellular stress organization! Cool collaboration between @bladoux.bsky.social / @rmmege.bsky.social lab and Doostmohammadi lab, combining experiments + simulations. Main points below : www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

A principal-stress rule for cell division in epithelia

Dense active materials, from cellular tissues to jammed and glassy systems, must continuously relieve internal mechanical stress to remain structurally stable as they are driven far from equilibrium. ...

biorxiv.org

What determines how epithelial cells divide when shape cues disappear? Our new work shows that division follows the axis of maximal stress anisotropy. This “principal-stress rule” links mechanics, proliferation, and homeostasis. Amazing work from @luanger.bsky.social. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Take a look at this new preprint led by @fanny-wodrascka.bsky.social on tension-driven cell extrusion! Using optogenetics, she studied how tensile stresses can influence fate (alive or dead) and direction (apical or basal) of extruded cells. Happy to have contributed a bit to this nice story!

Mechanical Tension Actively Triggers RhoA-Mediated Cell Extrusion

Cell extrusion is a fundamental process in tissue homeostasis, morphogenesis, and cancer progression, facilitating the removal of cells either alive or through apoptosis. While biochemical signaling p...

biorxiv.org

Benoit Ladoux@bladoux.bsky.social · 4w ago

Thrilled to share our new paper on cell extrusion. A beautiful study with a tremendous amount of data, led by the fantastic @fanny-wodrascka.bsky.social ! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Every 3D tissue is a map waiting to be drawn. Flatten a curved tissue, follow how it deforms, find its hidden axis, or measure its shape to explain how it moves: it's all cartography!

New paper in Advanced Materials! We present DNA hydrogel microparticles for 3D tissue engineering, showing programmable material properties and cell-material interactions! Special thanks to Eleni Dalaka @gflaesch.bsky.social @kgoepfrich.bsky.social @xaviertrepat.bsky.social doi.org/10.1002/adma...

Spectacular Developmental Biology Jacques Monod Conference in Roscoff. Thanks to @bardinlab.bsky.social and @lionlchristiaen.bsky.social for putting together such an exciting scientific program. And the setting was incredible too, with a beautiful sunset to end the meeting.

Biophysical principles of cell competition and elimination

Happy to share our new review on biophysical principles of cell competition and elimination: www.cell.com/trends/cell-... With @bladoux.bsky.social and @rmmege.bsky.social, we discuss mechanical fitness, how loser cells are removed through various strategies and how forces can effect their fate

Really happy to share my PhD story about the regulation of developmental speed in the Drosophila eye 🪰😃👀, which is now published @embojournal.org: link.springer.com/article/10.1... Grateful to everyone who make this possible, particularly F. Schweisguth @pasteur.fr @devstempasteur.bsky.social

Glad to see this out in its final form! www.nature.com/articles/s41... What changed since the preprint? Wonderful experiments disentangling the effect of receptor binding vs tissue porosity on Nodal diffusion, plus one of the smoothest review experiences! Thanks @natcellbio.nature.com & reviewers 🙏

Tissue rigidity phase transition shapes morphogen gradients - Nature Cell Biology

Autorino et al. report a feedback loop between Nodal signalling and tissue phase transitions in zebrafish embryos. Nodal alters adhesion, triggering tissue rigidification and reduced porosity, which l...

nature.com

Nicoletta Petridou@nicolettapetridou.bsky.social · last yr.

Here our latest work on how morphogens trigger tissue phase transitions to tune their own length-scales and time-scales - An exciting collaboration with @zhvas.bsky.social @dianakhorom.bsky.social Bernat Corominas-Murtra and heroic experiments by the incredible @cami-autorino.bsky.social @embl.org

Happy to share our new paper on collective cell dynamics. Great work from Yuan Shen @ijmonod.bsky.social ! Dynamic heterogeneity and hidden fluidity in dense epithelial tissues | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Dynamic heterogeneity and hidden fluidity in dense epithelial tissues

Densely packed epithelial tissues appear mechanically arrested at tissue scale, but their cells move in subtle, coordinated ways.

science.org

We are happy to share our new bioRxiv pre-print on A-P axis patterning. A great collaboration with Felix Zhou (UT Southwestern) & the Yeomans group (Physics, Oxford) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Hello epithelia enthusiasts! I’m @inesfournon.bsky.social and I study epithelial mechanics in sea anemones 🪼 Did you know epithelial cell extrusion had never been described outside bilaterian animals before? Well… not anymore 👀 Read ⬇️🧵1/9

Our new review on epithelial barrier homeostasis has been published in Trends in Cell Biology(www.cell.com/trends/cell-...)! Please use the following link for free access until May 1: authors.elsevier.com/a/1mlnq3QxxT...

Epithelial barrier homeostasis

Epithelia cover the body’s surface to form a barrier that segregates the internal body from the external environment. Tight junctions (TJs) seal the paracellular space and are crucial for the formatio...

cell.com

Final version @nature.com of our paper describing unconventional multicellular development in a choanoflagellate inhabiting an extreme environment. A ton of new data since the first @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social preprint (which we've kept updating). A brief 🧵 (carried over from the old place)

Nature Portfolio@natureportfolio.nature.com · 5mo ago

A study in Nature shows that the single-celled form of a tiny, aquatic organism can turn into a multicellular version by three different routes. The discovery adds insight to the possible origins of multicellular life, suggesting a previously unrecognized degree of flexibility. 🧪

Excited to share our new review in @dev-journal.bsky.social on tissue phase transitions during development! @karengrace12.bsky.social @nicolettapetridou.bsky.social 🔗 doi.org/10.1242/dev....

Tissue phase transitions in development: more than just mechanics

Summary: Tissue material phase transitions are classically thought to regulate tissue deformability. This Review emphasises their unexpected roles in directly influencing growth and patterning signall...

doi.org

New paper alert!🤩Super proud that our story led by superstar postdocs @liujinghui.bsky.social and @nerlielisa.bsky.social is finally out! We found how electrical signals are key for promoting organ regenerative growth!!! A thread 🧵https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aec0687

Injury-induced electrochemical coupling triggers organ growth

Organ repair and growth rely on coupling tissue-wide membrane depolarization with intracellular proliferative signaling.

science.org

Latest work from the lab by Aude Nommick et al., in which we propose a "size-scaling" model for microtubule force exertion that regulates centrosome centration vs decentration during embryo development! @ijmonod.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Happy to highlight our collaborative work from our @ijmonod.bsky.social team with @destriano.bsky.social, B. Goyeau and M. Chabanon. Cytoplasmic crowding acts as a porous medium that hinders macromolecular diffusivity. Plus: a clever way to measure cell volume. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Cytoplasmic crowding acts as a porous medium reducing macromolecule diffusion | PNAS

Intracellular transport of macromolecules is crucial for the proper functioning of most cellular processes. Although intracellular crowding is know...

pnas.org

My PhD work showed that vimentin is not only a passive marker of EMT, but plays an active role in collective migration, controlling the mechanics of epithelial leader cells. I am grateful to my supervisors, Rene-Marc & Benoit Ladoux, as well as to all the co-authors. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Our paper on tissue stress measurements is now out in Eur. Phys. J. E. rdcu.be/eX59E. Great work from @luanger.bsky.social and @andreasschoenit.bsky.social and collaboration with P. Marcq @pmmh-lab.bsky.social Code: github.com/pmarcq/BISM/ and Examples on github.com/ASmushyCell/...

Anger, L., Schoenit, A., Wodrascka, F., Rossé, C., Mège, R. M., Ladoux, B., & Marcq, P. (2025). Tissue stress measurements with Bayesian Inversion Stress Microscopy. arXiv preprint arXiv:2512.00550. arxiv.org/abs/2512.00550 #EpithelialMechanics

So proud to share this beautiful work developed in collaboration with @lorealfrance.bsky.social Using 3D imaging at an outstanding level of resolution, we have uncovered the intricate cellular dynamics of human hair follicles - and the movies are stunning! More details here: tinyurl.com/4vrywf3z

Mapping cell dynamics in human ex vivo hair follicles suggests pulling mechanism of hair growth - Nature Communications

The authors use 3D live imaging on micro-dissected human hair follicle segments cultured ex vivo to follow cellular migration patterns with single cell resolution. They provide evidence suggesting an ...

nature.com

Are you investigating cell tissues and interested in stress patterns? TFM + BISM reveals them! 👇 With @luanger.bsky.social and P. Marcq, we summarise the applicability across different exp. conditions regularly used in the @bladoux.bsky.social @rmmege.bsky.social lab. Full pipeline on Lucas GitHub!

Benoit Ladoux@bladoux.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Tissue stress measurements — our latest preprint is out: arxiv.org/abs/2512.00550 (publication coming soon!) Fantastic work by the three musketeers — @luanger.bsky.social, @andreasschoenit.bsky.social and @fanny-wodrascka.bsky.social — in collaboration with P. Marcq!

The latest story from my group. Working toward build regionally distinct skin and amnion piece by piece.

bioRxiv Developmental Biology@biorxiv-devbio.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Lateral plate mesoderm directs human amnion and ventral skin organoid formation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.05.685987v1

Truly honoured and grateful to have received alongside other young researchers the prize "Grandes avancées françaises en biologie" from the @academiesciences.bsky.social for our paper on mechanical cell competition together with @luanger.bsky.social and S. Monfared www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Institut Jacques Monod@ijmonod.bsky.social · 9mo ago

📣 Andreas Schoenit, ( @andreasschoenit.bsky.social ) doctorant en biophysique dans le laboratoire "Adhésion cellulaire et mécanique" est lauréat des Grandes avancées françaises en biologie de la Fondation Mergier Bourdeix ! Plus d'informations 🔗 www.ijm.fr/prix-des-gra...

Exciting News! 🥳 Our Epithelial Mechanics Fan Club website is now live! 🎉 👉 epithelialmechanics.github.io Discover our #EpithelialMechanics threads and get to know our amazing delegates behind them. Would you like to share your story? Please DM us!

epithelial mechanics fan club@epimechfc.bsky.social · 10mo ago

🎉🎉 We finally have a website! 🎉🎉 Did you miss a thread? Want to know who our delegates are? Do you want to join our big club? Check it out: epithelialmechanics.github.io Huge thanks to all thread-contributors and to you for following us!

1/ 🎉Excited to share our new preprint @vignjeviclab.bsky.social @davidbrueckner.bsky.social : "Self-organization of tumor heterogeneity and plasticity" biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Tumor heterogeneity and plasticity drive metastasis and relapse. How is tumor patterning coordinated? A thread👇

Happy to share the last version of our story @currentbiology.bsky.social on the role of interfacial tension in mechanical cell competition led by @leovalon.bsky.social and Alexis Matamoro Vidal www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...