New preprint! 🎉 We discovered an unexpected way that the postsynaptic scaffold protein Densin-180 binds SHANK proteins. Instead of using a conventional C-terminal PDZ-binding motif, Densin-180 uses an internal PDZ-binding motif that engages the canonical SHANK3 PDZ domain. 🧵1/8

Excited to share our new paper, now published in Nature Cell Biology! 🎉 We asked a fundamental question in cell biology: How do cells maintain polarity while migrating? Especially how do cancer cells navigate confined spaces? www.nature.com/articles/s41556-026-01981-1

CD44 restricts EGFR mobility to polarize cytoskeletal signalling modules driving bleb-based migration - Nature Cell Biology

Jha et al. show that the transmembrane protein CD44 restricts EGFR mobility to maintain an EGFR–PI3K–Rac gradient during bleb-based cell migration.

nature.com

New preprint! 🎉 We discovered an unexpected way that the postsynaptic scaffold protein Densin-180 binds SHANK proteins. Instead of using a conventional C-terminal PDZ-binding motif, Densin-180 uses an internal PDZ-binding motif that engages the canonical SHANK3 PDZ domain. 🧵1/8

✉️ Emails you love to receive. ✉️ Got email with this image on Thursday night, 2 Å diffraction from our new protein complex, with beautiful electron density defining the peptide interface. Huge credit to Till Kallem for getting these crystals. Hopefully we'll be sharing the full story very soon.

🚨We are recruiting a Postdoc🚨 We are seeking a highly motivated Postdoctoral Researcher for our newly funded Horizon Europe Mission Cancer Melanoma Project! 🎯Apply, if you are interested in extracellular matrix-cancer cell interactions, tissue mechanics, advanced fluorescence imaging in 2D and 3D!

Very excited to be sharing our new paper, just out in Nature Cell Biology! The big question we investigate: How do migrating cells put their front 🔴 and back 🔵 in the right place?

New preprint We identify a conserved intramolecular interaction in KANK proteins. We show that the KANK KN domain contains separable functional modules: the LD motif mediates talin binding, while residues 60-68 mediate interaction with the KANK ankyrin repeat domain doi.org/10.64898/202...

1/ Our new crystal structure is now available in the PDB (9SR0). It is the structure of the widely used A50I vinculin mutant bound to talin. Which is slightly awkward, because A50I is supposed to be a talin-binding-null mutant. rcsb.org/structure/9SR0

1/ Our new crystal structure is now available in the PDB (9SR0). It is the structure of the widely used A50I vinculin mutant bound to talin. Which is slightly awkward, because A50I is supposed to be a talin-binding-null mutant. rcsb.org/structure/9SR0

1/ Our new preprint is out today.🎉 It started from a surprising control experiment while studying how talin binds vinculin. We were using the widely adopted A50I vinculin mutant to disrupt talin binding — but unexpectedly, it still bound talin. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

1/ Our new preprint is out today.🎉 It started from a surprising control experiment while studying how talin binds vinculin. We were using the widely adopted A50I vinculin mutant to disrupt talin binding — but unexpectedly, it still bound talin. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

What music should we play to our cells? This was the start of an amazing journey from @ivaskalab.bsky.social at @turkubioscience.bsky.social with Jasmin Kaivola and collaborators @sarawickstrom.bsky.social and others to explore larynx cancer mechanosensitivity! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Restoring the tumour mechanophenotype of vocal fold cancer reverts its malignant properties - Nature Materials

Vocal fold cancer tumours lose some of their malignant traits when mechanically stimulated by physiological stretch or vibrations, mimicking the opening and closing of vocal folds and phonation.

nature.com

Incredibly bright 🌈

Delighted to share our latest preprint "Filopodia-mediated trans-endocytosis" www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Work driven by many people including Hanna, Marcela, Sujan, Marie-Catherine, Anna and Monika. Fantastic collaboration with Johanna Englund, Emilia Peuhu, and Eija Jokitalo

A TRPV4-dependent calcium signaling axis regulates lamellipodial actin architecture to promote cell migration: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...

A TRPV4-dependent calcium signaling axis regulates lamellipodial actin architecture to promote cell migration

Iu et al. uncover a Ca2+ signaling pathway promoting cell migration by facilitating actin assembly in protrusions. Ca2+ influx through TRPV4 channel activates RhoA in lamellipodia via CaMKII and TEM4,...

cell.com

My personal obituary for Richard Hynes now live on the Manchester Cell-Matrix Centre website. www.manchester-matrix.org/news/profess...

Last night @museeorsay.bsky.social we saw fluorescence images of cells or protein filaments seemingly grow along the internal structures of the ceiling of the main hallway. It was mesmerising I loved it Science is Art! More of this please! Congratulations @manuelthery.bsky.social very cool 🤩🤓

🚨 We are hiring TWO postdocs to join the Cell Migration Lab (cellmig.org) 🇫🇮 as part of the new Centre of Excellence in Immune–Endothelial Interfaces (IMMENs). Join us to decode immune regulation & develop next-gen imaging tools! 🧪🔬 Details in thread 🧵👇 #ScienceSky #Postdoc #AcademicJobs Please RT🫶

CELL MIGRATION LAB

We study cell migration in health and disease

cellmig.org

Check out our new Talin Infographic! The poster summarises why we think there is a binary code in animals. Great artwork made by Josh Hawley @golgigraphics.bsky.social

Excited to share our new preprint! and the surprising finding that the second integrin-binding site (IBS2) does not bind integrin. IBS2 can be better explained as talin-talin interactions mediated via a cryptic talin-binding site in R11. We also show a new role for vinculin as a mechano-chaperone

bioRxiv Cell Biology@biorxiv-cellbio.bsky.social · 7mo ago

An Aggregation Prone Region (APR) in talin controls talin self-interactions to regulate integrin adhesion complex dynamics https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.13.699108v1

Excited to share our new preprint! and the surprising finding that the second integrin-binding site (IBS2) does not bind integrin. IBS2 can be better explained as talin-talin interactions mediated via a cryptic talin-binding site in R11. We also show a new role for vinculin as a mechano-chaperone

bioRxiv Cell Biology@biorxiv-cellbio.bsky.social · 7mo ago

An Aggregation Prone Region (APR) in talin controls talin self-interactions to regulate integrin adhesion complex dynamics https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.13.699108v1

Coming 2027...

Delighted to share the latest paper from the lab "Fast label-free live imaging with FlowVision reveals key principles of cancer cell arrest on endothelial monolayers" Amazing work driven by @follainga.bsky.social with contributions from many. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Fast label-free live imaging with FlowVision reveals key principles of cancer cell arrest on endothelial monolayers - The EMBO Journal

The rapid, transient, and unpredictable nature of interactions between circulating cells and the endothelium challenges the investigation of these events under flow conditions. Here, we developed an i...

link.springer.com

New paper out! We show how mechanosensitive adherens junction proteins link actomyosin contractility to actin assembly using in vitro reconstitution. Huge congrats to Aurélie Favarin, Rayan Said, & all authors! In Science Advances: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... #actin #myosin #mechanobiology

I will be recruiting two postdocs early next year. - One image analyst - one biologist interested in working on lymphatics! Reach out if you are interested 👍

Guillaume Jacquemet@guijacquemet.bsky.social · 8mo ago

The Center is a wonderful collaboration with scientists extraordinaire @taijamakinenlab.bsky.social Kari Vaahtomeri and Cecilia Sahlgren. We are all recruiting, so keep an eye on our website If you are looking for a postdoc position 😀

Latest from the lab "Filopodome proteomics identifies CCT8 as a MYO10 interactor critical for filopodia functions " www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Work driven by @anagracanin.bsky.social A great collaboration with @ivaskalab.bsky.social and @bengoult.bsky.social

Filopodome proteomics identifies CCT8 as a MYO10 interactor critical for filopodia functions

Cancer cells utilize filopodia to explore, adhere to, and invade their surrounding microenvironment, yet the protein networks that organize these protrusions remain incompletely defined. To uncover th...

biorxiv.org

🎉

Guillaume Jacquemet@guijacquemet.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Latest from the lab "Filopodome proteomics identifies CCT8 as a MYO10 interactor critical for filopodia functions " www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Work driven by @anagracanin.bsky.social A great collaboration with @ivaskalab.bsky.social and @bengoult.bsky.social

This title has "very lethal" energy

Congratulations, @samstehbens.bsky.social & Co !!! 🥳🥳🥳👏👏👏 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

spicy! genesdev.cshlp.org/content/33/2...

Alejandro Montenegro@aemonten.bsky.social · 8mo ago

"We find that the evidence for in vivo LLPS is often phenomenological and inadequate to discriminate between phase separation and other possible mechanisms. Moreover, the causal relationship and functional consequences of LLPS in vivo are even more elusive" (2019) pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31594803/