Can light build centrosome-like activity? 💡🔬 Yes! We introduce LISA (Light-Induced Spindle Assembly), now in @emboreports.org. By clustering Aurora A with optogenetics, we build centrosome-like activity that nucleates microtubules and rescues spindle defects after centrosome loss. shorturl.at/9h3VQ

A long time in the making, now finally out.💥 Our new study shows that division stays on time when kinetochore–microtubule attachments form efficiently. When the process drags, that delay is remembered, limiting future cell proliferation. www.nature.com/articles/s41... #mitosis #biology #microscopy

Low kinetochore-microtubule occupancy leaves a mitotic memory by delaying checkpoint silencing - Nature Communications

How do cells faithfully segregate chromosomes within an optimal time? Using naturally “super-resolved” kinetochores, the authors show that maximal microtubule occupancy prevents bad mitotic memories t...

nature.com

Spindle elongation in cell division can rescue chromosomes straying to the poles so avoiding abnormal chromosome number/cell 📹 Isabella Koprivec & Valentina Štimac et al @ivatolic.bsky.social lab @institutrb.bsky.social in @natcomms.nature.com ➡️ bpod.org.uk/archive/2026... + John Ankers

Our latest preprint: elevated MPS1 drives CIN in colon cancer by sustaining the fibrous corona at metaphase kinetochores. This untimely persistence creates an extra microtubule-engagement domain providing a structural basis for merotely and chromosome mis-segregation. doi.org/10.64898/202...

Junior faculty position in Basic Sciences @fredhutch.org! Please repost!

Fred Hutch@fredhutch.org · last mo.

🔬 Fred Hutch Cancer Center is hiring an Assistant or Associate Professor in the Basic Sciences Division @basicsci.fredhutch.org. Join a world-class research community in Seattle and help advance discoveries in fundamental biology. Apply: https://apply.interfolio.com/190640

Interested in a cross-scale understanding of #mechanobiology? Join the EMBO Workshop "Forces across scales" in Porto, Portugal, 27–30 April 2027. Deadline: 1 December 2026 https://meetings.embo.org/event/27-forces-scales #EMBOforces #EMBOevents 🧪

The #DrosTuga2026 website is now live! Join us in Leiria on 26–27 November 2026 for the Portuguese #Drosophila meeting. Save the date as registration opens in late August! Please share this post. We warmly welcome the #FlyResearch community from around the world! drostuga2026.mystrikingly.com

Drostuga2026 on Strikingly

DrosTuga 2026 is the annual meeting of the Portuguese Drosophila research community, bringing together researchers from Portugal and abroad. Here you can discover the dates, speakers, programme, venu...

drostuga2026.mystrikingly.com

These two reviews on centromeres and kinetochores in @natrevmcb.nature.com cap off @andrea-musacchio.bsky.social sabbatical at @stanfordbiochem.bsky.social from @valleefoundation.bsky.social. Long time in the making! Non-paywall versions rdcu.be/fxD9V, rdcu.be/fxEar

Structure and function of the centromere and inner kinetochore

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology - The kinetochore is a macromolecular complex that assembles on centromeric chromatin and connects spindle microtubules to the chromosome. This Review...

rdcu.be

🧵 I’m thrilled to share our new preprint! We uncovered a mechanism explaining how mitotic divisions are coordinated with early gene expression during embryogenesis. Here's the story: (1/7) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Cyclin B3-CDK1 couples translational de-repression to embryonic mitoses via OMA protein degradation in C. elegans.

During early embryogenesis, gene expression relies on maternally loaded mRNAs whose translation is controlled by RNA binding proteins. Here, we identify a critical role for the cyclin B3-CDK1 complex,...

biorxiv.org

Contractile perinuclear actomyosin network promotes peripheral and polar chromosome interaction with the mitotic spindle

Contractile perinuclear actomyosin network promotes peripheral and polar chromosome interaction with the mitotic spindle

An actomyosin network (PANEM) forms around the nucleus in prophase, and its contraction repositions peripheral and polar chromosomes to facilitate their interaction with the mitotic spindle, ensuring...

buff.ly

A fully funded PhD position is now open in my lab at the University of Iceland. We are looking for an ambitious researcher to join us in Reykjavik, Iceland to work on targeted protein degradation. Interested? You are welcome to contact me or check out: 🔗https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/452601

How do tissue properties influence mitotic spindle assembly & chromosome segregation in non-cell-autonomous ways? V Marthiens, R Basto et al show neural stem cells sense mechanical forces imposed by cell density via cortical actin & microtubule depolymerase activity link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Mechanical constraints regulate embryonic stem cell mitosis in the developing brain - The EMBO Journal

Research on mitosis has predominantly examined cell-autonomous mechanisms, yet its regulation and consequences within the broader physiological context remain largely unexplored. It remains, therefore...

link.springer.com

Check out our latest work @aga-cmgh.bsky.social! Stem cell marker MEX3A drives colorectal cancer growth, repressing PPARG-mediated differentiation, and its loss enhances patient tumoroids sensitivity to chemotherapy. 🔗 ow.ly/zbpq50ZitCu 🏷️ #RNA #organoids #cancer

MEX3A Modulates PPARγ Pathway Activity and Colorectal Cancer Growth

RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) are major effectors of post-transcriptional regulation. Recently, we described the role of Mex-3 RNA binding family member A (MEX3A) in maintaining leucine-rich repeat-cont...

ow.ly

Really proud to share our latest work @embojournal.org . This was a long, joint effort from everyone in the lab (some of which have since left). Here, we looked at out how cells decide when to divide. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Chromosome condensation mechanically primes the nucleus for mitosis - The EMBO Journal

Accurate transition into mitosis driven by cyclin B1-CDK1 activity is essential to avoid chromosome segregation errors and preserve genome integrity. How this activity is spatially controlled to trigg...

link.springer.com

Audrey, superstar postdoc in my lab is sadly moving on but not before seeing her first author work published! www.linkedin.com/posts/audrey...

Replication origin firing capacity indicates ATR inhibitor sensitivity - Nature Communications | Audrey Lumeau

We are thrilled to share that our latest work has been published in Nature Communications! 🎉 In our study, we identify replication origin firing capacity as a key determinant of cellular sensitivity ...

linkedin.com

I know it seems like a heretical idea, but one way to figure out if a preprint is really interesting (to you) is... to read the preprint. Then, in the spirit of sharing, send a note to authors: a simple kudos or a more detailed question. I do this a dozen times a year. It's awesome. Try it.

Excited to share this preprint!! with @brandonscooper.bsky.social and Bill Sullivan We tested whether endosymbiotic Wolbachia can alter host gene expression through chromatin modifications that persist from spermatogenesis to adulthood.

bioRxivpreprint@biorxivpreprint.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Wolbachia-induced cytoplasmic incompatibility produces heritable chromatin modifications that suppress position-effect variegation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.12.731975v1

Multiple postdoc/RA vacancies to work on the Wellcome-funded team project shown below. I also have vacancies to study senescence and to develop a chemical-genetic approach to inhibit specific cyclin/CDK complexes. See thread for details. DM or email me with any questions.

I'm excited to tell you about the most recent preprint in my lab, demonstrating that a conserved spindle matrix protein, NPP-21/TPR, is required for the stronger checkpoint in germline cells during embryogenesis in C. elegans

bioRxiv Cell Biology@biorxiv-cellbio.bsky.social · 5mo ago

NPP-21/TPR is required for developmental control of spindle checkpoint strength in C. elegans https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04.13.718277v1

Ana Pinto Teixeira @carlos-conde.bsky.social showed that excessive MPS1 activity drives CIN by promoting an untimely expansion of the fibrous corona, providing a structural basis for merotely and chromosome missegregation in colon cancer. #SpindleCroatia2026

Drosophila border cells are beautiful to watch… but far from easy to image. Kudos to the brave and skilled @vitoryang.bsky.social, who took on the challenge of establishing border cell migration imaging in the lab! His movies are astonishing, and now our first-ever study on #cell #migration is out!

Journal of Cell Biology@jcb.org · 6mo ago

Collective #migration requires balancing force and flexibility. @vitoryang.bsky.social, @polarityi3s.bsky.social et al. identify RhoGAP15B as a local brake on RhoA-#myosin contractility in border cells, stabilizing front protrusions and coordinating group movement rupress.org/jcb/article/...

New paper alert! In this study, we find that cells with chromosomal instability (CIN) secrete more extracellular vesicles (EVs). These CIN-induced EVs promote migration and invasion of EV-recipient cells an EFEMP1-dependent manner both in vitro and in vivo. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Chromosomal instability promotes cell migration and invasion via EFEMP1 secretion into extracellular vesicles - The EMBO Journal

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is characterised by high rates of chromosomal instability (CIN) and rewired intercellular communication driven by both soluble factors and extracellular vesicles (...

link.springer.com

The conference “Mitotic spindle: From living and synthetic systems to theory” is open! www.phy.pmf.unizg.hr/~mitosis/ Follow us #SpindleCroatia2026!

Only two days to go until the “Mitotic Spindle: From Living and Synthetic Systems to Theory” meeting in Dubrovnik! This is the 4th time Nenad Pavin and I are organizing it, and it keeps growing with each edition. Can’t wait to see everyone in Dubrovnik! shorturl.at/35Vff

Chromosomes stuck behind the spindle are ticking time bombs for aneuploidy. We uncovered a mechanical rescue mechanism where microtubule pivoting repositions these high-risk chromosomes! Out last week in @natcomms.nature.com, here's a thread 🧵 shorturl.at/OD89x

🚨🚨 New preprint 🚨🚨 We found that the ovary directly controls protein appetite in Drosophila. Yes — the ovary doesn’t just make eggs… it tells the fly what to eat! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... If you want all the details, click above ☝️ If you just want the fun, GIF-guided overview, keep reading 👇

We finally managed to write Ikers master thesis project together. Interesting and careful work on FAM122A. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Happy to see the first paper from the lab published in the EMBO J today: link.springer.com/article/10.1... In it, we reconstitute self-assembling cooperative oligomers of human Ndc80 and Ska kinetochore complexes that stabilise microtubule ends, and study these samples using cryoET and TIRF

Microtubule end stabilisation by cooperative oligomers of Ska and Ndc80 complexes - The EMBO Journal

During mitosis, properly aligned chromosomes stabilise microtubule ends with the help of kinetochores to ensure timely segregation of chromosomes. Microtubule-binding components of the human outer kin...

link.springer.com

So happy to share RBI’s news on our new paper in @natcomms.nature.com!

Ruđer Bošković Institute@institutrb.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Your cells divided thousands of times today. Most chromosomes landed where they should, but some got stuck. New #RBI research reveals how cells rescue trapped chromosomes during division, and why cancer cells often fail at it. 📄 Published today in @natcomms.nature.com 🔗 doi.org/10.1038/s414...