Rita Mateus
@ritamateus.bsky.social
Group Leader @MPI-CBG and @POL, TU-Dresden. Dev Biologist mixing it up w/ Physics. Want to know how organs grow! also obsessed with structural colors | ritamateus.com
We’re excited to launch the Bluesky account for DFG-funded Research Training Group 3142: Biological Making of Materials Follow us to learn more about our research, people and activities. Learn more: www.digs-ils.phd/rtg-bmm #RTG3142 #Biomaterials #Science #Research #DFG
We have a brand new lab website! Lot's of useful bits about our science and team. Check it out at www.ritamateus.com/home/
ritamateus.com
Join us for an evening at the intersection of Art and Science <3 this will be fun!!!
Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics@mpi-cbg.de · last mo.Film Screening and Talk: “There is no such thing as fish” September 15th @mpi-cbg.de w Carolyn Kirschner (Artist S=T+ARTS Ec(h)o / Goldsmith U of London) & @ritamateus.bsky.social (research group leader @mpi-cbg.de, @poldresden.bsky.social @tudresden.bsky.social) in dialogue. Everybody is welcome!
Thabk you for highlighting our work! We 🧡💛💚💙💜🤎🩷 lasers and microscopes of all kinds and shapes!
FocalPlane @focalplane.bsky.social · last mo.We’ve just published our latest #preprint list. This week we focus on research using microscopy to answer questions in biology. Let us know if you have any recommendations for us to add to the list. focalplane.biologists.com/2026/08/21/m...
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
Our lab in a nutshell! :)
Physics of Life Dresden@poldresden.bsky.social · 3mo ago🤔 How do organs measure and control their size? 🐟 The Mateus Lab @ritamateus.bsky.social at PoL & @mpi-cbg.de use #zebrafish to understand how organs form the right size and shape, at the right time, during development or regeneration. Learn more in our new video 👉 youtu.be/L7XUfk0s51E
“the academic community is enormously heterogeneous and it’s almost impossible to keep everyone happy” Never a truer word said in this analysis of downstream consequences of openness by @jacoates.bsky.social ripplingideas.org/2026/06/26/t...
The 1% club and the rocky road ahead for bioRxiv
The recent launch of qed’s “top 1%” preprint ranking has sparked controversy, with concerns about its arbitrary nature, potential harm to authors, and low-quality inclusions. Whil…
ripplingideas.org
I wanted to like QED's new 1% preprint ranking. I really did. But the more I looked at the data, the more uncomfortable it made me. Here is my full peer review. open.substack.com/pub/blekhman...
My Peer Review of The 1%
I wanted to like QED's new 1% ranking. I don't.
open.substack.com
In our latest editorial @amjeve.uk & I take on the dreaded impact factor Like Monday mornings no one likes them but you can't ignore them & they keep coming around However there are things we should all do as authors, reviewers & editors journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
The elephant in the room: impact factor
Summary: This Editorial offers an honest look at impact factor trends in developmental biology, explains how Development serves its community, and makes the case that sustaining developmental biology ...
journals.biologists.com
Join #MSc Physics of Life @tudresden.bsky.social and help shape the future of #Biophysics! Learn from the world-class scientists of the CMCB and @poldresden.bsky.social More about the program ➡️ tud.link/3wz553 Don't miss the testimonials from our graduates ⤵️ #studyinGermany #MastersProgram
Study Physics of Life at the CMCB, TU Dresden - Testimonial - Hamza, Part 1
YouTube video by Center for Molecular and Cellular Bioengineering
youtube.com
Just finished (or finishing) your phD in the US? Come join our lab :) Dresden is a great place to live and we will support your scientific independence! apply until May 20th!!! 👇
Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics@mpi-cbg.de · 5mo agoBiohub @biohub.org and @maxplanck.de, represented by @mpi-cbg.de and @mpipks.bsky.social, invite applications for the Global Science Scholars program, a three year international postdoctoral fellowship program between the U.S. and Germany. www.czbiohub.org/program-mpi-...
Really generous package, I'm happy to discuss opportunities and clarify doubts :) Dresden is a great place to live, and scientifically amazing!
Physics of Life Dresden@poldresden.bsky.social · 7mo ago🚨Attention #postdocs! Applications for our Excellence Postdoctoral Fellows Program open on April 1. 👩🔬Are you an early career researcher interested in working at the interface of biology & physics? We offer a 3+ year position, generous resources, and mentoring opportunities! Apply: tud.link/y3djda
🧪 To celebrate the #InternationalWomensDay we highlight two HFSP-supported projects led by international teams of women pushing the frontiers of life science! 💪 🔬 Spatial translation during development 💎 Intracellular metabolic crystals 🔗zurl.co/rPPsF & zurl.co/ICmaG #WomenInScience #sts #HFSP
This will be a really cool meeting!👇
EMBO@embo.org · 8mo agoRegistration now open for the EMBO Workshop "Quantitative tissue morphogenesis - models, manipulations and mechanisms" in #Alibaug, India, 28 September–1 October 2026. Deadline: 30 April 2026 https://meetings.embo.org/event/26-tissue-morphogenesis #EMBOTissueMorphogenesis #EMBOevents 🧪
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
Advanced grad students + postdocs: apply for the 2026 #kitpqbio summer course, "Physical Principles of Morphogenesis in Plants and Animals," at buff.ly/OXXMKEv. Apply by Feb. 1. Course directors Adrienne Roeder (Cornell) and Sebastian Streichan (UCSB)
We're in love with this cover image! 🧡 Part II of our Special Collection celebrating the Centennial of the Discovery of The Organiser is here. This issue focuses on the work presented at the Centennial Symposium at the University of Freiburg in September 2024: www.sciencedirect.com/journal/cell...
zSwim, the zebrafish lab management software we’ve been developing is now officially listed in Duke OT&C’s technology portfolio! We’re launching an official Duke pilot in March 2026 at the new Ze-Core facility! If you’re in the zebrafish community, check it out! otc.duke.edu/technologies...
#Researchers ! If you have doubts and fears about how to become a group leader, you should not miss this podcast. 🙏 Tag a scientist in need 🎧 : Listen to what Jonathan Weitzman and I experienced : thelonelypipette.buzzsprout.com/1356877/epis...
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The Lonely Pipette@lonelypipette.bsky.social · 10mo ago💥 We’re back with a bang! After a quiet six months, we’re excited to share our new collaboration : a podcast for @network-alba.bsky.social on navigating the postdoc-to-PI journey. 🎧 Listen to what happened here : thelonelypipette.buzzsprout.com/1356877/epis...
Super exciting to be part of of this Research Training Group to train the next generation of material biologists :) We are already actively recruiting PhD students! Join our joint project with @jamessaenz.bsky.social !!!
TU Dresden@tudresden.bsky.social · 10mo agoDie @dfg.de richtet an der #TUDresden das Graduiertenkolleg „The Biological Making of Materials” ein. Über einen Zeitraum von fünf Jahren werden damit mehrere Millionen Euro für Forschung zu nachhaltigen Materialien zur Verfügung gestellt. ℹ️ tu-dresden.de/tu-dresden/n...
Paul Nurse describing the main job of a PI (From ‘The Thinking Game’, 2024)
If you’re applying to your dream lab for an internship/PhD/postdoc, always send a second email 1-2 weeks after the first one if you don’t hear back. I promise we will be grateful rather than annoyed. My email inbox is a disaster and I’m quite junior - and very few of us have secretarial support
Last week it was a week of much needed celebration 🍾🥳 how best to do it than a pizza party with shark piñatas!! #somuchfun #proudPI #papersparty
Big congratulations to Vinita Kini, our most recent MSc graduate!!! What a great job, I'm a #proudPI
We will be taking phD students this round!! Apply to our @mpi-cbg.de phD programme and #growwithus
Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics@mpi-cbg.de · last yr.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
Truly chuffed for our fearless food physicists @mpipks.bsky.social + collabs from AT @istaresearch.bsky.social, IT & ES who won this year’s Ig Nobel - the #NobelPrize of hearts❤️for cracking the science of perfect pasta !🍝Kudos to all for intrepidly consuming lots of cheese in the name of science!😋
The Secret to a Smooth Pasta Sauce Wins Ig Nobel Prize
Italian researchers studied how the ingredients of the traditional Roman dish cacio e pepe emulsify into a creamy sauce, winning the 2025 Physics Ig Nobel Prize.
the-scientist.com
We have a fully funded 3y postdoc position open!!!! Come join us @mpi-cbg.de and @poldresden.bsky.social to understand the role of Membranes in Controlling Biogenic Crystallization :) this is part of our #HFSP funded project with @noemijimenezrojo.bsky.social and @vmonje.bsky.social! Applications👇
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft@maxplanck.de · last yr.The #MaxPlanckPostdocProgram offers a guaranteed contract of at least 3 years, targeted mentoring, and career workshops. The call for applications is open now! 🚀 Take advantage of this opportunity and browse the job vacancies. www.mpg.de/en/max-planc...
