Excited to share that the third chapter of my dissertation is now on bioRxiv! We found that the LINC complex acts as a brake to gate nucleolar assembly in C. elegans embryos. Grateful to Gant, Dan, Steph, and all our co-authors for making this work possible. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

GW Gant Luxton@gwgl.bsky.social · 2w ago

The nucleolus is the largest condensate in the nucleus and the site where ribosomes are built. It has no membrane. It assembles by phase separation, components demixing from the nucleoplasm into a droplet. So what decides when it forms? 🧵🪱💧 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Great work, Ina!!

Ina@inaharasimov.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Cytoplasmic lattices are a highly abundant and essential structure in mouse oocytes and embryos. Our in situ structure from early mouse embryos provides a new insight into their molecular achitecture and function. Check it out: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

New in @quantamagazine.bsky.social: the science of cytoplasmic crowding. From Liam Holt & Simone Reber's work to our discovery that in vivo cytoplasm is 50x more crowded than cultured cells. Thanks @danstarrucdavis.bsky.social & @gabepopkin.bsky.social! www.quantamagazine.org/the-biophysi...

The Biophysical World Inside a Jam-Packed Cell | Quanta Magazine

Innovations in imaging and genetic engineering are coming together to probe the biophysics of cytoplasm inside living animals.

quantamagazine.org

Dear friends at ASCB, I’ll be giving a talk tomorrow at the minisymposium of Structure, Function and Mechanics of Nuclear Envelope, at 11:00 am in Room 118. Come talk with me and all other Starr-Luxton Lab folks here at ASCB Matt, Dan and Gant and let’s get connected! #ASCB #CellBio2025

Immune tissue behaves as shapeshifting active living matter as it fights intruders. Using liquid-like multicellular B cell droplets, we show that cytokines control the physical state of immune tissue. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... youtu.be/QAk2ayoVF0M #biophysics #immunology #activematter

Movie S2 20230517

YouTube video by Debraj Shubham Ghose

youtu.be

🎉Check out our new preprint!! 🧬We found that lamin mutations in muscular dystrophy don’t just affect the nucleus — they disrupt a nucleolar–ribosomal axis that reorganizes the entire cytoplasm. Very grateful to @danstarrucdavis.bsky.social, @gwgl.bsky.social and our lab for collaboration & support!

GW Gant Luxton@gwgl.bsky.social · 11mo ago

🧬 NEW Starr-Luxton Lab PREPRINT: Our 🌠grad student @XiangyiDing figured out why muscular dystrophy mutations cause such widespread cellular chaos. The answer wasn't what we expected - and it changes how we think about the disease. Thread🧵 (1/6). www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

🧬BREAKING!🪱Plot twist: Cells aren't meditation pools, they're overcrowded concerts with VIP ropes everywhere! Our study reveals worm cells are insanely crowded AND compartmentalized. Ribosomes = packing peanuts, ANC-1 = the bouncer! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Giant KASH proteins and ribosomes establish distinct cytoplasmic biophysical properties in vivo

Living tissues maintain unique intracellular biophysical properties under the control of cytoplasmic constraints and crowding.

science.org

Thrilled to share that a big piece of my thesis here in the Starr–Luxton is now out in Science Advances! We discovered that the cytoplasm of living animal tissues is extremely crowded and constrained, maintained by ribosomes and the giant KASH protein ANC-1. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Giant KASH proteins and ribosomes establish distinct cytoplasmic biophysical properties in vivo

Living tissues maintain unique intracellular biophysical properties under the control of cytoplasmic constraints and crowding.

science.org

🚨Our fabulous graduate student Selin's paper on how the KASH protein UNC-83 regulates the activity of kinesin-1 to control developmental stage-specific nuclear migration is out! Another great collaboration between the Starr-Luxton and MOM labs. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The KASH protein UNC-83 differentially regulates kinesin-1 activity to control developmental stage-specific nuclear migration

Nuclear migration plays a fundamental role in development, requiring precise spatiotemporal control of bidirectional movement through dynein and kines…

sciencedirect.com

Ellen Gregory, @gwgl.bsky.social‬, & @danstarrucdavis.bsky.social‬ show how heterochromatin helps cell nuclei migrate through tight spaces in #Celegans! Learn more in #GENETICS about the process of heterochromatin anchoring to the nuclear periphery that supports nuclei squeezing: buff.ly/kZttVdX

It was great to gave a plenary talk to the worm community 🪱 Received great questions and comments. Thanks to both of my PIs @gwgl.bsky.social and @danstarrucdavis.bsky.social for the co-mentorship and thanks to the organizers @genetics-gsa for bringing us together.

Buck Samuel 🪱🦠🧬🔬@microbeminded.bsky.social · last yr.

Amazing talk (and videos) in plenary 2 from Xiangyi Ding ( @danstarrucdavis.bsky.social ) about biophys constraints in cytoplasm. #Celegans cytoplasm is more like jelly than honey (human cells), plus found gene that constrains this mess particle diffusion. #worm25 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...