If life builds order from heterogeneity while never completely eliminating it, is heterogeneity merely a byproduct or could it be part of the means by which biological order is generated? Check out Lanxi Hu's review www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Thanks for highlighting our work, and for such a thoughtful interpretation of it!

Nicola Trozzi@nicolatrozzi.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Check out our Insight on the beautiful work by Clark et al. 🌱 How can stochastic giant-cell fate lead to non-random epidermal patterns? Cell fate, endoreduplication, and growth all matter. cup.org/3QYjVm0 @roederlab.bsky.social @pauformosa.bsky.social @matmajda.bsky.social

Our recent paper is explained here in a more accessible way! "We often think of the emergence of order as arising from self-organization or cell–cell interactions, but here, order emerges from random cell fate decisions amplified by the geometry of tissue growth." www.mpipz.mpg.de/pr-formosa-2...

Giant cells: from random initiation to nonrandom pattern

mpipz.mpg.de

Interested in fossils, evo-devo, and how mathematical modeling can help us understand the evolution of developmental processes? In our latest preprint, we uncover an ancestral lateral inhibition mechanism underlying epidermal patterning in liverworts.

bioRxiv Developmental Biology@biorxiv-devbio.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Lateral inhibition governs ancestral cellular patterning in fossil and extant liverworts https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.27.696693v1

I spent days staring at cells… Their patterns, somewhere between order and disorder, were too beautiful not to create visual pieces from. Whether it was to escape or to see them through another lens. We need more #sciart! Exposed at @figure1a.bsky.social Our scientific story: doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Why are leaf cells of so many different sizes? Our paper explores how giant cells form! We also provide automatic cell-type classification and perform statistical quantification of cell spatial organization. If interested, check it out in @plosbiology.org. Thanks Pau and @roederlab.bsky.social

Pau Formosa-Jordan@pauformosa.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Check out our story in @plosbiology.org about how a nonrandom, clustered giant cell pattern forms in the sepal and leaf epidermis! It has been a great journey with @gweissbart.bsky.social, Frances Clark, Xihang Wang, @roederlab.bsky.social and co-authors. journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Check out this highlight of our story on how cells control their size and form nonrandom patterns in leaves (and sepals)! 🍃

Adrienne Roeder Lab@roederlab.bsky.social · 9mo ago

A really nice highlight of our recent PLOS Biology paper on leaf giant cells with Frances Clark, @gweissbart.bsky.social , Xihang Wang, and @pauformosa.bsky.social from @cornelluniversity.bsky.social news.cornell.edu/stories/2025...

Ever wondered what drives enhancer-promoter specificity? Why would an enhancer activate one gene rather than another neighboring one? Check our latest preprint, led by @mmasoura.bsky.social, to find out! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Promoter-proximal gatekeepers restrict pleiotropic enhancer inputs to achieve tissue specificity

Developmental enhancers are central regulatory elements that can activate multiple genes, yet how they selectively regulate one gene over its neighbours remains unclear. Using the Drosophila twist E3 ...

biorxiv.org

Excited to announce our paper is out! Congrats to @pauformosa.bsky.social, @gweissbart.bsky.social, Frances Clark, and Xihang Wang on this fun and beautiful story. We answered a question about the randomness of giant cell spacing that I have had for at least 15 years.

PLOS Biology@plosbiology.org · 9mo ago

How are #plant #leaf epidermal cells patterned? @roederlab.bsky.social &co show that the pathway controlling #GiantCell formation in #sepals also controls cell size in #Arabidopsis leaves, via cell-autonomous & stochastic specification @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/491F1qQ

During my PhD, I realized the hardest moments weren’t the work itself, but the psychological challenges. We see lots of productivity tips, but PhD students aren’t machines - they're complex human beings. 🫂 Glad to see well-being in @nature.com 'career column 🍀 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

You’re only human: a six-step strategy to surviving your PhD

Graduate students are not machines. Behaving like one during your programme will leave you frustrated and unfulfilled, says Gauthier Weissbart.

nature.com

Spatial ploidy inference using quantitative imaging, our new collaborative work in the Polyploidy Integration & Innovative Institute, with the @roederlab.bsky.social and the Fox lab. Try our pipeline with your images! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Is giant cell patterning random in sepals and leaves? Check out our new work combining quantitative microscopy, computational methods and modeling, a great collaboration with the Roeder Lab, with F.Clark, G.Weissbart, X.Wang, A.Roeder and co-authors! @ceplas.bsky.social biorxiv.org/content/10.1...