Hanh Vu
@hanhtkvu.bsky.social
Engineer-turned-biologist Planarian fanatic GL @EMBL
PLEASE SHARE! New job openings in my lab @zmbp-tuebingen.bsky.social. We have a broad interest into the mechanistic basis of how molecular complexes are rewired during cellular development in plants and during invasion by pathogens. 🌱🍄🔬 See details below 👇 #PlantSciJobs
Very pleased to finally share the main story from my PhD, now published in @natcomms.nature.com ! 🎉 Using a sea anemone we discovered and characterised epithelial cell extrusion as the mechanism underlying starvation-induced cell loss. 🔗 Open-access article: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Epithelial cell extrusion underlies starvation-induced cell loss in a sea anemone - Nature Communications
Epithelial cell extrusion in a sea anemone shares key hallmarks with bilaterians and is dynamically regulated by nutritional status. During starvation-induced body shrinkage, extrusion likely contribu...
nature.com
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
Happy to share the final version of our study on the evolution of chromatin states across eukaryotes, out today in @natgenet.nature.com Led by @crisnava.bsky.social and @seanamontgomery.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41... Some highlights below
Diversity and evolution of chromatin regulatory states across eukaryotes - Nature Genetics
This study introduces iChIP2, a low-input chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing method that profiles histone post-translational modifications (hPTMs) simultaneously across diverse eukar...
nature.com
Lipids build the membranes of all cells, but identifying their precise functions is extremely challenging. Here’s our attempt to change that: How to find and understand lipid-protein interactions, by Katelyn Cook & company. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
If I were an Early Career Researcher (#ECR) today, I wouldn’t join a lab that doesn’t #preprint (the PI agreed to keep paying me until my paper is finally published). It now takes ages to get papers through peer review, and without preprints you’re putting your future in someone else’s hands.
Awesome Symposium coming up @cosheidelberg.bsky.social in September! Check it out - registration is free. www.cos.uni-heidelberg.de/en/cos-sympo...
COS Symposium 2026 - Centre for Organismal Studies
Venue: Lecture hallCentre for Organismal Studies – Heidelberg UniversityIm Neuenheimer Feld 230
cos.uni-heidelberg.de
I am starting my lab at the University of Geneva next January! Incredibly excited to soon be joining the MOCEL department as an Asst. Professor. The lab will use evolutionary cell biology to study chromosomes, centromeres & speciation 🧬🔬🌱 Intrigued, want to join or collaborate? 🔗 helsenlab.org
Helsen lab | chromosome and centromere evolution
The Helsen lab at the University of Geneva explores how centromeres and chromosomes evolve, diversify, and function across eukaryotes. Discover our latest publications, research team, and open positio...
helsenlab.org
🎨 job alert 🐠 Come join us! We have two positions open! These are part of our @erc.europa.eu funded project on the mechanisms underpinning convergence of colour patterns in cichlid fishes! Closing date: 16th August. Postdoc: www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc... Technician: www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...
Callipterus Cichlid Collecting Shell
ALT: Callipterus Cichlid Collecting Shell
static.klipy.com
Took me a while, but we finally have a new lab website: ydagdas-lab.github.io/Lab-Website/ I will do my best to keep this one up to date.
Dagdas Lab — Evolutionary Cell Biology
How cells clean house across the eukaryotic tree of life. Autophagy & cellular quality control at Heidelberg University.
ydagdas-lab.github.io
🪲🪰 Our preprint is out! This was a team effort with @wolframponisch.bsky.social, @matthewabenton.bsky.social and Ewa Paluch. We asked whether Drosophila and Tribolium use the same cell behaviours to fold their embryos during gastrulation. 🧵👇 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Morphospace analysis reveals divergent cellular behaviours driving tissue internalisation during insect gastrulation
During gastrulation, embryonic epithelia undergo large-scale remodelling to internalise the mesoderm. Whether the cellular mechanisms underlying these tissue deformations are conserved across species ...
biorxiv.org
Huge thanks to Iñaki Ruiz-Trillo for opening our Developmental Biology series 26/27 @embl.org. Iñaki showed us how studying our closest unicellular relatives is reshaping what we know about animal origins and why exploring the unknown is key to any field. We couldn't have asked for a better start! 🦠
How mammals get their fur? New research from the Milinkovitch-Tzika lab, published in PNAS, shows that chemotaxis—cells moving toward chemical cues—drives hair follicle precursor self-organization during embryonic development, generating diverse fur patterns across mammals. doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
Chemotactic self-organization captures the dynamics of mammalian hair follicle patterning | PNAS
The spatial patterning of mammalian hair follicle precursors in embryonic skin is most commonly studied in the laboratory mouse (Mus musculus), whe...
doi.org
#2 Close collaboration with @rocha-lab.bsky.social across institutes. @catfigueiredo.bsky.social shows that neurogenic progenitors in the developing retina can respond to cell death with an unexpected self-renewing division. I am sure Mauricio has more to say :-). www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Apoptosis-induced self-renewal of neurogenic progenitors safeguards retinal development against extensive cell loss
Developing embryos have a striking ability to buffer external and internal perturbations. A key example of this phenomenon across developing systems is successful organ formation even after substantia...
biorxiv.org
We are trying for a hattrick this month and two out of three are out: #1 Great work by Margarida Cruz et al. showing that tissue context in addition to cell intrinsic programs can determine migration mode of neurons. Retinal Bipolar Cells as an example. Check it out! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Tissue lamination state switches neuronal translocation from active to passive in the vertebrate retina
Neuronal migration is essential for establishing functional tissue architecture in the developing central nervous system. While cell-intrinsic mechanisms driving neuronal movement have been identified...
biorxiv.org
What if an embryo made immune cells before it finished building the tissue they usually come from? In our new preprint, we show that annual killifish embryos specify neutrophils before germ layers are fully resolved. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Huge thanks to my PI, @ohnolog.bsky.social ! 🧵
Early immune cell development precedes gastrulation in annual killifish
During embryogenesis, cell types arise in a predictable order because developmental regulators act sequentially. But how evolutionary changes in morphogenesis reshape the signaling environments that a...
biorxiv.org
Super excited that the first preprint from the lab is out! Led by an amazing student, Gaurav @gvaidya.bsky.social, jointly supervised with @mwdorr.bsky.social.
Gaurav Vaidya@gvaidya.bsky.social · last mo.The first preprint from my PhD is out! :thread: How does an animal choose between two completely different reproductive fates? Here’s how one planarian does it :point_down: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
The first preprint from my PhD is out! :thread: How does an animal choose between two completely different reproductive fates? Here’s how one planarian does it :point_down: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Life-cycle trajectory inference links temperature-gated progenitors to reproductive fate
Temperature shapes reproductive strategies across animals, yet how individuals switch between sexual and asexual reproduction remains unknown. We establish the planarian Phagocata morgani as a model f...
biorxiv.org
I am thrilled to share my PhD work with @nicolettapetridou.bsky.social @embl.org: www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/... A fun collaboration with Bernat Corominas-Murtra, Adrián Aguirre-Tamaral, @bart-smeets.bsky.social , Jef Vanghel and Tom Belpaire! Read the story in the comments below ⤵️
Double preprint! 👇 Check out our latest studies on timing, heterogeneity and collective behaviour (with a fun tiny bonus on evolution!) 1. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 2. arxiv.org/abs/2605.13234
Cellular timing heterogeneity regulates phase transitions in living matter
Rigidity transitions govern tissue organization in ways reminiscent of inert materials. Yet, living tissues are composed of active units with autonomous timing mechanisms, raising the question whether...
biorxiv.org
Lena Schindler@lena-schindler.bsky.social · last mo.I am thrilled to share my PhD work with @nicolettapetridou.bsky.social @embl.org: www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/... A fun collaboration with Bernat Corominas-Murtra, Adrián Aguirre-Tamaral, @bart-smeets.bsky.social , Jef Vanghel and Tom Belpaire! Read the story in the comments below ⤵️
If you’ve built DNA-barcoded antibody panels, you know the pain: every barcode means another conjugation. In our new preprint we introduce UnO, which transforms antibody conjugation problem into a universal barcode conversion workflow, enabling rapid panel generation. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Universal oligo adapters for high-efficiency DNA-barcoded antibody panel generation
DNA-barcoded antibodies are central to a broad range of spatial and dissociative assays and applications, including multiplexed imaging, single-cell profiling, and proximity detection. Direct modifica...
biorxiv.org
Do you work with scRNAseq data in non-model organisms that have less-than-stellar gene annotations? ✨ 🧬 You might be interested in GeneExt, a nifty little tool by @zolotarg.bsky.social in @arnausebe.bsky.social's lab, published in #Bioinformatics earlier this year. #singlecell #transcriptomics
GeneExt: a gene model extension tool for enhanced single-cell RNA-seq analysis
AbstractMotivation. Incomplete gene models negatively impact single-cell gene expression quantification. This is particularly true in non-model species whe
academic.oup.com
Excited to share our new preprint! 🧬❄️ by brilliant @mdreimann.bsky.social and great collaborators! Using cryo-ET&EM, we reveal archaeal chromatin in a near-native state: variable-beads-on-a-string fibers shaped by growth phase and histone composition #ArchaeaSky www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Amazing work! Huge congratulations to @bournsupremacy.bsky.social, @mwdorr.bsky.social , and all co-authors 🙌👏🙌
Mike Dorrity@mwdorr.bsky.social · 2mo agoFirst pre-print from the lab, a collaborative effort led by Jess Bourn @bournsupremacy.bsky.social, a fantastic PhD in my group. We resolve a key problem in development + evolution: how do we quantify heterochrony and link temporal variation to phenotype? www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
A very pleasant surprise to see that we got the cover for this paper 🥳 @natphys.nature.com
Nicoletta Petridou@nicolettapetridou.bsky.social · 2mo agoHere the published version of our work on uncoupling different types of tissue phase transitions during development! Find out more on how contact surface tension-driven rigidity transitions trigger tricellular junction formation and initiate epithelial organization! @natphys.nature.com
Here the published version of our work on uncoupling different types of tissue phase transitions during development! Find out more on how contact surface tension-driven rigidity transitions trigger tricellular junction formation and initiate epithelial organization! @natphys.nature.com
Laura Rustarazo-Calvo@laura-rustarazo.bsky.social · 2mo ago⚡ Our paper is now out in @natphys.nature.com ! This version now includes a detailed molecular characterisation of the optogenetic perturbations, new insights on the relevance of tricellular junctions for tissue morphology, and beautiful light-sheet timelapses. 🔬 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🏳️🌈This June, we celebrate Pride by discussing with @gunawanlab.bsky.social about his personal and academic journey as an LGBTQIA+ immigrant. Happy Pride month! #PrideinSTEM #LGBT 👉https://rdcu.be/forCt www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A scientist can come from anywhere - Nature Cell Biology
This June, we celebrate Pride by discussing with Felix Gunawan, assistant professor at the University of Toronto and co-affiliate group leader at the University of Münster, about his personal and acad...
nature.com
Thrilled to be joining the ZMBH, where my lab will continue to explore the evolution and engineering of living membranes. Farewell @bcube-tud.bsky.social...I couldn't imagine a better place to have started my lab! I'm perpetually grateful to my lab group for making this such a successful adventure!!
ZMBH@zmbh.uni-heidelberg.de · 2mo agoThe ZMBH welcomes Dr. James Sáenz @jamessaenz.bsky.social as new Professor in Molecular Biology. James previously led a research group at B CUBE - Center for Molecular Bioengineering of Dresden University of Technology.
Two great scientists and humans, whose collaboration shows what it’s like to do science as a positive-sum game. Wonderful news for evolutionary cell biology and for you two @dudinlab.bsky.social @gautamdey.bsky.social! 👏
EMBO@embo.org · 2mo agoCongratulations to Gautam Dey (EMBL) and Omaya Dudin (University of Geneva) for being awarded the EMBO Gold Medal 2026 in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the #LifeSciences in Europe! 🧪 https://www.embo.org/press-releases/embo-gold-medal-2026-awarded-to-gautam-dey-and-omaya-dudin/
