Nominations are open for 3 Biophysical Society of Canada awards: 🏅 BSC Fellow 🔬 Early Career Investigator Award 🤝 Michèle Auger Service Award The nomination deadline for all three awards is August 1 Award details and nomination requirements: biophysicalsociety.ca/awards/

Gonna be a few days of exciting Mechanobiology at ISMB meeting @ SynSci 2026 in Glasgow!!

Using DNA tension gauge tethers, we showed that LFA-1/ICAM-1 adhesion forces help regulate NK cell activation. Increasing tension promotes DNAM-1/LFA-1 colocalization and perforin polarization, suggesting that NK cells use forces to tune their cytotoxic responses. doi.org/10.1039/d6ra...

Excited to share our Science Advances paper introducing Tether Force Spectroscopy: flow-stretched DNA "sails" that pull on molecules and read out single-molecule behaviour by fluorescence. No beads. Huge thanks to Adam, Ryan and the team. Check out the paper here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Our latest work on directional DNA hairpin 🧬 unzipping and mechanical anisotropy is out! Same sequence, different mechanical properties! By sequence design we can turn a classic two state folder into a soft, compliant molecule 🧸 that visit a stable transient ensemble! Have fun with the box!📦

Newton@cp-newton.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Online now: Directional unzipping of DNA hairpin reveals nanomechanical anisotropy #newton #physics

We just uploaded a preprint on a new massively parallel single-molecule force spectroscopy method. No beads, no messy calibration - just pure DNA tethers pulling individual molecules while we watch them in real-time with fluorescence. Check it out: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Latest from the lab: 🧬 Decoy DNA 🧬 can extend the lifetime of DNA-based tension probes >24h by outcompeting DNases and preserving signal integrity in live-cell tension imaging. This is a simple, general strategy for robust mechanobiology in DNase-rich environments. doi.org/10.1002/anie...

Wonderful visit to the University of Lethbridge -many thanks to Trushar @trushar7.bsky.social and Dylan for the kind hosting! Great discussions with researchers at the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department! 👍

Taking the group out for fun outside of the #BSC2025 @biophyscanada.bsky.social annual meeting, visited Niagara Falls, ran into a filming of a featured film, good times!

Congratulations 🎉 to Ryan, David, and Irving for winning two poster and a travel award at the @biophyscanada.bsky.social annual meeting! 👏

Congratulations to all the trainee award winners at the BSC 2025!

The 10th BSC annual meeting just wrapped up. We sincerely thank Cecile Fradin and the team of local organizers and volunteers at McMaster for making this a successful event! Looking forward to next year in Winnipeg!

Congratulations to @sfuphysics.bsky.social professor Nancy Forde who has received the @canadianphysicists.bsky.social Medal for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, recognizing her innovative teaching methods, curriculum development and undergraduate research mentorship. cap.ca/programs/rec...

Check out our recent progress using 🧬 PAINT kinetics to decode molecular tension in super-resolution force imaging! 🔬 Great team effort from Seongho, Adam, Irving, and Kevin! 👏 #DNA-PAINT #tension #integrin #superresolution #adhesion doi.org/10.1002/advs...

Quantitative Super‐Resolution Imaging of Molecular Tension

Quantitative tension PAINT (qtPAINT) is a new method to quantify molecular tension at super-resolution by exploiting force-dependent DNA oligonucleotide dissociation kinetics. Combining hairpin tensi....

doi.org

The 10th annual BSC meeting is coming up in Hamilton! Don't miss the April 15 deadline for early registration, abstract submission, and travel awards. Details & program: event.fourwaves.com/bsc2025/ #BSC2025

The 10th annual meeting of the Biophysical Society of Canada will be held May 20-23 at McMaster University in Hamilton, ON. Check out the speaker lineup and programs here: event.fourwaves.com/bsc2025/ Early registration and abstract submission deadlines are April 15. #BSC2025

David Bakker from my group is talking to middle school students about our research on DNA and optical tweezers!🧬Great job, David, for bringing the latest science from UBCO to the grade 6-10 classrooms! career.sd83.bc.ca/2025/03/14/f... #biophysics #outreach @ubcokanagan.bsky.social

From SAS to Biochemistry and Back

Former Salmon Arm Secondary student David Bakker (left) and Grade 10 JL Jackson student Sabrina Wilson (right) demonstrate what happens when DNA strings are stretched while Teacher David Hollatz wa…

career.sd83.bc.ca

We just published a review of the very recent progress in integrin force loading rate measurement using various molecular tension probes. Learn more about how this has advanced the field and what potential improvement lies ahead here: doi.org/10.1017/qrd.... #mechanobiology #integrin #tensionprobes

Heading to @biophysicalsoc.bsky.social for #bps2025! Looking forward to catching up with everyone!

A online environment for playing interactively with reaction-diffusion systems from Karl Sims karlsims.com/rdtool.html

Hello little one, nice to meet you! #daimon

Interesting read of the day: Confronting risks of mirror life www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Confronting risks of mirror life

Broad discussion is needed to chart a path forward.

science.org

Not a new paper, but still helps (1/2) PhD survival guide @embopress.org #PhD #PhDlife #academics #scisky #medsky

This is immensely fun to read doi.org/10.1016/j.ij...

Coffee…made Matlab…opened Meetings…none It’s gonna be a great day!