Join us in Split!

It was great to give a talk on "One Law Linking Genomes and Spindles Across Life" at the 12th International Conference on Biological Physics #ICBP2026 in Genoa! Exciting science and a spectacular location in the old harbor. Many thanks to Alberto Diaspro & the organizing team!

Ready for #ICBP2026 in Genoa! I'll be giving my talk today in the "Cellular Biophysics & Super-Resolution Microscopy" session. Can't wait to see my biophysics friends and talk science!

Our preprint on power-law scaling of mitotic spindles is among the top 1%! 😃

QED Science@qedscience.bsky.social · last mo.

🎉 Meet The 1%. Out of 57,455 bioRxiv life science preprints, QED Science selected 574 exceptional manuscripts through blind evaluation. The 1%: the-one-percent.qedscience.com Good science deserves to be seen. @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social @openrxiv.bsky.social @richardsever.bsky.social

Beyond thrilled to share that I've been elected as a member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (HAZU)! Deeply grateful to my group at @institutrb.bsky.social, collaborators, mentors, and family, I didn't get here alone. The photo is from my associate membership, a new one coming soon! 😃

On the way to Vienna! Looking forward to seeing longtime science friends and meeting the next generation of microscopy enthusiasts.🔬

Best paper awards at the Ruđer Bošković Institute 🎉 Thrilled that four of my PhD students and I received an award for our paper “Microtubule poleward flux as a target for modifying chromosome segregation errors.”

Our third Swiss-Croatian Bilateral Project meeting in Split, with @labmeraldi.bsky.social, Nenad Pavin, and special guest @ivanagasic.bsky.social! Great science and plenty of exciting new ideas to explore! #HRZZ @snsf.ch 🇭🇷🇨🇭

We love SRCE (“Srce” means “Heart”), our University Computing Center and an amazing collaborator! It was great to give a talk at "Days of e-Infrastructure" and celebrate SRCE’s 55th anniversary. Happy birthday, SRCE! 🎉 #SrceDEI2026

Večernji list, 25.3.2026. Big congrats to my super talented, dedicated, and courageous young team! 👏 🩷 🔬

What an inspiring few days in Dubrovnik at #SpindleCroatia2026, which Nenad Pavin and I organized for the 4th time. Outstanding science and many warm reunions with colleagues from around the world! Huge thanks to the whole spindle community!!

In the closing talk of #SpindleCroatia2026, Helder Maiato discussed how dividing cells adapt to karyotype evolution. Using Indian muntjac (2N=6/7) and Chinese muntjac (2N=46) cells, they showed that high chromosome number is a critical mitotic vulnerability.

Monica Gobran showed that when CDK1 is partially inhibited, nuclear pores begin to disassemble, but the overall structure of the nuclear envelope remains intact, similar to closed mitosis. The spindle forms outside the nucleus. #SpindleCroatia2026

Jacques Pécréaux used FRAP of the half-spindle in C. elegans and revealed that only kinetochore microtubules exhibit flux, sliding along pole-anchored ones. The flux is larger on the posterior side, reflecting the imbalance in cortical pulling forces. #SpindleCroatia2026

Régis Giet showed that, in Drosophila neural stem cells, the number of astral microtubules nucleated by each centrosome determines the spindle position. Asymmetric pushing forces, rather than cortical pulling, dominate spindle positioning. #SpindleCroatia2026

Arp Schnittger @schnittger-lab.bsky.social examined kinetochores in plant meiosis, focusing on how mono‑orientation of sister kinetochores is achieved. Arabidopsis has a homolog of Csm1, a monopolin component, with a function in kinetochore organization and mono‑orientation. #SpindleCroatia2026

Gautam Dey @gautamdey.bsky.social discussed spindle evolutionary dynamics. In Chlamy, an MTOC forms in prophase to nucleate the spindle, but remains tethered to the basal bodies. By using ExM, they plan to expand every microbial eukaryote on Earth! #SpindleCroatia2026

Marija Žanić @zaniclab.bsky.social used EB1 imaging to determine the relationship between microtubule GTP-cap size and growth rate throughout the cell cycle. GTP-cap size for matching growth rates drops during mitosis, suggesting active regulation of the hydrolysis rate. #SpindleCroatia2026

Ana Pinto Teixeira @carlos-conde.bsky.social showed that excessive MPS1 activity drives CIN by promoting an untimely expansion of the fibrous corona, providing a structural basis for merotely and chromosome missegregation in colon cancer. #SpindleCroatia2026

Verena Cmentowski @vcmentowski.bsky.social explored the mechanism that triggers dynein activation at kinetochores. CENP‑E facilitates the recruitment of dynein-dynactin and cofactors to kinetochores and regulates dynein motility. #SpindleCroatia2026

Tarun Kapoor developed a chemical genetic approach to analyze the functions of VPS4, a key protein required for nuclear envelope repair in human cells. Upon VPS4 inhibition, CHMP7 persists, and inner nuclear membrane defects form, leading to DNA damage. #SpindleCroatia2026

Julie Welburn @jwelburn.bsky.social showed the molecular basis for how PRC1 recruits CENP-E to the central spindle in anaphase. She also explored how drug binding varies with beta-tubulin isotypes, showing that human meiotic beta8-tubulin has a reduced sensitivity to nocodazole. #SpindleCroatia2026

Marin Barišić @barisiclab.bsky.social showed that acentrosomal cells often divide with uncongressed chromosomes. Lack of Aurora A at the poles of acentrosomal spindles is the main cause of chromosome missegregation. #SpindleCroatia2026

Spindle squad #SpindleCroatia2026 #Dubrovnik www.phy.pmf.unizg.hr/~mitosis/

Ryota Uehara identified TPX2 as an adaptive factor for mitotic control after whole-genome duplication. TPX2 depletion caused multipolar spindles selectively in tetraploids. These cells required longer spindles to maintain their bipolarity than diploids. #SpindleCroatia2026

Véronique Marthiens asked how tissue properties affect mitosis. In the mammalian embryonic brain, biomechanical constraints enhance neural stem cell vulnerability by increasing microtubule growth and chromosome missegregation via cortical tension. #SpindleCroatia2026

Gerben Vader @vaderlab.bsky.social discussed mitotic vulnerabilities in chromosomally unstable cancer cells. KIF18A is a selective target causing chromosome misalignment and prolonged mitosis. “KIF18A-like” vulnerabilities are now being explored to expand anti-mitotic therapies. #SpindleCroatia2026

Beth Weaver explored the effect of microtubule-targeting agents on cancer cells and found that paclitaxel induces multipolar spindles without mitotic arrest in breast cancer. Pole focusing is a major mechanism of resistance. #SpindleCroatia2026

Geert Kops @kopslab.bsky.social showed beautiful fibrous coronas in bovine oocytes, which extend far beyond the kinetochores. The corona nucleates microtubules and promotes spindle assembly, but it may also be a liability if it completely encapsulates the chromosome. #SpindleCroatia2026

Ido Lavi developed a kinetic model in which RanGTP-regulated nucleators bind to microtubules and induce branching, while the microtubules polymerize at (+) ends and are transported poleward by Eg5. Multistep branching is important to get the right polarity. #SpindleCroatia2026