🪲🪰 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

New paper out in #PRX-Life! We take a step back from molecular detail and ask: how do you quantify cell #polarization at the #mesoscale? Using live-cell imaging + analysis, we define phases of cell polarization and a framework to compare wildtype + perturbed cells. journals.aps.org/prxlife/abst...

Quantitative Characterization of Budding Yeast Polarization at the Mesoscale

A quantitative description of budding yeast polarization derived from live cell imaging enables systematic comparison of polarization phenotypes, revealing varying degrees of variation in physical cha...

journals.aps.org

New paper out in #PRX-Life! We take a step back from molecular detail and ask: how do you quantify cell #polarization at the #mesoscale? Using live-cell imaging + analysis, we define phases of cell polarization and a framework to compare wildtype + perturbed cells. journals.aps.org/prxlife/abst...

Quantitative Characterization of Budding Yeast Polarization at the Mesoscale

A quantitative description of budding yeast polarization derived from live cell imaging enables systematic comparison of polarization phenotypes, revealing varying degrees of variation in physical cha...

journals.aps.org

Looking for an assistant professorship in biophysics of living systems? We are hiring, so check it out!

Cees Dekker@ceesdekker.bsky.social · 2mo ago

WORK: our Bionanoscience department at TU Delft is looking to hire an Assistant Professor in Biophysics of Living Systems. Apply! Deadline 30 July careers.tudelft.nl/job/Delft-As... RT=nice

A few snapshots from the @embo.org workshop “The Rules of the Game: biophysical and molecular principles in cellular evolution” — and an excuse to thank everyone who made it such a fun, stimulating, and inspiring few days at @gimminstitute.bsky.social #EMBORulesOfTheGame

How do we fund and publish research that doesn't fit neatly into a single discipline? Last week, at the #EMBORulesOfTheGame, #HFSP Chief Scientific Officer Guntram Bauer presented how HFSP supports #frontierscience across disciplines and borders. @embo.org

Whichever of the purple dots you look at turns more purple.

Challenged by the many creative minds met at the #EMBORulesOfTheGame! Physicists + biologists in the same room = 🤯💡

Nice piece in Europhysics news about our initiative to strengthen our public institution with STEM expertise.

Ivo van Vulpen@ivovanvulpen.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Mooi artikel in het blad EurophysicsNews over het Nederlands initiatief Bèta's in Bestuur en Beleid (BiBB) in EuroPhysicsNews. Auteurs: @liedewijlaan.bsky.social, Patrick Decowski en Arlette Werner. Hopelijk inspireert het collega's in andere landen. BiBB homepage: www.betainbestuurenbeleid.nl

😅

Rienk Eelkema@rienkeelkema.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Paper out in collaboration with the Liedewij Laan group Starting from an interest in PTMs and protein modification, we developed a sortase substrate for farnesyl incorporation. And learned, the hard way, how difficult these compounds are to work with, despite their simple structure 😳

Our paper is out in ACS Synthetic Biology!! A major bottleneck in reconstituting cell polarity is obtaining functional prenylated Cdc42. Here, we developed a Sortase-based strategy to farnesylate Cdc42, which retains membrane binding and regulatory GTPase activity. doi.org/10.1021/acss...)

Paar foto's dag 1 wetenschapscommunicatie-workshop: - Marcel Kouwenhoven over BiBB (@liedewijlaan.bsky.social) - Gideon Koekoek over Erkennen en Waarderen - Kees Moelijker (met @tristandupree.bsky.social en Tess Heeremans) over 'dode dieren met een verhaal' en de Ig Nobelprijs - Pizza borrel!

The final program for the EMBO Workshop “The rules of the game: biophysical & molecular principles in cellular evolution” is online! A few seats are still available if you want to attend (Deadline May 15th) @embo.org @gimminstitute.bsky.social meetings.embo.org/event/26-cel...

Our paper is out m in BioEssays! We explore how a process-based view of biology, focusing on dynamic interactions rather than individual molecules, can reshape how we think about cell polarity, opening up new questions and ways of doing cell biology. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Our paper is out m in BioEssays! We explore how a process-based view of biology, focusing on dynamic interactions rather than individual molecules, can reshape how we think about cell polarity, opening up new questions and ways of doing cell biology. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Deadline for abstracts is extended untill March 19! So if you are interested in the interfase of physics of life and evolution, consider applying!

Liedewij Laan@liedewijlaan.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Meeting alert! EMBO workshop about molecular and physical principles in evolution in Portugal, 2-5 June 2026. Deadline for registration is March 1st. Check out the website it should be a fun and informative workshop bridging evolutionary biology and physics of life meetings.embo.org/event/26-cel...

Final version @nature.com of our paper describing unconventional multicellular development in a choanoflagellate inhabiting an extreme environment. A ton of new data since the first @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social preprint (which we've kept updating). A brief 🧵 (carried over from the old place)

Nature Portfolio@natureportfolio.nature.com · 5mo ago

A study in Nature shows that the single-celled form of a tiny, aquatic organism can turn into a multicellular version by three different routes. The discovery adds insight to the possible origins of multicellular life, suggesting a previously unrecognized degree of flexibility. 🧪

This is great #stuffthatmatters. Congratulations to Liedewij Laan and @embopress.org for recognizing the importance and brilliance of this work.

Liedewij Laan@liedewijlaan.bsky.social · 5mo ago

And another paper! We show that compensatory evolution in the yeast polarity network leads to global genetic rewiring: restoring polarity reshapes gene disruption tolerance across the genome and rewires entire cellular processes—not just individual genes. doi.org/10.1038/s44319-026-00709-4

Liedewij Laan @liedewijlaan.bsky.social and co-workers show that the #GEF Cdc24 and the #GAP Rga2, key regulators of the GTPase Cdc42 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, exhibit concentration-dependent and synergistic regulation of Cdc42 activity. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

And lastly, a philosophical preprint by Marieke Glazenburg, about cell polarity as a process, bit out of the ordinary, but I recommend reading it! philarchive.org/rec/GLAPAA-4

Marieke M. Glazenburg & Liedewij Laan, Polarization as a process: the potential of process ontology for understanding cellular symmetry breaking - PhilArchive

Since the advent of molecular biology, research in cell biology has been strongly focused on identifying specific genes and proteins responsible for cellular phenomena. However, it is increasingly rec...

philarchive.org

And another paper! We show that compensatory evolution in the yeast polarity network leads to global genetic rewiring: restoring polarity reshapes gene disruption tolerance across the genome and rewires entire cellular processes—not just individual genes. doi.org/10.1038/s44319-026-00709-4

Global genetic rewiring during compensatory evolution in the yeast polarity network - EMBO Reports

Functional defects resulting from deleterious mutations can often be restored during evolution by compensatory mutations. Importantly, this process can generate the genetic diversity seen in networks ...

doi.org

New paper out in EMBO Reports! We show that Cdc42 regulation is oligomerization-dependent and that a GEF and a GAP act synergistically: Cdc24 relieves self-inhibition of oligomeric Rga2, enabling robust Cdc42 cycling. doi.org/10.1038/s44319-026-00695-7 #cellpolarity #Cdc42 #synergy #syntheticbiology

Oligomerization-dependent and synergistic regulation of Cdc42 GTPase cycling by a GEF and a GAP - EMBO Reports

Cell polarity is a crucial biological process essential for cell division, directed growth, and motility. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, polarity establishment centers around the small Rho-type GTPase C...

doi.org

Meeting alert! EMBO workshop about molecular and physical principles in evolution in Portugal, 2-5 June 2026. Deadline for registration is March 1st. Check out the website it should be a fun and informative workshop bridging evolutionary biology and physics of life meetings.embo.org/event/26-cel...

Meeting alert! EMBO workshop about molecular and physical principles in evolution in Portugal, 2-5 June 2026. Deadline for registration is March 1st. Check out the website it should be a fun and informative workshop bridging evolutionary biology and physics of life meetings.embo.org/event/26-cel...

The lab is on a roll. 2nd preprint in as many weeks! High levels of Cdc42 GTPase underlie an all-or-none decision to fuse. Great team effort led by PhD students @sajjitasaha.bsky.social and @aiswaryasajeevan.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... @biology-unige.bsky.social

High levels of Cdc42 GTPase underlie an all-or-none decision to fuse

Cdc42 is a Rho-family GTPase conserved across eukaryotes, where it plays essential roles in cell polarization. In single-celled yeast systems, Cdc42 is a key driver of symmetry breaking and polarized ...

biorxiv.org

"Science is an investment. We will put forward a new 500 million package for 2025-2027 to support the best and the brightest researchers and scientists from Europe and around the world." — President @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu at the ‘Choose Europe for Science' event at La Sorbonne 🇫🇷

As I can’t sleep (it’s 02:18 here), here’s a photo of our moon casting a soft light over Loch Morlich, in the Scottish Highlands. #insomnia #scotland #bluesky

Leaving #Texel again.

Your dignity honors the bravery of the Ukrainian people. Be strong, be brave, be fearless. You are never alone, dear President Zelenskyy. We will continue working with you for a just and lasting peace.

I don’t care whether you’re pessimistic or optimistic as long as it makes you act. Europe can rise to the occasion but we need to believe it’s possible in the first place, and push and support European leaders to do the right thing. Uplifting bedtime reading for Europeans below ⬇️

Is Trump Making Europe Great Again?

In a world of zero-sum thinking, the EU's win-win logic can be a powerful tool.

open.substack.com