First day here and I brought a paper. Three years of cryo-FIB-ET on human airway cells, nine proteins identified and two new PCD genes at the end of it. Grateful to the teams in Munster (Omran Lab), Boston (@alanbrownhms.bsky.social, Hawkins Lab) and Geneva (@centriolelab.bsky.social).

Alan Brown@alanbrownhms.bsky.social · 3d ago

Millions of beating cilia keep airways clean. At the base of each is the transition zone (TZ), a gate that controls which proteins enter and leave. In our paper out today in Science, we used cryo-FIB-ET to image the TZ inside human airway cells www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Ultrastructural dynamics of basal bodies during microgamete formation and fertilisation in Plasmodium

Analyzed 3D membrane ultrastructures in ciliogenesis: CEP164-dependent vesicle enlargement at the mother centriole key for primary cilium assembly. PMID:42288497, Nat Commun 2026, @NatureComms https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-73638-4 #Medsky #Pharmsky #RNA #ASHG #ESHG 🧪

Characterization of membrane structures regulating primary ciliogenesis by quantitative isotropic ultrastructure imaging | Nature Communications

The trafficking, docking, and fusion of membrane vesicles at the mother centriole (MC) are important for primary cilium construction. Here, we determined the three-dimensional (3D) membrane ultrastructures, and associated proteins, involved in this primary cilium assembly mechanism upstream of axoneme growth. Our work suggests that the enlargement of small vesicles docked to the MC is a key trigger for ciliogenesis progression, a process requiring the MC distal appendage protein CEP164. These vesicles appear to fuse to form tubular C-shaped intermediates and an unprecedented toroidal membrane intermediate. The formation of these previously uncharacterized tubular membrane ciliogenesis intermediates is orchestrated by the membrane trafficking regulators EHD1 and RAB8, and is associated with the IFT-B complex protein IFT88. Remarkably, we show that EHD1, through its membrane tubulation function, regulates ciliogenesis progression by directly promoting CP110/CEP97 removal from the MC cap.

doi.org

Cilia alert! Last year Juyeon Hong described a new domain in 9+2 cilia called the EDT, the extreme distal tip. Now, she's found a new protein required for its assembly, but only in non-mammalian vertebrates. A cool evo-cell / protein evolution story in @cellreports.bsky.social tinyurl.com/2xvdskx6

On August 1, 1931, Harriet Creighton and Barbara McClintock published the first experimental proof that genes are physically located on chromosomes—a discovery that transformed genetics. 1/3🧵

Come join us in beautiful Cambridge to uncover the fascinating biology of eukaryotic parasites! #Postdoc #Cambridge #cryoEM #parasitology #cilia #Trypanosoma #Leishmania

UK Cilia and Centrosome Network@ukcilianetwork.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Exciting postdoc opportunity in the lab of newly minted PI Aakash Mukhopadhyay @aakash89.bsky.social in Cambridge. www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/56371/

Learn about cilia (dis)assembly, how cargo selection is regulated and how functions vary across tissues at the EMBO Workshop "Cilia" in Stresa, Italy, 9–12 March 2027. Early bird registration by 30 Sep Abstract submission by 30 Oct https://meetings.embo.org/event/27-cilia #EMBOcilia #EMBOevents 🧪

📣 Abstract submission and early registration are now OPEN for the 7th European Cilia Conference—an official EMBO workshop! 📅 8–12 March 2027 📍 Stresa, Italy Submit and register: meetings.embo.org/event/27-cilia www.eurocilia.eu #EMBOCilia #Cilia2027

K63-linked ubiquitin chains mark inactive Smoothened for packaging into ciliary extracellular vesicles www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

K63-linked ubiquitin chains mark inactive Smoothened for packaging into ciliary extracellular vesicles

Signaling receptors can exit cilia either by retrieval back into the cell or by secretion in extracellular vesicles (EVs), a process known as ectocytosis. The mechanisms that govern ectocytosis remain...

biorxiv.org

#DBfeature #LatestResearch 🧠 Microtubule binding protein Togaram1 is required for proper development of mammalian forebrain and neural primary cilia, with its knockout leading to a thin and irregular neuron layer By Clarissa Nassar, Savera Shetty, Noelle Dwyer doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2026.05.011

🎉 New/updated preprint! From 🌟 GS Kirsten Judge + Most neuronal cilia form during development. Can adult neurons rebuild damaged cilia? Are functions restored? Does regrowth use different pathways from ciliogenesis? Answers (in C. elegans): Yes, yes, and partly. 1/6 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Neuron-intrinsic and glial pathways regulate sensory cilia regeneration in adult C. elegans

Primary cilia are microtubule-based organelles that mediate cellular responses to environmental cues. Although cilia disassemble and reassemble upon cell cycle entry and exit, respectively, in dividin...

biorxiv.org

A nice thread on multiciliated cells and how cytoskeleton patterns basal bodes in MCCs! Great job covering the diversity of MCCs @raghavan-thiaga.bsky.social #cilia #basalbodies

epithelial mechanics fan club@epimechfc.bsky.social · 2mo ago

From single-celled organisms to ciliated epithelia in metazoans, precise positioning of basal bodies (BBs), which anchor motile cilia, is essential for generating fluid flows. Here, I, @raghavan-thiaga.bsky.social, will take you on a brief tour of how cells build this spatial organization.

Not many people know this but 🐸 embryos make an amazing system to study immune cells. If 🐟 embryos become less transparent as they grow, 🐸 embryos do the reverse, becoming progressively transparent. Their immune cells are very similar to 🐟 and 🚶‍♂️. Here are some 🐸 macrophages (🔴): #FluorescenceFriday

We are recruiting! We invite applications from highly motivated PhD candidates interested in developmental biology, imaging, and in situ structural biology to study the biogenesis and plasticity of motile cilia in development and disease.

He Lab - Our Research

muhelab.com

The moment every Xenopus embryo lab looks forward to! Successful contractions mean plenty of healthy embryos ready for microinjection and eventually lots of imaging 😍

Anh Hoang Le, PhD 🏳️‍🌈🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇻🇳@anhhle2702.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Working with complex systems makes even the most mundane thing fascinating. This is cortical reaction in 🐸 embryos. Upon fertilisation, ions are released and draw water in thru osmosis, making zygotes float and orient according to gravity. Do you see the waves?👀 not quite #fluorescencefriday #devbio

New preprint! In collaboration with @xujwet.bsky.social, @pedrobeltrao.bsky.social, and Akhmanova and Beekman groups, we determined the structure of the transition zone microtubule doublet in mammalian motile cilia, providing potential insights into the regulation of IFT: tinyurl.com/fssnevuc

Structure of the mammalian ciliary transition zone microtubule doublet

The ciliary transition zone gates bidirectional protein trafficking to maintain the specialized ciliary proteome using microtubule doublets as a scaffold. While ciliary axonemal doublets are well-char...

tinyurl.com

FASEB Cilia and Centrosomes. Abstract submission deadline is TODAY! Come share your exciting science with the community! events.faseb.org/event/cilia-...

Important new work from Chia-Hsiang Chang, @nachury.bsky.social and colleagues identifying the composition of neuronal cilia in an unbiased way. Lots of surprises herein: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

In situ proteomics unveils specialized domains for extrasynaptic signaling on neuronal cilia

In situ proteomics and expansion microscopy reveal nanoscale organization of postsynaptic proteins on neuronal cilia.

science.org

Our paper is out in Developmental Biology! It's part of a special issue on Forebrain Development. Mouse KO of Togaram1, a Joubert Syndrome gene, has defects in forebrain morphogenesis and neurogenesis. 🐭🧠🧪 #cilia #devbio #cellbio www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Microtubule binding protein Togaram1 is required for proper development of mammalian forebrain and neural primary cilia

Proper forebrain development relies on precise spatial and temporal control of early neural stem cell (NSC) proliferation and later neurogenesis. Brai…

sciencedirect.com

Big congratulations to our winners: Smilla-Maria Koy (1st), Chandrama Ghosh (2nd), and Anthony Rabaté (3rd)! Check out their breath-taking micrographs and the rest of the Top 15 entries in the stunning poster attached. The future of cilia research looks beautiful. 📸 #Cilia2027

📢On June 1st, we will be launching CenSpark650, the very first selective fluorescent probe for imaging centrioles and cilia in live cells.🔬 No transfection, zero genetic manipulation. Just Add & Image 1 hour later. Learn more: spirochrome.com/12-may-2026/ #Bioimaging

How do sperm and egg fuse? Surprisingly, we still don’t fully know… Our field has uncovered many pieces of the fertilization puzzle, but not how they fit together. We identify ✨ SPARK ✨ - a conserved sperm complex that couples sperm-egg binding to fusion. tinyurl.com/34cm4xat Read on! 🧵👇

If you are a patient or caregiver living with a ciliopathy, your voice matters. Help shape the Cilia27 Patient Day in Milan (8–9 March 2027) by completing this short survey 👇 forms.office.com/Pages/Respon... #Ciliopathies #ARPKD #RareDiseases #PatientVoice #Research @pkdinternational.bsky.social

Microtubule-templated actin assembly by septin9 drives apical expansion of epithelial cells https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.17.725777v1

Excited to share my postdoctoral work at @reitergroup.bsky.social, now published at @genesdev.bsky.social. The paper is Open Access and is available through the link below. Here is a quick thread highlighting what we found. 🧵👇 1/n

The American Society for Cell Biology members elected Rebecca Heald, Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, to serve as the Society’s President in 2028. www.xenbase.org/xenbase/doNe... #science #devbio #cellbio #xenopus #frogs

Please come join me in Washington, DC August 2-6th for the FASEB SRC on Cilia and Centrosomes meeting! Over 40 talks will be selected from abstracts. We are also excited to launch our first North American Ciliopathy Summit, held at the same venue on August 2. events.faseb.org/event/cilia-...

Major congratulations to Steve Brody (@brodylab.bsky.social) for his election to the Association of American Physicians (AAP). A well deserved honor for an incredible physician-scientist 👏👏 Yet another 🏅 for #cilia and #ciliopathy research!

Congratulations to our very own Susan Dutcher @dutcherlab.bsky.social for being elected to the National Academy of Sciences! A truly remarkable achievement for an amazing scientist. And a huge 🏆 for #cilia research! @nasonline.org @washugenetics.bsky.social @washu.edu

National Academy of Sciences@nasonline.org · 5mo ago

We are thrilled to announce the election of 120 members and 25 international members to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of their distinguished and continued achievements in original research. Congratulations to our new #NASmembers and welcome to the Academy! 🎊

Our flagship conference celebrating everything centrosomes and cilia returns this year and it promises to be another exceptional scientific event in the beautiful city of Lausanne, 1–4 September. 👉 Abstract submission+registration deadline 1 June Don’t miss the opportunity to share your research 🤩