Volodya Gelfand; Northwestern University
@vgelfand.bsky.social
Cytoskeleton; microtubules; motors; Drosophila https://www.gelfandlab.org/
There are 2 previous historical cases of countries destroying their science and universities, crippling them for decades: Lysenkoism in the USSR and Nazi Germany. The Trump administration will be the 3rd. It's not just budgets but research, institutions, expertise, and training the next generation.
Our paper on the role of “mitotic” kinesin Eg5 in neuron development has been published in Development (see journals.biologists.com/dev/article-...). A great work by Wen Lu and colleagues!
‘Mitotic’ kinesin-5 is a dynamic brake for axonal growth in Drosophila
Summary: Kinesin-5 modulates microtubule sliding in neurons, acting as a brake to ensure precise axon pathfinding during Drosophila neuronal development.
journals.biologists.com
Happy to officially introduce FilaBuster - a strategy for rapid, light-mediated intermediate filament disassembly. Compatible with multiple IF types, modular in design, and precise enough to induce localized filament disassembly in live cells. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Thank you @KlumppStefan for writing a commentary on our paper on vimentin filament dynamics in the Journal of Cell Biology @jcb.org Please see doi.org/10.1083/jcb....
The unexpected structure and dynamics of vimentin networks | Journal of Cell Biology | Rockefeller University Press
Combining two powerful imaging techniques, Renganathan et al. provide unprecedented detail of the intermediate filament network in cells.
doi.org
So intermediate filaments are dynamic! Time to revise textbooks. Thank you to all the coauthors for the .great teamwork
Challenging the view on #vimentin! our latest work shows VIF is an active, dynamic filament loosely held together rupress.org/jcb/article/... Thanks to @vgelfand.bsky.social @aaandmoore.bsky.social @nu-bsa.bsky.social @hhmijanelia.bsky.social @jcb.org #NUCDB #nikon #CrestOptics #livecellimaging
Exciting 3-year postdoc opportunity with @carter-lab.bsky.social within a programme aimed at identifying the links between microtubule motors and axonal cargos. Read more about the role here: www.nature.com/naturecareer... Apply by 30 DEC #ScienceJobs #CambridgeJobs #PostdocJobs #GenomeEngineering
The Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Feinberg School of Medicine seeks a full-time tenure track Investigator at the rank of Assistant Professor. Click here to learn more. www.feinberg.northwestern.edu/sites/cdb/do... For questions, contact Vanessa Gonzalez vanessa.g@northwestern.edu
the @tyskalabactual.bsky.social strikes again with more beautiful work on MV growth! Apical clathrin-coated pits control the location, timing, and scale of microvillar growth www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Apical clathrin-coated pits control the location, timing, and scale of microvillar growth
Epithelial cells from diverse contexts assemble apical specializations to serve tissue-specific functions. In virtually all cases, these features consist of arrays of microvilli: micron-scale, actin b...
biorxiv.org
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Check it out!
Developmentally regulated actin-microtubule crosstalk in Drosophila oogenesis
Actin-microtubules (MT) interactions are essential, but how those mechanisms are orchestrated in complex developing systems is poorly understood. Here we show that actin-MT crosstalk regulates actin c...
biorxiv.org
!! Optogenetically Induced Microtubule Acetylation Unveils the Molecular Dynamics of Actin-Microtubule Crosstalk in Directed Cell Migration www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Optogenetically Induced Microtubule Acetylation Unveils the Molecular Dynamics of Actin-Microtubule Crosstalk in Directed Cell Migration
Microtubule acetylation is implicated in regulating cell motility, yet its physiological role in directional migration and the underlying molecular mechanisms have remained unclear. This knowledge gap has persisted primarily due to a lack of tools capable of rapidly manipulating microtubule acetylation in actively migrating cells. To overcome this limitation and elucidate the causal relationship between microtubule acetylation and cell migration, we developed a novel optogenetic actuator, optoTAT, which enables precise and rapid induction of microtubule acetylation within minutes in live cells. Using optoTAT, we observed striking and rapid responses at both molecular and cellular level. First, microtubule acetylation triggers release of the RhoA activator GEF-H1 from sequestration on microtubules. This release subsequently enhances actomyosin contractility and drives focal adhesion maturation. These subcellular processes collectively promote sustained directional cell migration. Our findings position GEF-H1 as a critical molecular responder to microtubule acetylation in the regulation of directed cell migration, revealing a dynamic crosstalk between the actin and microtubule cytoskeletal networks. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors declare that there is a pending patent application related to optoTAT.
biorxiv.org
@myosinactncrazy.bsky.social Please add me. Thank you. VG
A new microtubule end-binding protein (called EB-SUN) was discovered in Drosophila by Sun Kim, a graduate student in our lab together with Steve Rogers, a former graduate student, now on faculty in UNC. www.molbiolcell.org/doi/10.1091/...
See how amazingly dynamic vimentin intermediate filaments are! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Transport and Organization of Individual Vimentin Filaments Within Dense Networks Revealed by Single Particle Tracking and 3D FIB-SEM
bioRxiv - the preprint server for biology, operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a research and educational institution
biorxiv.org
Do not forget about Chicago Cytoskeleton meeting on October 20. Hope to see you there!
Our PNAS paper is out pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... We showed that mRNA for microtubule polymerase XMAP215 is recruited to Drosophila oocyte by dynein. It produces more XMAP215 so that dynein can recruit more XMAP215 mRNA. This feedback loop is required to maintain oocyte identity.