Reconstitution of actomyosin networks in cell-sized liposomes dissects distinct mechanisms of membrane blebbing and symmetry breaking | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Reconstitution of actomyosin networks in cell-sized liposomes dissects distinct mechanisms of membrane blebbing and symmetry breaking

Actin network organization dictates how and where membrane blebs form, revealed through reconstitution and simulations.

science.org

Sad to be saying goodbye to Drosophila, but excited to get this work out on bioRxiv! If you are interested in the interplay of tissue flows and cool ways to mess them up, this read is for you :) Thanks to colleagues and co-authors! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Reconstitution of actomyosin networks in cell-sized liposomes dissects distinct mechanisms of membrane blebbing and symmetry breaking

Actin network organization dictates how and where membrane blebs form, revealed through reconstitution and simulations.

science.org

This epic paper, which has been a heroic 10 year journey for the lead author, Ricardo Barrientos, is finally out in Cell today! Many thanks to all co-authors, especially Billie Meadowcroft and Andela Saric for their beautiful MD simulations www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Basement membrane turnover controls cell shape

Basement membranes are scaffolds of proteins, like collagen, that give organs shape. During development, basement membranes must adapt to the growing organ. We infer how fast the basement membrane ada...

cell.com

New preprint! How does a cell "know" how big to make its nucleus? This has puzzled biologists since the 1800’s. We show the answer is physics: colloid osmotic pressure. 🧵1/5

bioRxiv Biophysics@biorxiv-biophys.bsky.social · 2w ago

Nuclear size and physical properties of the nucleoplasm are determined by colloid osmotic pressure at the nuclear envelope https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.21.739918v1

Excited to share our latest! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... This was a highly collaborative endeavor– the best way to do science. We asked how a developing tissue achieves the right shape despite all the variability along the way. Short answer: Hydrostatic pressure. Read on for the long answer!

One of my favorite findings is that pressure canalizes geometric variability. Although pillars begin with substantial differences in shape, sustained pressure-driven inflation drives them toward a common, straight configuration, revealing a physical mechanism for developmental robustness.

www.cell.com/current-biol...

CLASP-dependent microtubule stabilization generates microtubule-based protrusive forces during Drosophila epithelial morphogenesis

Sarkar et al. show that the CLASP protein Orbit stabilizes non-centrosomal microtubule plus ends in vivo, suppressing catastrophe and enabling persistent polymerization-based pushing forces. This stab...

cell.com

RhoGAP54D promotes cell size asymmetry and inhibits pulsatile myosin activity in Drosophila neural stem cells: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...

RhoGAP54D promotes cell size asymmetry and inhibits pulsatile myosin activity in Drosophila neural stem cells

Loyer et al. examine the subcellular localization of the actomyosin regulators RhoGAPs and RhoGEFs throughout the cell cycle of asymmetrically dividing Drosophila neural stem cells. They uncover a dua...

cell.com

📢 🎉Oral presentation at the International Mechanobiology Symposium in Glasgow: Wednesday, Alsh 2 room, 15:30. Come and learn how do epithelial cells mechanically adjust to dramatically stretch using Brillouin microscopy. #ISMB2026 #Mechanobiology #BrillouinMicroscopy #Cytoskeleton @embl.org

🪲🪰 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

Planar cell polarity-directed cell crawling drives polarized epithelial morphogenesis: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...

Planar cell polarity-directed cell crawling drives polarized epithelial morphogenesis

Sharan et al. investigate how planar cell polarity (PCP) directs counter-rotational cell flows during hair placode morphogenesis by coordinating cell crawling at the basal surface. 3D imaging and comp...

cell.com

Double preprint! 👇 Check out our latest studies on timing, heterogeneity and collective behaviour (with a fun tiny bonus on evolution!) 1. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 2. arxiv.org/abs/2605.13234

Cellular timing heterogeneity regulates phase transitions in living matter

Rigidity transitions govern tissue organization in ways reminiscent of inert materials. Yet, living tissues are composed of active units with autonomous timing mechanisms, raising the question whether...

biorxiv.org

Lena Schindler@lena-schindler.bsky.social · last mo.

I am thrilled to share my PhD work with @nicolettapetridou.bsky.social @embl.org: www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/... A fun collaboration with Bernat Corominas-Murtra, Adrián Aguirre-Tamaral, @bart-smeets.bsky.social , Jef Vanghel and Tom Belpaire! Read the story in the comments below ⤵️

Wow! Congrats and so well deserved!

EMBL@embl.org · last mo.

Congratulations, Anna Erzberger! The EMBL Group Leader has received the Inaugural Suzanne Eaton ‘Rising Star’ Award for Physics of Life in 2026, presented by @poldresden.bsky.social. Learn more: www.embl.org/news/awards-...

I am thrilled to share my PhD work with @nicolettapetridou.bsky.social @embl.org: www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/... A fun collaboration with Bernat Corominas-Murtra, Adrián Aguirre-Tamaral, @bart-smeets.bsky.social , Jef Vanghel and Tom Belpaire! Read the story in the comments below ⤵️

Nature research paper: Confined migration induces non-lethal DNA damage in developing neurons go.nature.com/4adERwm

Confined migration induces non-lethal DNA damage in developing neurons - Nature

The migration of neurons in developing cerebral and cerebellar cortices is accompanied by massive DNA double-strand breaks due to mechanostress during passage through narrow interstitial spaces.

go.nature.com

Congrats @drsusanna.bsky.social @ditalialab.bsky.social for solving the puzzle of how evolving gradient turns into spatial threshold responses. A beauty and quantitative tour de force. Full of nostalgia reading it. Did propose a temporal model ~20 yrs ago in thesis w/o data. Was quite wrong, tho 😂

Stefano Di Talia@ditalialab.bsky.social · 2mo ago

@drsusanna.bsky.social paper is now out in its final form. Relative to the original preprint, we now show additional mutant data and a better way to display heat maps of gene activation. www.cell.com/current-biol...

Fantastic to see this out. Possibly a harbinger for a new field to come: thermal cell biology? Congrats!

Girish Kale@girishkalephd.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Our latest manuscript on (Harry Potter and) the effect of elevated temperature on embryonic development in flies. Even a small increase in temperature causes developmental defects, indicating problems in the face of global warming! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Glad to see this out in its final form! www.nature.com/articles/s41... What changed since the preprint? Wonderful experiments disentangling the effect of receptor binding vs tissue porosity on Nodal diffusion, plus one of the smoothest review experiences! Thanks @natcellbio.nature.com & reviewers 🙏

Tissue rigidity phase transition shapes morphogen gradients - Nature Cell Biology

Autorino et al. report a feedback loop between Nodal signalling and tissue phase transitions in zebrafish embryos. Nodal alters adhesion, triggering tissue rigidification and reduced porosity, which l...

nature.com

Nicoletta Petridou@nicolettapetridou.bsky.social · last yr.

Here our latest work on how morphogens trigger tissue phase transitions to tune their own length-scales and time-scales - An exciting collaboration with @zhvas.bsky.social @dianakhorom.bsky.social Bernat Corominas-Murtra and heroic experiments by the incredible @cami-autorino.bsky.social @embl.org

An aPKC rheostat induces apical contraction in response to epithelial stretching www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

This exciting paper is now out in PNAS: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

3D epithelial cell topology tunes signaling range to promote precise patterning | PNAS

Cell behaviors in multicellular organisms are coordinated via both diffusible molecules and by signals based on direct cell–cell contacts. The mode...

pnas.org

Yanlan Mao@yanlanmao.bsky.social · 12mo ago

An exciting new paper from the lab! Check it out:

Apply by May 20th to do research @mpi-cbg.de or @biohub.org. For example, my lab is open to your #ideas that loosely align with the theme of the #evolution of #morphogenesis. The name of the game is #freedom. Join us to develop an independent research line. I provide support, mentoring & technology

(1/15) Thrilled to share new Evo-Devo work where we address the molecular, cellular & morphometric basis of an extreme axis segmentation program in the Japanese eel — an animal that forms 120 vertebrae.

New Pre-Print Alert! Evolving initial conditions: an alternative developmental route to morphological diversity with Shannon Taylor and @jamesehammond.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

New Preprint alert!🚨 Super excited to share my postdoc work now on BioRxiv. How does PRC2 loss lead to developmental failures? We combined rapid protein degradation with TLS embryoid models to uncover temporal and lineage-specific dependencies 🧬. Preprint: doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.18.719361

We´re hiring a #PhD student - if you´re interested in combining genetics, cell biology and state-of-the-art imaging to study #epithelial tissue dynamics in #Drosophila, apply to the CiM-IMPRS PhD program by May 1st (see below) Please RT @uni-muenster.de @sfb1348.bsky.social

SFB 1348@sfb1348.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Deadline approaching! The CiM-IMPRS #PhD program in #Münster is recruiting: 16 #PhD positions in Life & Natural Sciences. Great chance to do cutting-edge research in a vivid international environment—apply by May 1st: www.uni-muenster.de/CiM-IMPRS/ap... @uni-muenster.de @mpi-muenster.bsky.social

These images show live embryos of animals (jellyfish, crustacean, worm, sea urchin, sea squirt, beetle) and one of animals closest single-celled relatives. They were captured taking advantage of fluorescent proteins localised on the outer membrane of cells, allowing us to observe cell outlines. 1/9

Now published. Congrats to Soham and all co-authors! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/.... @embl.org

Aissam Ikmi@aikmi.bsky.social · last yr.

We thought we were just studying mesoglea biogenesis…Turns out Nematostella has been hiding a sophisticated backup pressure valve! Work driven by the talented PhD student Soham Basu! @embl.org‬ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

This year, the annual symposium of my Chaire @college-de-france.fr will be on The Evolution of Developmental Mechanisms. An impressive lineup of speakers and weirds animals, including humans. Free entrance and coffee breaks. Come, have a seat, relax and enjoy the best possible basic science🤘RT🙏

Our latest work on shape-programmable tissues is out in @science.org. By positioning topological defects in cellular nematics, we encode frustrated 2D force fields that relax into predictable 3D shapes. Collaboration with Marino Arroyo’s lab, led by @pauguillamat.bsky.social at @ibecbarcelona.eu.