Interested in the biophysics of organoids? We just published a review in Dev Cell—take a look! dlvr.it/TPyTb8 #Organoids #Biophysics

Self-organized or instructed? My @natrevgenet.nature.com Journal Club traces how classic papers revealed two modes of developmental patterning & why the debate between Turing and Wolpert is as timely as ever for organoid engineering today www.nature.com/articles/s41...

And here is the PDF of the 4th course @college-de-france.fr. You will find the justification and presentation of geometric representation of cell decisions, a parsimonious mathematical model for signalling and cell state transitions tinyurl.com/yc7u296j

Here is the link to download the PDF of my course#5 on Biological computation. I present & discuss Self-tuning, Adaptation and Learning in biological (non-neuronal) systems, in particular during embryonic development. This course contains various personal ideas/proposals. tinyurl.com/hcpwsbtm

Please find below the link to watch the VIDEO of my course#5 @college-de-france.fr on Biological computation. I present and discuss Self-tuning, Adaptation and Learning in biological (non/neuronal) systems, in particular during embryonic development. Enjoy! tinyurl.com/4pv95an9

Super nice to see this awesome set of lectures online! A really timely perspective on biology through the lens of information, which inspires much of our own research as well.

Munro, E., Nance, J., & Priess, J. R. (2004). Cortical flows powered by asymmetrical contraction transport PAR proteins to establish and maintain anterior-posterior polarity in the early C. elegans embryo. Developmental cell, #EpithelialMechanics www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

How can cells use information from neighboring cells to improve the spatial precision of morphogen patterns? 🤔 We show that cells can gain positional information by "talking" to their neighbors - how much depends critically on spatial correlations of the patterns. buff.ly/w56OUJT

Good to see the peer reviewed version of this published A chemo-optogenetic system for spatiotemporal control of gene expression We use it to: - Reconstruct SHH mediated neural tube patterning in vitro - Measure extracellular half-life of Shh www.cell.com/developmenta...

Group xmas event - Curling! Pictured with our curling trainer Jean-Claude.

Please find below the link to watch the VIDEO of my 3rd course @college-de-france.fr on Biological computation. I present and discuss Network motifs that reveal the hidden logic of complex genetic and biochemical networks. Enjoy! tinyurl.com/yyky4w2m

🧪⚛️ Surface tension—driven by non-equilibrium currents not forces—in pattern formation leads to the same type of interface laws as in liquid foams: Plateau laws, von Neumann evolution; and a new emergent phenomenon: domain splitting akin to cell division. nature.com/articles/s4156…

New preprint! Do you like ocean waves? We found similar waves on bacterial colonies! We found that this collective behavior, known as rippling, is nothing but surface waves on an active nematic. @princeton.edu @mpipks.bsky.social @ub.edu @icreacommunity.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

This coming wednesday Dec. 3rd @college-de-france.fr, the annual #FrançoisJacob symposium. This year is about ‘Biology in the Flow of Time’⏱️. Superbe line up of speakers on various aspects. Come and enjoy (should you have time), free access, no registration🤘

🚨 New preprint! We built a single-cell atlas of 14 multilayered epithelia and revealed a conserved transcriptomic program guiding tissue architecture and fate composition. Our work brings decades of tissue-specific studies together into a unified evo-devo framework. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Great science & fruiful discussions last Friday the 14th Nov. around "the physics of Stem cells" , the 2025 Stem Cell Initiative & QBio joint symposium. An honour to have Meryem Baghdadi & David Brückner as keynote speakers, who gave inspiring talks. 🙏🙏 to all our speakers & poster presenters.

Advanced grad students + postdocs: apply for the 2026 #kitpqbio summer course, "Physical Principles of Morphogenesis in Plants and Animals," at buff.ly/OXXMKEv. Apply by Feb. 1. Course directors Adrienne Roeder (Cornell) and Sebastian Streichan (UCSB)

Good to see the peer reviewed version of this in print The cis-regulatory logic integrating spatial and temporal patterning in the vertebrate neural tube A global temporal chromatin program operates across the vertebrate nervous system to control neural cell diversity www.cell.com/developmenta...

Wonderful to see the beautiful preprint from Sabate et al now published - TADs are also dynamic structures in human cells, with remarkably similar parameters between mESCs and HCT116 cells www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Active droplets are fundamental in cell biology and origin of life. With Jonathan Bauermann, @boekhovenlab.bsky.social, Frank Jülicher, and @m-pol.bsky.social, we show that a critical transition influences their size, morphology, ripening and division propensity journals.aps.org/prx/abstract...

Super excited to finally visit our collaborators @heemskerklab.bsky.social at the University of Michigan! Seminar tomorrow at 1 PM singlecellspatialanalysis.umich.edu/scsap-monthl...

Had a great time at the "Physics of Stem Cells" Meeting at Institut Pasteur last week! Many inspiring talks with different perspectives on how stem cells make decisions

Hi, I’m David Brückner @davidbrueckner.bsky.social. I’ll take you through how cells in a tissue can use information distributed by biochemical gradients to make decisions, and how we can measure such positional information. buff.ly/RFxVeHh

Ever wondered what drives enhancer-promoter specificity? Why would an enhancer activate one gene rather than another neighboring one? Check our latest preprint, led by @mmasoura.bsky.social, to find out! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Wolpert, L. (1969). Positional information and the spatial pattern of cellular differentiation. Journal of theoretical biology, 25(1), 1-47. #EpithelialMechanics

🌍Open call: Junior Group Leader positions! Join a world-class biomedical research institute at the heart of the Vienna BioCenter, where curiosity drives discovery. Lead your own lab, pursue bold ideas, and shape the future of science at the IMP: www.imp.ac.at/career/open-...

Jan Rozman, Sumesh P. Thampi, Julia M. Yeomans: Why Extensile and Contractile Tissues Could be Hard to Tell Apart https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.07012 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2511.07012 https://arxiv.org/html/2511.07012

Switzerland is joining Horizon Europe! We are uniting two research powerhouses. For cutting-edge innovation that will boost our energy security, digital transformation, health and so much more. Today is a good day for science, and for our EU-Switzerland partnership.

Brückner, D. B., & Tkačik, G. (2024). Information content and optimization of self-organized developmental systems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, #EpithelialMechanics www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

How can we organize current theoretical approaches for developmental biology - from information to dynamical systems & GRNs - into a common framework? We propose to think along Marr's 3 levels: computational problem, algorithm, implementation Check out our review: arxiv.org/abs/2510.24536

We finally made it over here ! And excited to share our new paper on mechanical forces regulating stem cell plasticity in colorectal cancer, involving force transduction via mechanosensitive calcium channels! www.cell.com/cell-reports...

Epithelial convergent extension as a tuning process https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.06.687029v1

A lovely example of the interplay of morphogen dynamics, tissue mechanics, cell mechanics and signal transduction at the most crucial stage of embryogenesis. And a good example of why talk of development being "programmed" into the genome is simply the wrong language. www.cell.com/cell-stem-ce...

Excited to visit CRG & EMBL Barcelona tomorrow!

Nice highlight by Joseph d’Alessandro & Mélina Heuzé on our recent paper about mechanical memory in migrating cells with @sgabriele.bsky.social and @kyohalie.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/d41...

REMINDER! One week left to apply for what (in my humble and somewhat biased opinion) is one of the best academic jobs on the planet! Come join our vibrant and collaborative community here at the @biozentrum.unibas.ch @unibas.ch 🧪

Your go-to tutorial for simulating mesoscale membranes is here. Look no further for: -Understanding the state of the field -A guide for creating new models for your science -Hands-on tutorials to simulate your very own membranes See tinyurl.com/punk3tcu and the below 🧵 start your journey 💻

📣Announcing the 4th edition of the EMBL‑IBEC Conference on “Engineering Multicellular Systems”, taking place 11–13 March 2026 in Barcelona. Exploring organoids, mechanobiology, embryo models, organ-on-chip systems, multiomics and more. Abstracts open now! events.ibecbarcelona.eu/embl-ibec-co...

🤔 Can tissue patterning & tumor heterogeneity emerge in a self-organized way? We show that self-organized mechanical stress & density gradients pattern tumors in vitro & in vivo, and this behavior is quantitatively predicted by a mechano-chemical active fluid model! Check out Carlos' thread ⬇️

The @crick.ac.uk is recruiting Early Career Group Leaders - Lab set-up, research costs, salaries for up to 5 researchers - Support for up to 12 years - Access to our core facilities - Competitive salary - Fantastic colleagues - All areas of biology Deadline 27 Nov www.crick.ac.uk/careers-stud...

Appreciate Quanta for shining a light on our joint work with Simon Gsell, Sham Tlili (@shamtlili.bsky.social), and Matthias Merkel (@merkellab.bsky.social).

New preprint from the lab! We discovered a transient fluidization in the basal region of human forebrains by tracking microdroplets in cerebral organoids.This “basal fluidization”, absent in gorilla and mouse, may contribute to greater surface expansion in human forebrains 1/ doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Pleasure to announce the program of my new series of lectures at the College de France in Nov-Dec. Continuing on the theme of Biological information. I will focus on the computational aspects, building on David Marr's tri-level of analysis in biological systems. YouTube link sent when it starts.

Our paper is on the cover of @cp-devcell.bsky.social . Image: embryonic murine salivary-gland explants stained for fate determinants; p63 (cyan) and HES1 (yellow). Thanks to everyone involved. doi.org/10.1016/j.de...

Had a lot of fun at our first group retreat in Graubünden🇨🇭🏔️🌄

New Review! #devbiol #bioelectricity #CellBiology #tissueregeneration In our new @annualreviews.bsky.social piece, we explore how bioelectricity is generated, sensed & translated into responses that sculpt tissues, guide growth & enable tissue regeneration. www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

New job, new preprint! We found that embryo implantation can be understood as active wetting! Embryos from older mothers have trouble implanting because they are too contractile and viscous. Check out the wonderful thread (and movies!) by @katecavanaugh.bsky.social. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Are you interested in a PhD in the area of "Mechanisms of translational control during embryogenesis?" Apply now for a PhD @mpi-cbg.de! Overview of all participating RGLs: imprs.mpi-cbg.de/5761/researc...

If anyone ever wants to brush up on a lot of cell migration concepts don't forget we have several wonderful scientists who have given talks previously in cell migration seminars. I find it so comforting to go look at old videos, maybe someone else who will do as well!! youtube.com/@cellmigrati...

Come join us in Basel! @biozentrum.unibas.ch is an amazing place to start your group.