Vinculin is a simple adapter protein right? Wrong! That’s been the prevailing view for the 46 years since it was discovered. Here we provide a new paradigm and show that vinculin is a complex mechanosensor itself, containing 6 binary switch domains. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Another great opportunity for a PhD linking hypoxia to cell matrix mechanobiology!

Thanks to inattentive travel booking I have given myself a cheeky 6hr stopover in Munich. 🤦

Vinculin is a simple adapter protein right? Wrong! That’s been the prevailing view for the 46 years since it was discovered. Here we provide a new paradigm and show that vinculin is a complex mechanosensor itself, containing 6 binary switch domains. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Solution-oriented

The project is now live on FindaPhD and open for applications. Deadline December 4th

New episode on the CDKL5 in Color podcast and it's a science one! Let us know what you think! open.spotify.com/episode/5Lkx...

This was good fun to do, and I really enjoyed getting to chat about our CDKL5 research for a non-scientist audience with Marissa and Amanda. Thanks for having me.

*Fully funded 4-year PhD studentship available* This MRC DiMeN DTP funded project will look at the direct interactions between talin and the hypoxic response machinery to define the protective mechanisms at play in cells that protect against oxygen depletion www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Off to Boston tomorrow to present our work on talin in epilepsy at the CDKL5 Forum. I will talk about our preprint reporting new interactions of CDKL5, with talin and PDZ-domain containing proteins which together identify CDKL5 as a mechanically regulated enzyme. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Great time in Paris at the Valorant Champions with Oliver.

First day back at @liverpooluni.bsky.social after my 4 week trip, and got off to a bad start as broke my best espresso cup. 😭

This was an excellent meeting.

So excited to see the first part of my thesis work with @harmitmalik.bsky.social and @melodygcampbell.bsky.social in print! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... We have a bit of evolution and a whole lotta structure to figure out how new protein domains work

Venkatesh B, et al. (@tanentzapflab.bsky.social lab) Inside-out integrin activation is essential for early mammalian development. Mol Biol Cell. 2025 Sep 3;:mbcE25030106. [Epub ahead of print]. PMID: 40901728

Excellent science, inspiring discussions … and scientists in the sea! Special thanks to Andreja, @bengoult.bsky.social, Vasso, Nina, Marina and Marija for organising such a great meeting! 🐬 🐬

🎉It's finally out! Mechanosensitive biochemical imprinting of the talin interaction with DLC1 regulates RhoA activity and cardiomyocyte remodeling | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... - Amazing work Emilie, Ioannis and all co-authors and collaborators!

Really happy to have contributed to this great story as part of our BHF special project grant.

Excited to share our new preprint in @biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social "Cyclin-dependent kinase-like 5 (CDKL5) binds to talin and is anchored at the postsynaptic density via direct interaction with PDZ domains" Instead of a 🧵 the paper is summarised in this video. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Sea was quite moody tonight

Almost all previous studies on CDKL5 have used a C-terminal tagging strategy (presumably to position the tag away from the kinase domain), but here we show that such modification of the C-term is disasterous as it abolishes CDKL5 synaptic localisation and function. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

ADHERE 2 conference is next week! Great line up of speakers and fun acitivities planned, this is going to be amazing! Hope to see you all in Zadar, Croatia. ☀️ event.fourwaves.com/adhere2/pages

Excited to share our new preprint in @biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social "Cyclin-dependent kinase-like 5 (CDKL5) binds to talin and is anchored at the postsynaptic density via direct interaction with PDZ domains" Instead of a 🧵 the paper is summarised in this video. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

In the week I was out of office, this cheeky opportunist dropped a root into a nearby plants pot. 🌱

Congratulations to @stefanosala89.bsky.social , with help from @shreya-c.bsky.social al‬ on the optogenetic experiments, for the awesome story! Read the full preprint here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... and thanks for listening!

This is amazing, art work based on The MeshCODE Theory. www.davinci-project.com/collection/a... Thanks Nash Cruz and Mireya Vazquez-Prada

Our study on the mechanosensitive behavior of cell adhesion, showing the existence of a force-transmission mechanism that behaves very differently from the well-known 'load-and-fail' mechanism, was published in Nature Physics: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

ISMIB seminar Thursday 17th July 1pm Physiology Seminar Room Speaker: Prof Haguy Wolfenson Title: Understanding and modulating cell fate decisions mediated by cell-ECM interactions Host @bengoult.bsky.social

@liverpooluni.bsky.social launched the Liverpool Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Centre (LINC) — a world-leading research hub uniting brain and mind research to tackle urgent neurological, neurosurgical, psychiatric, and brain health challenges, affecting >3B. news.liverpool.ac.uk/2025/07/10/b...

This heterozygous TLN1 missense variant causes intermittent in-frame skipping of exon54 which impacts on talin actin-binding site 3.

Does anyone know if Cisco Unsubscribe Services has ever managed to successfully unsubscribe a single thing? 👎 Useless, "For future reference please bookmark this page." 🫠

New paper from @ivaskalab.bsky.social out now! 🍾 Watch how cancer cell adhesion dynamics are disrupted by inhibiting the phosphatase Shp2 - key to integrin β1 phosphorylation. Blocking Shp2 impairs adhesion and reduces invasion potential. 🎥👇 Read more at: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The GRC on Fibronectin, Integrins and Related Molecules earlier this month was a fantastic meeting. Good work @tanentzapflab.bsky.social and @sarawickstrom.bsky.social for organising. www.grc.org/fibronectin-...

Registration is now open, come join us in beautiful Zadar (Croatia) in September for Adhere2. event.fourwaves.com/adhere2/pages

My office should hopefully smell a little better today after I finally got round to removing a years worth of coffee pods.

Plasmidsaurus' merch game is strong.

Congratulations to Pat Caswell (@integrintraffic.bsky.social) & Alexandra Naba (@matrisome.bsky.social) who will be vice-chairs of the 2027 Fibronectin, Integrins & Related Molecules GRC and chairs of the 2029 meeting!

Thanks to @tanentzapflab.bsky.social & @sarawickstrom.bsky.social, chairs of an excellent Fibronectin, Integrins & Related Molecules GRC & to @martina-lerche.bsky.social & @mchastney.bsky.social for chairing the GRS. We look forward to Kairbaan Hodivala-Dilke & Tom Barker's 2027 meeting!

We have an exciting 2 year postdoc position available in our department in the lab of Marisa Merino - please see advert attached! Please contact Marisa for more details! Repost and share as you wish!

Maybe I am just getting old but I hate this new trend at Meetings where instead of a paper program they have an awful Conference app to download, and the schedule is spread over many pages with zero readibility. I like(d) to write notes on the timetable. I would definitely put these in Room 101. 🗑️

Moody dog walk tonight.

Professor Ben Goult (@bengoult.bsky.social) recently delivered his inaugural lecture, giving a deeply personal account of his career to date, as well as convincing the audience of the wondrous mechanical properties of the protein talin. ➡️ bit.ly/3RLrBFi #TeamLivUni

A new leaf 🌱

A great tribute to David Stevens, a terrific cell biologist and missed by so many of his friends and colleagues. As they say 'one of the good guys'. journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...

This was fun, @guijacquemet.bsky.social and @tanentzapflab.bsky.social attended our lab meeting today. Great discussions and nice to get different perspectives on the projects.

In Memoriam: Wolfenson, Giannone, and Schwartz recall the life and many contributions of Michael Sheetz, who passed away on January 30, 2025. rupress.org/jcb/article/...

Interested in nuclear mechanobiology, and how advanced genomic tools can shed light on how the cell nucleus might sense mechanical forces? Read our latest review by excellent Julien Morival and Anna Hazelwood, now published @jcellsci.bsky.social: journals.biologists.com/jcs/article-...

Was good flowering whilst it lasted.

A great visit to @merln-um.bsky.social in Maastricht, and nice to finally meet Aurélie Carlier in person after collaborating for ages. Very interesting discussion after my talk. Also, thanks for my Mosasaur tooth :)