🚨 New preprint out! “Fluorescence lifetime estimation: a practical approach using Flipper-TR FLIM” with Tithi Mandal and @rouxlab.bsky.social We benchmark and describe step-by-step Flipper-TR FLIM measurements across different set-ups and and strategies. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

PhD or Master's position available for Fall 2026! Interested in how actin drives cell crawling, eating, dividing, or osmoregulation? What about pathogenesis of a brain-eating amoeba? Or eukaryotic evolution? If so, apply through my website: katrinavelle.wixsite.com/science/cont... Please share!

How do dynamic forces influence symmetry-breaking in embryonic development? Hi, I’m @dr-rajendra-s-negi.bsky.social & in this thread, I’d like to introduce some aspects of the interdisciplinary research on tissue dynamics.

In this beautiful system, we could show uncoupling of gene expression profiles, morphology and patterning… #NotInTheGenes 😉 (also includes a method to do long term 🔬 of elongating gastruloids) Thank you to all involved @jeromewongng.bsky.social @thomasgregor.bsky.social @alexandremayran.bsky.social

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...

See this? This = implanting mouse embryo. Usually this happens inside its mother and is invisible to us, but we can actually watch implantation ex vivo with the hope of understanding why implantation goes awry in embryos of older women. A 🧵...

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...

Happy to share that my PhD has finally taken the shape of a paper! ✨ Huge thanks to all authors, especially @davidbrueckner.bsky.social & @ehannezo.bsky.social for leading the modeling and @raimonsunyer.bsky.social & @xaviertrepat.bsky.social for their invaluable supervision. 🧵👇

H’okay; let’s try it here! We use swarm behaviors, bioelectricity, and biomaterials to herd living cells like sheepdogs and sheep. New site live: cohenlab.princeton.edu. I really want to more frequently share my amazing crew’s work ! Starting with an oldie vid—living Escher! More soon, for serious.

I have a PhD student and an undergrad student positions open at the Institute of Biotechnology @helsinki.fi We are using reconstitution, cell and structural biology to study protein-membrane interactions and membrane microdomain formation. Links to calls below! Feel free to drop a message and share!

Nice work from the labs of @katemiro.bsky.social @sarawickstrom.bsky.social Mechano-osmotic signals control chromatin state and fate transitions in pluripotent stem cells www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Our latest preprint! Into morphogenesis, Yap, ECM, signaling, vertex models, feedbacks/robustness? There is something here for everyone. We discovered a positive feedback loop that extends inner ear canals, and a built-in mechanism that shuts it down when morphogenesis is done. tinyurl.com/464wsjhd

How do cells navigate up gradients of adhesive proteins? 🤔 Termed "Haptotaxis", this effect is ubiquitous in cell migration, but it's mechanism was poorly understood We show that passive friction directs cells & explains complex trajectories on gradients 👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Now out in final published form - with a new title "Mechanical control of cell fate decisions in the skin epidermis" and simulations/quantifications! See below for thread of how unbalanced tensions can bias fate choices in minimal 3D models of tissues! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

@vgelfand.bsky.social et al. use single-particle tracking to show #vimentin intermediate filaments display active movement throughout the cell, w/ individual filaments w/in a bundle moving independently rupress.org/jcb/article/... 📕 Intermediate Filaments collection: rupress.org/jcb/collecti...

1/12 A very special moment for me! 🎉 My first paper as corresponding author—a @jcb.org Perspective on how contact-based decision-making in collective cell migration can itself encode blueprints for complex patterns and shapes. rupress.org/jcb/article/... #cellbio #devbio #science 🧵for details

Ever wondered how to control stretch/compression in your epithelial system? Do you know why it’s important, which mechanotransduction mechanisms could be involved? I am @valeriaventurini.bsky.social and today I will guide you through this journey.

📣 New preprint: Mechanochemical feedback, tissue geometry & rigid-body dynamics initiate rotational migration in Drosophila via spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking. A mechanism generalizable to closed epithelia. @sreejithsanthosh.bsky.social biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A ring of cells deforms into a triangular keyhole in just 15 minutes. Meet the hindgut, a model for boundary-driven morphogenesis! Out now in @pnas.org at doi.org/10.1073/pnas... with @zhaoshh.bsky.social, Alex Jacinto, Eric Wieschaus, Stas Shvartsman, @lepuslapis.bsky.social (1/8)

Fresh from the press💥 We asked what happens when you evolve gene regulatory networks computationally at scale. Do general principles of GRN evolution jump out? Is the process predictable? Read on to find out @prxlife.bsky.social @crick.ac.uk @ucl-ipls.bsky.social 👉 journals.aps.org/prxlife/abst...

We’re organizing a conference at @ijmonod.bsky.social in Paris, January 2026, in memory of M.P. Sheetz — pioneer in cell mechanics and mechanobiology, co-discoverer of kinesin, and founder of @mbisg.bsky.social. Join us to explore his legacy. mikeinmemoriam.sciencesconf.org

Happy to share our new study @ijmonod.bsky.social and @mpi-scienceoflight.bsky.social with C. Duclut and J. Prost. on forces generated by active fluid transport in epithelia and their role in tissue dynamics. Congrats to Huiqiong Wu, G. Arkowitz and R. Chilupuri! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

It allows shaping the electric field, from single cells (first video) to sculpting whole tissues (movie below). This was several years of Yubin and Jeremy's lives; it's now changing what we know and do with electricity to control cell behaviors. It's so cool--please use it, we will help/share!

Mäntylä, E., & Ihalainen, T. O. (2021). Brick Strex: a robust device built of LEGO bricks for mechanical manipulation of cells. Scientific Reports, #EpithelialMechanics www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Excited to share our new review in Development, Growth and Differentiation(DGD) Journall! With the amazing @yuchiunwang.bsky.social & @bipashadey29.bsky.social,we explore how rigidity transitions bridge cytoplasmic & tissue scales. Read the full review: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Despite their high rigidity, microtubules (MTs) dynamically bend and buckle in cells. MT-self repair is inherent to their metastable nature, but it remains unclear whether just inherent repair mechanisms are sufficient to maintain MT integrity🧵 (1/9) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Nature research paper: Energy deficiency selects crowded live epithelial cells for extrusion go.nature.com/42tmu2l

Thanks a lot to @elisecutts.bsky.social for nicely highlighting and putting in context our article! It was very interesting to discuss together, notably about the analogies between the emergence of order in Hydra and other physical phenomena.

A bit delayed, but excited to still share our latest paper, showing that intercellular forces transduced by E-cadherin activate EGFR-ERK signaling in epithelia by inducing EGFR ligand shedding! Mechanical and biochemical signals can act together within a single, linear cascade! tinyurl.com/mr9mj9j2

How can we use cell shapes and geometry to study mechanics of tissues? I'm @juliaeckert.bsky.social, and with this thread, I would like to show you the secrets of cells and tissues. Let’s connect biology with a little bit of physics. Don't be scared and get inspired 😀. #EpithelialMechanics

🤔 Can migrating cells 'remember' their past trajectories? In collab w/ @sgabriele.bsky.social & @kyohalie.bsky.social, we address this question: Confined cells undergo geometry-sensitive morphology switches, and these switches depend on the past migration history! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Epithelial tissues cover the inner and outer surfaces of the body. A study by the working group of cell biologist Prof Carsten Grashoff now provides insight into the molecular details underlying the formation of the connections between epithelial cells. #Biology

Very happy to share our new study from CAM team @ijmonod.bsky.social and @mpi-scienceoflight.bsky.social (MPZPM) on the unanticipated “hidden fluidity” in jammed epithelia. Congrats to Yuan Shen and great collaboration with Walter Kob. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

From the lab of @sarawickstrom.bsky.social Piezo1 balances membrane and cortex tension to stabilize intercellular junctions and maintain the epithelial barrier journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...

Our paper on the nonequilibrium mechanics and remodelling of collagen-IV networks is finally out on @prxlife.bsky.social! It has been a long and exciting scientific journey, led by @billiemeadowcroft.bsky.social! @ivnpla.bsky.social @yanlanmao.bsky.social journals.aps.org/prxlife/abst...

Epithelial tension controls intestinal cell extrusion | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The last paper from my PhD is now online! 🥳 👉 pubs.aip.org/aip/rsi/arti... We have designed a new device based on the elastic micropillar array assay to measure the detachment forces between spread cells. @leidenphysics.bsky.social

Super excited that our group will be supported by an ERC Starting Grant! In project "InfoFate" we will study how cells use information in dynamical, neighborhood & mechanical signals to make decisions. We'll have PhD and Postdoc positions available, please get in touch if interested!

new out in Nature www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Bubna-Litic, M., & Mayor, R. (2025). Beyond mechanosensing: How cells sense and shape their physical environment during development. Current opinion in cell biology, 94, 102514. #EpithelialMechanicsReview buff.ly/Ea2ZoFg

We had #four interdisciplinary teams, integrating dev-bio, evolution, tissue mechanics, and biophysical modeling, all going full throttle to understand the #CF. Still, it took more than 7 years to publish two papers back-to-back (10/12) www.nature.com/articles/s41... www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Check out the preprint of my main work in the lab of @xaviertrepat.bsky.social @IBECBarcelona. Many thanks to all the people involved!

Stöberl, S., Flommersfeld, J., Kreft, M. M., Benoit, M., Broedersz, C. P., & Rädler, J. O. (2024). Nuclear deformation and dynamics of migrating cells in 3D confinement reveal adaptation of pulling and pushing forces. Science advances, 10(34), eadm9195. #EpithelialMechanics buff.ly/YjK7Gpq

New preprint! 🚨 We uncover a slow adaptation to stretch that links star-bundling of keratin filaments with nuclear escape from its keratin cage. Led by @tomgolde.bsky.social‬ 🙌 @IBECBarcelona www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Höllring, K., Nuić, L., Rogić, L., ..., Hubert, M., & Smith, A. S. (2024). Capturing the mechanosensitivity of cell proliferation in models of epithelium. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 121(45), e2308126121. #EpithelialMechanics buff.ly/cCmDwwk

Are different cell types like oil and water? Over a century ago, researchers found that dissociated sponges and embryonic tissues can self-assemble into functional structures. Join me, @benswedlund.bsky.social to explore the differential adhesion hypothesis & its applications in tissue engineering!

🐌💫 Snail embryos never looked so fabulous! Tubulin (white), phospho-histone H3 (pink), and F-Actin (cyan) light up this early stage like a cytoskeletal disco ball. Image from Clemens Cabernard & Adam von Barnau Sythoff 🪩🧬 #FluorescenceFriday

Hi I’m @vpmechbio.bsky.social, intrigued by how cells regulate their shape, by means of cytoskeleton and how this influences cellular function. One way to study this mechanism is to impose cells to certain geometric shape. Allow me to welcome you to the world of micropatterning!

Dreaming of a swimming pool? Bacteria are surrounded by water! Water capillary forces organize bacterial colonies into gas, nematic streams, or droplet states. New paper @natphys.nature.com led by Matt Black and Chenyi Fei, with Ned Wingreen and Josh Shaevitz! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Lee, L. W., Lee, G. H., Su, I. H., Lu, C. H., Lin, K. H., Wen, F. L., & Tang, M. J. (2025). Mechanobiological mechanism of cyclic stretch-induced cell columnarization. Cell reports, 44(5), 115662. #EpithelialMechanics buff.ly/j67xoTn