Highly enjoyable Conversation article about a brilliant new neural tube paper: theconversation.com/fluorescent-...

Delighted with this new paper. Key findings I'm most interested in following up: - Mechanical cues impact cell shape long after the cue ends, - Surface ectoderm (SE) cells have cryptic lamellipodia which may enable collective crawling, - SE becomes progressively jammed www.cell.com/current-biol...

In @eLife.bsky.social: Patient-specific iPSC models of neural tube defects identify underlying deficiencies in neuroepithelial cell shape regulation and differentiation doi.org/10.7554/eLif... @hpscenthusiast.bsky.social

How do sparse mesenchymal cells, with unique stellate arms spanning large gaps between cells, maintain their network while still flowing during development? In our new preprint we describe the avian PSM as a fluid under tension and develop new theory to explain it: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Fascinating work on the biomechanics of mesenchymal tissues right here:

One for #NeuralTube biologists:

#ApicalConstriction and #DevBio afficionados - we've got two new pre-prints you may be interested in, below:

A lateral tension model for cranial mouse neural tube closure https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.15.654327v1

A couple of weeks left to apply to join Development's *Pathway to Independence* programme Support & mentoring for post-docs on the academic job market Deadline: January 31 journals.biologists.com/dev/pages/pi...

Applications are now open for our UCL East London Scholarship. The value of the bursary is full home tuition fees plus £16,000 maintenance. The deadline is Thursday 26 June 2025. Find out more, including eligibility criteria: www.ucl.ac.uk/scholarships...

We're hiring a postdoc! Please forward to people you know who are looking for positions. Interested in studying how metabolism is wired to support fertility? 🔬🪰 Come join us! Ad to go live next week, but informal enquiries encouraged.

Applications open for a new cohort of @dev-journal.bsky.social *Pathway to Independence* fellows Know a #devbio post-doc about to enter the academic job market? Would they benefit from a little support & mentoring? Spread the word Deadline 31 Jan 2025 journals.biologists.com/dev/pages/pi...

To mark Black Friday, we are excited to share our latest work, "Planar polarized force propagation integrates cell behavior with tissue shaping during convergent extension." Now online in Current Biology. authors.elsevier.com/a/1kATd3QW8S...

Happy to share our new preprint with Vernanda Perez-Verdugo, @shilabanerjee.bsky.social @glgalea.bsky.social We show that mechanical feedback drives shape and spatial order of the surface ectoderm in hindbrain neuropore closure.

How do physical forces influence spatiotemporal cell patterning during tissue morphogenesis? Our latest preprint integrates theoretical modeling with live imaging of mouse embryos to reveal how mechanosensitive feedback drives self-organized cell patterning during hindbrain neuropore morphogenesis.