Cambrian on my mind #sciart

My painting RUSSIAN OLIVE TREES

Today's #MicroscopyMonday: a whole-mount image of a larval zebrafish.

Imaged by high school students from New Bedford Whaling Museum Internship Program in the CRISPR course with Zeiss 780 confocal. Special thanks to Billy Shogren from the Echeverri Lab for helping the students.

Hello epithelia enthusiasts!

I’m @inesfournon.bsky.social and I study epithelial mechanics in sea anemones 🪼

Did you know epithelial cell extrusion had never been described outside bilaterian animals before? Well… not anymore 👀

Read ⬇️🧵1/9

Villars, A., Matamoro-Vidal, A., Levillayer, F., & Levayer, R. (2022). Microtubule disassembly by caspases is an important rate-limiting step of cell extrusion. Nature communications, 13(1), 3632. #EpithelialMechanics
buff.ly/qjmjenx

Rosenblatt, J., Raff, M. C., & Cramer, L. P. (2001). An epithelial cell destined for apoptosis signals its neighbors to extrude it by an actin- and myosin-dependent mechanism. Current biology : CB, 11(23), 1847–1857. #EpithelialMechanics
buff.ly/LrPRF9n

I really appreciate that they added TB facts on the loading screen between levels! What an awesome method of scientific communication!

apparently me too, got to level 40 🦠•••🔫🫁 beat that!

Galaga is one of my favorite games ever...

This is Galaga, but with Mycobacterium tuberculosis as the enemy.

🦠 • • • 🔫🫁
🦠 • •
💥
🦠

Listeria-infected macrophages promote biomechanical alterations in endothelial cell monolayers for transmigration Intracellular pathogens like Listeria exploit macrophages to cross endothelial barriers and spread systemically. Muenkel et al. show that exposure to infected macrophages weakens contractile forces within the endothelial monolayer and promotes macrophage transmigration. This response is driven by direct cell-cell interactions, with cytokines exerting only minor and transient effects.

Listeria-infected macrophages promote biomechanical alterations in endothelial cell monolayers for transmigration

Sleep is an essential physiological process. Our bodies may be quiet and largely immobile, but our brains are highly active. Metabolites and other toxins that have accumulated over the course of the day get cleared away. Recent memories become consolidated. Scientists have thus begun to investigate the restorative and beneficial functions of sleep in great detail.

As we sleep, our bodies may be quiet and largely immobile—but our brains are highly active.

A special issue summarized recent insights into the basic mechanisms underlying sleep and the many functions our brains perform during it.

Learn more on #WorldSleepDay: https://scim.ag/3Ntwp3I

Title slide: Identifying antimicrobial effectors in the staphylococcal abscess. Eric. P. Skaar Ph.D. M.P.H. Vanderbilt Institute for Infection, Immunology, and Inflammation (VI4). Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Privileged to listen to an exciting talk from Dr. Eric Skaar, Ph.D., MPH today -

Staph lesion heterogeneity, metal / PMN distribution kinetics, Staph activation within macrophages, thousands of wells!?

Imaging mass spec captured spatially-driven S. aureus responses and the imagination 🧪

Daniel J. Drucker MD, FRCPC at UAMS Student Research Day 2026. Slide title: "GLP-1 medicines - new combinations to enhance efficacy"

Awesome seminar from @danieljdrucker.bsky.social today on GLP-1 medicines - "Transforming outcomes for people with cardiometabolic disorders" at UAMS Student Research Day. 🧪

There are a lot of scientific illustrators and graphic designers who are building their portfolios and will take on work for less than you might imagine. It's not out of reach.

Figure 1. Cryo-EM of abundant protein complexes in native membranes.

Figure 2. Cryo-EM of membrane proteins in vesicles.

Figure 3. 3D reconstruction of V-ATPase in native synaptic vesicle membranes.

Figure 4. Generation of membrane vesicles for structure determination of proteins in their native lipid bilayer.

I've written a review on what I think is an extremely exciting direction in cryo-EM:

Cryo-EM of endogenous membrane proteins in their native lipid bilayer

Open access in Quarterly Reviews of Biophysics:
doi.org/10.1017/S003...

🦠 First Friday Microbiome Seminar 坲March is coming！
📅 March 6 | 12 PM
📍 Marsico Hall 2004 (+ Zoom)

zoom.us/j/92459436676

Dr. José M. Bruno-Bárcena (NC State) will discuss how packed-bed reactors help us study microbial communities under flow and stress.

#Microbiome #Biofilms #FFMS

Riedel, L., Wössner, V., Kempf, D., Ziebert, F., Bastian, P., & Schwarz, U. S. (2025). The positioning of stress fibers in contractile cells minimizes internal mechanical stress. Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, 195, 105950. #EpithelialMechanics
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Dunkleosteus terrelli (Newberry, 1873) - fossil fish skull (real) from the Devonian of Ohio, USA. (public display, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Cleveland, Ohio, USA) The placoderms are a group of extinct, mostly predatory fish that existed during the Middle Paleozoic (Silurian and Devonian). The most famous placoderm was Dunkleosteus, which was named after David Dunkle, an Ohio paleontologist. It was not a shark - it had a bony skull, a neck joint, and remarkably, the jaws lacked true teeth. Instead, the jawbones were sharp-edged and pointed. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dunkleosteus_terrelli_(fossil_fish)_(Cleveland_Shale_Member,_Ohio_Shale,_Upper_Devonian;_Rocky_River_Valley,_Cleveland,_Ohio,_USA)_21_(34001200911).jpg

The Late Devonian (~380 MYA) was an era dominated by armored fish like Dunkleosteus terrelli here. They were primarily cartilaginous, like the sharks they hunted, but covered by armor plates up to 3 in. (7.6 cm) thick.

They were also among the first animals to give live birth.

Dunkleosteus statue with pretty native plants.

Dunkleosteus skull model in a glass case

Large Dunkleosteus model with infographic

as a native NE Ohioan, I concur! I took my graduation photos at this exact statue 😆 love the Cleveland Metroparks!

I found this immune cell (🔴) prying open the junction between the ectoderm cells from underneath. You can see its protrusions probing (yellow arrow) and threading through between the other cells before the whole cell body is squeezed through in 1 sweeping motion. So cool! #FluorescenceFriday

My water bottle and laptop on a desk outside. There's a fountain behind it and some trees. The Healing Garden.

Traveling writing nook tip #2: flowing water is a good source of background noise to keep you focused

A small crocodile fern on a desk, and a green mug with a red v60 pourover set brewing coffee. Bright hallway

Traveling writing nook tip #1: bring a small plant for maximal productivity!

I am not ashamed to admit that I thought bioRxiv was pronounced "bio are ex eye vee" until last semester's journal club

Title: Enterococcus faecalis and Candida albicans Inter-Kingdom Interactions Presentation on a screen. Presented by Danielle A Garsin, Ph.D. Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at The University of Texas HSC Houston

Today's afternoon highlight: Danielle A. Garsin, Ph.D. presenting her research on interkingdom microbial interactions with(in) the host.

The first of our Student Chapter Seminar Series for the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) South Central Branch (SCB) Meeting! 🎉

Crystal structure of malaria parasite fusogen PfHAP2 domain 3 and nanobodies - unsolved mysteries galore! 🦟🦙💎

PfHAP2 is part of family of ancient fusogens involved in fertilisation processes in algae, plants to malaria parasites.

Check out the first crystal structure of PfHAP2 D3 and nanobodies

I see that clenched fist of suppressed rage

Lol I study Plasmodium infection and had to compare my personality to the parasite's to make sure we don't act similarly...

We both require red blood cells to live and experience multiple life cycle stages. However, Plasmodium and I have opposite opinions about USAID funding cuts.

a man sits in a dark room with the words " authority is brittle " on the screen Alt: a man (Cassian Andor from Star Wars) sits in a dark room with the words " authority is brittle, oppression is the mask of fear " on the screen

A scene from Star Wars Andor s2 - Peaceful Ghorman protesters singing in opposition of Imperial occupation! Stormtroopers pushing back against nothing. Imperials stage gunshots from "the crowd" to justify mass slaughter.

Peaceful protests scare fascists! Doesn't fit their narrative.

Nearly 15% (over 10,000 people) of the total number of Ph.D.s in science, technology, engineering, and math or health fields employed at the end of 2024 left their jobs in 2025. This is a science extinction event in the US. Rebuilding the lost expertise will take decades

"Actually, you working hard and pushing forward instead of getting distracted by weird things happening is an important patriotic thing to do. In addition to being in your own interest."

- my Grandpa, lover of science, assuaging some concerns about the world as I job search and finish this Ph.D.