'individual choices become collective pattern throught the structure they're embedded in' - Yes this is indeed reflected in our study of giant cells.

Cool work, congrats!

Hahaha nice one

Thank you!

with Frances Clark, @pauformosa.bsky.social, @roederlab.bsky.social

Giant cells: from random initiation to nonrandom pattern

Our recent paper is explained here in a more accessible way!

"We often think of the emergence of order as arising from self-organization or cell–cell interactions, but here, order emerges from random cell fate decisions amplified by the geometry of tissue growth."
www.mpipz.mpg.de/pr-formosa-2...

Interested in fossils, evo-devo, and how mathematical modeling can help us understand the evolution of developmental processes? In our latest preprint, we uncover an ancestral lateral inhibition mechanism underlying epidermal patterning in liverworts.

GitHub - biocompibens/cellmodelling Contribute to biocompibens/cellmodelling development by creating an account on GitHub.

After segmentation and cell type classification (left image), the cell positions were randomized (right image) using an image-based algorithm (github.com/biocompibens...) to study the spatial organization of cells within the tissue.

This was exhibited at the Figure1a photo exhibition in Lausanne (2024) under the topic "Future Unframed". Also at my parent's place. x)

Microscope image taken by Frances Clark at @roederlab.bsky.social.

I spent days staring at cells… Their patterns, somewhere between order and disorder, were too beautiful not to create visual pieces from. Whether it was to escape or to see them through another lens. We need more #sciart!
Exposed at @figure1a.bsky.social
Our scientific story: doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Why are leaf cells of so many different sizes?
Our paper explores how giant cells form!
We also provide automatic cell-type classification and perform statistical quantification of cell spatial organization.
If interested, check it out in @plosbiology.org. Thanks Pau and @roederlab.bsky.social

Check out this highlight of our story on how cells control their size and form nonrandom patterns in leaves (and sepals)! 🍃

Promoter-proximal gatekeepers restrict pleiotropic enhancer inputs to achieve tissue specificity Developmental enhancers are central regulatory elements that can activate multiple genes, yet how they selectively regulate one gene over its neighbours remains unclear. Using the Drosophila twist E3 ...

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...

Excited to announce our paper is out! Congrats to @pauformosa.bsky.social, @gweissbart.bsky.social, Frances Clark, and Xihang Wang on this fun and beautiful story. We answered a question about the randomness of giant cell spacing that I have had for at least 15 years.

You’re only human: a six-step strategy to surviving your PhD Graduate students are not machines. Behaving like one during your programme will leave you frustrated and unfulfilled, says Gauthier Weissbart.

During my PhD, I realized the hardest moments weren’t the work itself, but the psychological challenges. We see lots of productivity tips, but PhD students aren’t machines - they're complex human beings. 🫂 Glad to see well-being in @nature.com 'career column 🍀
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Spatial ploidy inference using quantitative imaging, our new collaborative work in the Polyploidy Integration & Innovative Institute, with the @roederlab.bsky.social and the Fox lab. Try our pipeline with your images!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Is giant cell patterning random in sepals and leaves? Check out our new work combining quantitative microscopy, computational methods and modeling, a great collaboration with the Roeder Lab, with F.Clark, G.Weissbart, X.Wang, A.Roeder and co-authors! @ceplas.bsky.social
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...