Disruption of aquaporin-mediated water efflux leads to excessive HEC swelling and rupture, as shown here in this movie, ultimately reducing HSPC production. (Green cells are gata2b+ cells.)

By coupling Piezo1-dependent Ca signalling to VRAC activity and aquaporin-mediated water efflux, HECs resolve the mechanical conflict between actomyosin-driven rounding and membrane integrity.

We propose that, in addition to transcriptional programs, successful hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell (HSPC) extrusion from the dorsal aorta requires modulation of intracellular pressure through coordinated ion flux and water transport.

Latest preprint from @phnglab.bsky.social @riken-bdr.bsky.social ! We show cellular hydraulics as a determinant of hemogenic endothelial cell (HEC) survival during endothelial-to-hematopoietic (EHT) transition.
www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
#mechanobiology #zebrafish #endothelialcells

Do also check out amazing videos of cortical actin dynamics in #zebrafish #endothelialcells such as this one! @riken-bdr.bsky.social

Circumferential actomyosin bundles anchored by CCM1 drive endothelial cell contraction and vessel constriction - Nature Communications Dysregulation of blood vessel size can cause vascular malformations. Here, the authors demonstrate that endothelial cells generate circumferential actomyosin cables to control the size of cells and ve...

Here's the link to the original article if you haven't checked it out already! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

When vessel constriction fails: Cellular mechanics linking developmental remodeling to vascular malformations

Happy to share a write-up of our recent publication @natcomms.nature.com demonstrating
how circumferential actomyosin-driven endothelial cell contractions constrict vessel diameter, providing insights into mechanisms of normal vessel remodelling and CCM.
www.bdr.riken.jp/en/news/rese...

Beyond Mentorship: Mirai Alliance Launches Year-Long Support Network for Women in Life Sciences

www.bdr.riken.jp/en/news/bdr-...

A special thank you to all the mentors for agreeing to be part of the Mirai Alliance! @ebisuyamiki.bsky.social @aikosada.bsky.social @takeokalab.bsky.social @fumikubo.bsky.social Naoko Satoh-Takayama, Chisako Sakuma, Yumi Konagaya, Mineko Kengaku, Ai Niitsu, Hiromi Yanagisawa

Feb 11 is International Day of Women and Girls in Science and at RIKEN BDR, we celebrate the achievements of #womeninscience by holding an IDWGIS Symposium. We also recently launched Mirai Alliance, a mentorship network for women researchers in life sciences. www.bdr.riken.jp/en/news/bdr-...

Information on the conference on vascular development and maintenance held in Bavaria, Germany in September 2026. Conference is held in a historical monastery on a lake in beautiful Bavaria. Registration is now open! Lots of great speakers that are leaders in the field. We will pick a large number of talks from abstracts to elevate early career investigators. Join us!

🚨 SAVE-THE-DATE 🚨

SEEON ANGIOSCIENCE! Fantastic, long-running meeting on Development & Maintenance of the Vasculature.

🗓️ Sept 2026
🌍 Bavaria, Germany

Registration open! Join us!
vwfb.de/start/regist...

Simply delighted to end the year with the acceptance of Yan’s paper www.nature.com/articles/s41.... It was a heroic effort on her part, and many thanks to all our collaborators for their help!
@vizcie.bsky.social @juliaeckert.bsky.social

Divergent evolutionary strategies pre-empt tissue collision in gastrulation - Nature Flies have evolved two distinct strategies for managing mechanical stresses during embryogenesis: out-of-plane cell division in midges and transient out-of-plane tissue folding in fruit flies.

🪰Yu-Chiun Wang’s team & Univ. of Hohenheim group discovered how fly embryos solve the “tissue tectonic collision” that occurs in morphogenetic movements between tissues and why the #cephalicfurrow evolved, a longstanding mystery to developmental biologists.
In @nature.com
doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Tissues transition between solid & fluid states in development & disease; cytoplasm turns crowded or inert to literally 'solidify'. Any connections? Turns out nothing's known. @sameerthukral.bsky.social & @bipashadey29.bsky.social pulled this review off brilliantly with a conceptual synthesis.

@mvikkula.bsky.social

Another successful #leducq #ReVAMP meeting held at Orford, Canada! Great science, food and friendship... Thanks @ondinecleaver.bsky.social for hosting us and showing us the way up the mountain! A la prochaine!

Tiny molecular spirals in cells can scale up to control the twist and turn of entire tissues, an important step towards understanding left-right symmetry in tissues and organs.
buff.ly/2pSf3xS

Now published in @natcomms.nature.com! 🥳

👉 rdcu.be/eATn3

We developed image analysis tools to capture the nematic orientation field of 3D tissue surfaces. Tested on epithelial aggregates, zebrafish hearts, myoblasts on spheres & micro-vessels, we combined soft matter physics with exp. biology.

A fantastic week at the Mechanobiology Conference in Vietnam, filled with fascinating talks, fruitful discussions, and amazing people.

Huge thanks to the organizers and ICISE for making it all possible!

Missing @yuchiunwang.bsky.social in the group photo!

And many thanks to speakers from Japan: @satsawai.bsky.social, @ashindo.bsky.social, @sugimuralab.bsky.social, Takashi Hiiragi, Fumio Motegi, Tatsuo Shibata, Hirokazu Tanimoto, Satoshi Toda and Fumiko Toyoshima

Special thanks to @ybellaichelab.bsky.social, @nicolettapetridou.bsky.social, @herveturlier.bsky.social, Lance Davidson, Elisabeth Fischer-Friedrich, Madan Rao, Yusuke Toyama and Fengzhu Xiong for making the long journey to Japan. And to @rashmi-priya.bsky.social for making a special appearance!

Thanks to the generosity of #FujiharaFoundation and the excellent organization of Fumio Motegi and his team, the ' #Mechanics of Life Across Scales' symposium was held successfully at beautiful Awaji. We had 3 days of fantastic #mechanobiology talks with speakers from Japan, India, Europe and US.

Had the absolute pleasure of hosting the Leducq ReVAMP biannual meeting @riken-bdr.bsky.social in Kobe this spring! #endothelial #mechanobiology #vascularmalformations See you all again in Fall @ondinecleaver.bsky.social @mvikkula.bsky.social

Check us out @the-node.bsky.social !

📢 Mechanobiology Conference III: From Fundamental Research to Applications

📅 July 06-12
📍 ICISE Quy Nhon, central Vietnam

The registration and abstract submission is now open!

🔗 icisequynhon.com/conferences/...

Exploring the Uncharted Waters of Endothelial Tip Cell Migration: A Story of Aquaporins, Hydrostatic Pressure, and Angiogenesis - the Node Behind the Paper Story of “Combined forces of hydrostatic pressure and actin polymerisation drive endothelial tip cell migration and sprouting angiogenesis”.

Thank you @the-node.bsky.social‬ for inviting me to write a 'Behind the Story' piece on our recent study!

Exploring the Uncharted Waters of Endothelial Tip Cell Migration: A Story of Aquaporins, Hydrostatic Pressure, and Angiogenesis thenode.biologists.com/exploring-th...

Stoked to present our latest, superbly led by Chris et al & @torres-sanchez.bsky.social We tackled a fundamental problem – how tissues are patterned during development – found that geometry-constrained ECM fractures pattern the myocardium in the vertebrate heart 1/n www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Careers in Science—Perspectives of Women Researchers and Technical Staff

At #RIKEN BDR, women represent 10% of PIs, 31% of researchers, 38% of students and 74% of technical staff. On #IDWGIS last month, we celebrated their achievements and contributions to research at BDR. www.bdr.riken.jp/en/news/bdr-... #internationalwomensday

Zebrafish study reveals that, along with actin polymerisation, hydrostatic pressure underlies the push of endothelial tip cells into new territory

📹: Igor Kondrychyn et al RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, Kobe, Japan in @elife.bsky.social

➡️: bpod.org.uk/archive/2025...