Target cell adhesion limits macrophage #phagocytosis and promotes #trogocytosis, say @kirstin-rollins.bsky.social, @mmorrissey.bsky.social and colleagues: rupress.org/jcb/article/...

📕 Part of JCB Immune Cell Biology collection 👉 rupress.org/jcb/collecti...

#AAI2026

Phagocytic podosomes enable efficient uptake of Candida auris by primary human macrophages The yeast Candida auris is an emerging health threat. Sopelniak et al. show that uptake of C. auris cells by primary human macrophages involves the formation of phagocytic podosomes, highly dynamic actin structures that enable close adhesion to C. auris cells and are associated with proper maturation of respective phagosomes.

Phagocytic podosomes enable efficient uptake of Candida auris by primary human macrophages

C. auris-associated phagocytic podosomes share components and substructures with their “classic”, ECM-associated counterparts. Detected substructures and components include an F-actin-rich core (positive for Arp2 and cortactin), a cap structure on top of the core (positive for -actinin, zyxin, LSP1), a ring structure mediating adhesion to the phagocytic particle (containing vinculin, talin-1,  integrin), and a base near the plasma membrane (containing myosin 1f, WASp, MT1-MMP, DNAse X, and enriched in phospho-tyrosine residues). Individual phagocytic podosomes are linked by actomyosin filaments, similar to the connecting cables of ventral podosomes, thus establishing a flexible podosome array on phagosomes. The high turnover rate of phagocytic podosomes likely enables dynamic restructuring of the nascent phagocytic cup. In combination with establishing close adhesion to the pathogen surface, this likely mediates efficient internalization of C. auris cells in macrophages. Recruitment of degradative enzymes such as MT1-MMP or DNase X could, directly or indirectly, contribute to phagosome maturation and particle degradation.

Podosomes in phagocytosis! 😋
+ Candida auris

Our new paper "Phagocytic podosomes enable efficient uptake of Candida auris by primary human macrophages" has now been published in Cell Reports:
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41863801/

Podosomes in endocytosis! 🔬

Check out our new preprint "Drebrin forms a cortical hub that connects actin, microtubules, and clathrin for endocytic transport of β2 integrin"
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

New publication:
Live Biological Imaging Across Scales
10 chapters on live imaging from molecules to organisms, written by leading experts and edited by Claire Wells and yours truly
Can now be pre-ordered by your online or brick-and-mortar vendor of choice 🔬

Ho ho ho 🎄🎅

A warm welcome to our new PhD student Emma Lautenbach, who will work on the intricacies of the podosome cap 🧢

A warm welcome to our new lab member Canberk Yesilada, who will be/is already working on his PhD thesis on Borrelia phagocytosis by macrophages 🤗

Macrophages are super!
SoRA (superresolution after optical reassignment) microscopy video of a primary human macrophage transfected with Lifeact-GFP to visualize actin-rich podosomes.
Star-like appearance is due to connecting cables linking individual podosomes into a cell-wide superstructure ✨

The Linder Lab at Hamburg main station

On our way to Heidelberg to the meeting of the German Society for Cell Biology 🧫

New preprint:
Phagocytic podosomes enable efficient uptake of Candida auris by primary human macrophages 🦠👄
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

You´re welcome. Podosomes show oscillatory growth (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31836688/) and thus repeatedly dip into the extracellular matrix (ECM).

Our paper on podosome regulation by myosins 1e/f is now online.
We introduce the concept of the podosome base, a region of plasma membrane-associated components 🔬
Cool collaboration with @renaudpoincloux.bsky.social‬ and Krendel labs
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Congratulations to our lab member Bryan Barcelona to a super fancy defense on software-based analysis of cell and podosome parameters 👨‍🎓

Lycanthia von Tanith Lee

Cellular fireworks
(in a primary human macrophage):
Microtubule +tips, labeled by CLIP170-GFP, move from the microtubule organizing center (MTOC) to the cell periphery ✨

This is why we love #cellmigration

#Leukocytes: #Neutrophils (cyan) #Macrophages (orange) chemotaxis.

I couldn't share it before the retirement of @zebrafishrock.bsky.social, but cool #microscopy in #zebrafish continue to rock !

#scicomm #scisky @cellcommlab.bsky.social @focalplane.bsky.social 🧪🔬

A warm welcome to our new master student Mahmood Tarmom, who will work on podosome proteins of (yet) unknown function 🔬

Coming up: "Live Biological Imaging Across Scales", part of the Royal Microscopic Society line of Wiley books.
Featuring 10 chapters from international experts on live imaging from molecules to organisms.
Edited by Claire M. Wells and yours truly 📘🧬🐭

Myo1e (green) shows a more ventral localization than the F-actin core (red) of podosomes. XZ side view of two podosomes.

Our preprint on podosome regulation by unconventional myosins in now on BioRxiv. Great collaboration with the @renaudpoincloux.bsky.social and Krendel labs.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

We introduce the concept of the "podosome base", a region of plasma membrane-associated podosome components.

Title: SOME GRAMMATICAL VOICES FOR USE IN SCIENTIFIC WRITING ACTIVE VOICE e.g. Our team collected samples and then we tested them. CLICKBAIT VOICE e.g. We collected some samples... You won't believe what happened next! PASSIVE VOICE e.g. Samples were collected and tested. HAIKU VOICE e.g. Quiet science lab. Workers arrive with samples. The testing begins. PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE VOICE e.g. We did all the collecting and testing. No need to thank us. Just doing our job. CONSPIRACY VOICE e.g. Mysterious "Samples" were harvested and covertly "tested" by so-called scientists.

My latest @newscientist.com cartoon

Discovery of a new evolutionarily conserved short linear F-actin binding motif Regulation of the actin cytoskeleton by actin binding proteins (ABPs) is essential for cellular homeostasis, and the mode of actin binding determines the activity of ABPs. Here, we discovered a novel ...

Interesting preprint from the Windhorst, Marlovits and Linder (@linderlab.bsky.social) groups: They investigate the spectrum of actin binding motives that may exist in many proteins.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Special Issue: Microscopy Techniques: Journal of Microscopy: Vol 298, No 2 The <em>Journal of Microscopy</em> is the oldest journal dedicated to the science of microscopy, publishing the latest advances in microscopy techniques and novel areas of application.

Interested in cutting edge Microscopy Techniques?
Check out the latest special issue of Journal of Microscopy, edited by yours truly 🔬
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/13652818...

🧑‍🎓👩‍🎓We are hiring:

PhD student positions in Molecular Infection Biology
in DFG Research Training Group Humans and Microbes
@cssbhamburg.bsky.social @leibnizliv.bsky.social @bosse-lab.bsky.social @linderlab.bsky.social @itzenlab.bsky.social #UKE #UHH #BNITM

📬Apply until June 20, 2025.
grk2771.de

Upcoming meeting:
11th Trippenhuis meeting of the Dutch Society for Cell Biology
(Amsterdam, May 8-9) 🏠

We are hiring!
The DFG-funded RTG2771 training group is offering PhD positions in molecular infection biology for 3-4 years
For more information, see grk2771.de
(our lab is project 4) 👨‍🎓

Farewell sushi dinner for our longtime assistant Andrea who is now retiring 🥲🍣

Congratulations to our lab member Rawan Batlouni for an excellent MD thesis on phagocytic podosomes 👨‍🎓

A warm welcome to our new MD student Fan Yang, who will work on Borrelia-macrophage interaction 🤗

Video of a FIB-SEM analysed macrophage phagosome containing a single Borrelia cell being compacted by membrane tubulation, leading to reduction of the phagosome volume.
Phagosome membrane in blue, Borrelia in turquoise. Watch for start of transparency mid-video 🪱
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33380490/