Advertisement · 728 × 90

Posts by Francoise Helmbacher

Preview
The spatiotemporal dynamics of postnatal vascularization in the mouse brain Whole-brain tissue clearing and spatial transcriptomics were applied to map postnatal vascular development in the mouse brain, identifying three coordinated phases that link vascular growth to neurona...

The absolute dream paper for any #cerebrovascular developmental biologist !! Congrats to @nicolasrenier.bsky.social, @alexdubrac.bsky.social and their teams !

6 days ago 13 6 1 0

Left gloves in orange, right gloves in blue, and heart. Or the opposite. This rings like left/right asymetry in heart development. Beautiful team picture ❤️

1 week ago 1 0 0 0
Post image

🕸️April Architecture: Image of the Month 📅

Self-organized human #myofiber bundles cultured with the Culture-Insert 4 Well, imaged using @zeiss-microscopy.bsky.social LSM880 & pseudocolored in ImageJ.

Artwork by @qiyanmao.bsky.social @ibdm.bsky.social, @univ-amu.fr

#sciart #bioart #scienceisfun

2 weeks ago 11 6 0 1
Preview
2026 Cheryll Tickle Medal Winner - Cynthia Andoniadou - BSDB - British Society for Developmental Biology In 2016, the BSDB introduced the Cheryll Tickle Medal, which is being awarded annually to a mid-career, female scientist for her outstanding achievements in the field of Developmental Biology. The BSD...

Many congratulations to Cynthia Andoniadou @pituitarylab.bsky.social, recipient of the 2026 BSDB Cheryll Tickle Medal, honouring her internationally recognised research programme in pituitary gland development and stem cell biology.

bsdb.org/2026/03/25/2...

3 weeks ago 19 4 0 1

Wonderful news, Congratulations ! Fully deserved !! 👏🎉

1 month ago 2 0 1 0
Preview
Transcriptional and cellular maturation of the chick spinal cord in the context of distinct neuromuscular circuits Molecular biology; Neuroscience; Developmental biology; Omics

Out now in @cp-iscience.bsky.social: we investigate how the peripheral limb architecture can affect the cellular and transcriptional maturation dynamics of spinal cord neurons #plasticity www.cell.com/iscience/ful... congrats and thanks to all co-authors!!! 👏🥳🙏

1 month ago 8 2 1 0
Post image

Warm congratulations to The Brain Prize winners 2026, Professor David Ginty and Professor Patrik Ernfors, for their pioneering work on how the nervous system detects and processes touch and pain.

Karolinska Institutet
HHMI

#Neuroscience #BrainPrize2026

1 month ago 84 37 1 10
Preview
Impaired stem cell migration and divisions in Duchenne muscular dystrophy revealed by live imaging - Nature Communications Using live-imaging in vivo and ex vivo, Sarde et al. show that dystrophic muscle stem cells have precocious differentiation through symmetric divisions and impaired migration, with differential impact...

Bravo Liza, Brendan and colleagues for the elegant work on multiple live imaging strategies to untangle mechanisms of muscular dystrophy! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

2 months ago 21 12 1 1
Advertisement
Post image

Two funded PhD positions investigating the evolution of sarcomeres @ibdm.bsky.social in @biancah0406.bsky.social and our lab, together with @cnidevo.bsky.social - Interested to explore how similar or different Jellyfish sarcomeres are to Drosophila or human ones?
www.ibdm.univ-amu.fr/ibdm_job/2-a...

2 months ago 45 35 1 1
System-level regulation of hierarchical transitions in a tumour lineage The fundamental principles defining how cell state transitions are regulated along a tumour lineage to determine its cellular composition remain unclear. Here, we investigate how such transitions are controlled in a reductionist hierarchical brain tumour model. Quantitative analysis of 3D transition maps revealed that the differentiation of cancer stem cells (CSCs) into transit amplifying progenitors (TAPs) depends on the identity of their immediate neighbours. This is embodied in a transition rule that quantitatively predicts the probability to differentiate as a function of the proportion of TAP neighbours. Integrated into 3D simulations of tumour growth, this rule spontaneously recapitulates spatial segregation of CSCs in clusters and their stable proportion. We further show in vivo that CSC clustering protects the CSC pool from depletion driven by TAPs. We identify an EGFR-mediated relay mechanism that propagates the CSC-to-TAP transition across CSC clusters. In CSCs, the LRIG1-like EGFR inhibitor Kekkon1 dampens this propagation, ensuring continuous replenishment of the CSC pool. Collectively, these findings show how local fate regulation drives emergent segregation which in turn constrains CSC differentiation dynamics. This provides a conceptual framework to understand and exploit the tumour’s intrinsic differentiation potential by manipulating the determinants of its system-level features. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Turing Centre for Living Systems (CENTURI) La Ligue Contre le Cancer, https://ror.org/00rkrv905, Equipe Labellisée LIGUE 2025 Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale, ANR-24-EXCI-0001, ANR-24-EXCI-0002, ANR-24-EXCI-0003, ANR-24-EXCI-0004, ANR-24-EXCI-0005 Agence Nationale de la Recherche under the France 2030 program, ANR-24-EXCI-0001, ANR-24-EXCI-0002, ANR-24-EXCI-0003, ANR-24-EXCI-0004, ANR-24-EXCI-0005 Centre South-ROCK, INCa-Cancer_18695

Tumours aren’t just a messy mix of cells—they’re highly organised and hierarchical societies!
Just like in all societies, small chats between individuals can drive collective emergent behaviours - we reveal how these sustain tumour growth and cellular heterogeneity. 🧵👇

2 months ago 17 7 2 0
Post image Post image

#LivingArchitectures
We put cells and cytoskeleton filaments on the architecture of the musée d'Orsay.
www.musee-orsay.fr/fr/agenda/ev...
Scientists of the #CytoMorphoLab adapted their protocols to illustrate the questions that keep them awake at night.
-> Two shows on the 24th and 25th of January.

4 months ago 308 103 19 9
Preview
Matthew Cobb (@matthewcobb2) This was a terrific discussion with Eric about my new biography of Francis Crick.

Now live, and thanks to @erictopol.bsky.social for organising this!

4 months ago 24 8 0 1
Post image

📣 Paper alert!

I am delighted that our paper exploring the impact of Neanderthal-derived variants on the activity of a disease-associated craniofacial enhancer has been published in Development today!
journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...

5 months ago 123 49 7 6
Post image

Huge congrats to the team of project "PatCorg" for the prestigious ERC Synergy grant dedicated to studying organoids to uncover mechanisms underlying cortical development: A Pierani (@ipnp.bsky.social), S Nedelec (Institut Monod), S Descroix and B Sorre (Institut Curie), and A Baffet (Inst Curie).

5 months ago 9 3 0 0
In Memoriam: Daniel Paul Perez - FSHD Society Written by Howard Chabner, Board Vice Chair, and shared on behalf of the entire FSHD Society Board of Directors The Board of Directors of the FSHD Society is deeply saddened to announce that Dan Perez...

Dan Perez founded the #FSHD Society to foster research & help patients w this painful & debilitating muscular dystrophy. It was a privilege to have known this brave, caring, smart person who was instrumental in getting research money for FSHD, a strange epigenetics-related disease. Melanie Ehrlich

5 months ago 2 1 0 0

It was a privilege to have known Dan, a brave, caring, loving, & extremely smart person who was instrumental in getting research money for FSHD, a strange epigenetics-related disease. My deepest sympathy for his lovely and loving wife Sue & for his many devoted friends. Melanie Ehrlich #Epigenetics

5 months ago 3 1 0 0
BMP signaling-dependent dorsal-to-ventral gradient of PAX3/7 transcriptional activity revealed by the P34::tk::LacZ reporter. Left: expression patterns of neural progenitor (NP) and interneuron (IN) TF markers in the developing spinal cord. Right: Immunostaining for β-galactosidase (β-gal; red/grey), GFP (blue/grey) and either OLIG3 (green/grey) or pSMAD1/5/9 (green/grey) on transverse sections of E9.0 (bottom) and E9.5 (top) P34::tk::LacZ; Pax3+/GFP spinal cords at brachial level. Black and white panels show magnified views of the boxed region.

BMP signaling-dependent dorsal-to-ventral gradient of PAX3/7 transcriptional activity revealed by the P34::tk::LacZ reporter. Left: expression patterns of neural progenitor (NP) and interneuron (IN) TF markers in the developing spinal cord. Right: Immunostaining for β-galactosidase (β-gal; red/grey), GFP (blue/grey) and either OLIG3 (green/grey) or pSMAD1/5/9 (green/grey) on transverse sections of E9.0 (bottom) and E9.5 (top) P34::tk::LacZ; Pax3+/GFP spinal cords at brachial level. Black and white panels show magnified views of the boxed region.

How do pleiotropic TFs generate organized diversity in developing tissues? @spinalorga.bsky.social shows that PAX3 & PAX7 organize #SpinalCord by acting as both repressors & pioneer activators, regulated by #morphogens to ensure precise neural subtype specification @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4qumsla

5 months ago 21 10 0 0
Advertisement
Video

Intussusceptive angiogenesis: bridging in vivo and in vitro observations

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Thanks, Dr. Steven Mentzer and Dr. Maximilian Ackermann🙏 for this insightful highlight of our recent PNAS paper on #IntussusceptiveAngiogenesis😁

www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...

6 months ago 16 3 0 0
Preview
(Neuro)biologie et société Voir l’article pour en savoir plus.

🎂 Mon blog (Neuro)biologie et société (neurobiologieetsociete.org) associé au @cafe-sciences.org a 10 ans en ce mois d'octobre 2025 !

neurobiologieetsociete.org

Les 5 billets les plus populaires au cours de ces 10 ans 👇 :

#CultureScientifique #vulgarisationscientifique

6 months ago 6 2 1 0
Preview
Nobel Laureate Professor Sir John Gurdon dies aged 92 It is with great sadness that the University shares the news of the death of Professor Sir John Gurdon, founder of the Gurdon Institute.

So sad to hear the news - John truly was an inspiration to so many, and one of a kind.

www.cam.ac.uk/research/new...

6 months ago 99 24 0 3
Figure 1 : Schematic representation of the overall study. (A) Spontaneously generated tumours from the Alb-R26Met mouse model were monitored by PC-CT using the PIXSCAN-FLI imaging system. Dissected tumours: 1) were characterized by Haematoxylin and Eosin staining (HES) histological analyses; 2) underwent both mechanical and enzymatical cell dissociation. (B) Dissociated cells were seeded in 2D culture conditions. Primary HCC cells were characterized morphologically and molecularly by RT-qPCR and Western Blots (WB), then used for drug testing. (C) Primary HCC cells were secondarily cultured in 3D condition into Matrigel after few passages in order to generate tumoroids, which were further characterized

Figure 1 : Schematic representation of the overall study. (A) Spontaneously generated tumours from the Alb-R26Met mouse model were monitored by PC-CT using the PIXSCAN-FLI imaging system. Dissected tumours: 1) were characterized by Haematoxylin and Eosin staining (HES) histological analyses; 2) underwent both mechanical and enzymatical cell dissociation. (B) Dissociated cells were seeded in 2D culture conditions. Primary HCC cells were characterized morphologically and molecularly by RT-qPCR and Western Blots (WB), then used for drug testing. (C) Primary HCC cells were secondarily cultured in 3D condition into Matrigel after few passages in order to generate tumoroids, which were further characterized

Establishment of a mouse hepatocellular carcinoma tumoroid panel recapitulating inter- and intra- heterogeneity for disease modelling and combinatorial drug discovery
biosignaling.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....
another big milestone from the Maina lab @crcm.bsky.social ! Contratulations!

6 months ago 6 1 0 0

Ventricle position can be remodeled after heart looping!
In a model of heterotaxy we uncovered a new asymmetric morphogenesis process during which the heart reorients its chambers.
So grateful to all the authors for their expertise and input during this long (but fun) ride 💪
Read more here ⬇️

6 months ago 20 8 3 0
Portail Emploi CNRS - Offre d'emploi - Post-doctoral researcher in axon biology (M/F)

✨ Post-doc opportunity in axon biology, funded by #ATIP-Avenir!

👀 We are looking for an enthusiastic post-doc to join our team at @ibdm.bsky.social to explore translation dynamics in axon regrowth, using live imaging approaches.

Apply at: emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CDD/U...

Thank you for sharing! 👋 🙏

7 months ago 13 10 0 2
Preview
OpenEMMU: A versatile, open-source EdU multiplexing methodology for studying DNA replication and cell cycle dynamics Biochemistry; Cell biology; Developmental biology; Computational bioinformatics

Thrilled to share our new paper: "OpenEMMU: A versatile, open-source EdU multiplexing methodology for studying DNA replication and cell cycle dynamics"!

We've developed a new resource that make this crucial research more accessible, accurate, powerful and low-cost.

www.cell.com/iscience/ful...

7 months ago 9 5 2 1

Congrats Osvaldo, very cool work, stunning images and super useful!

7 months ago 1 0 1 0
Preview
DUX4 at 25: how it emerged from “junk DNA” to become the cause of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy - Skeletal Muscle Double Homeobox 4 (DUX4) is a potent transcription factor encoded by a retrogene mapped in D4Z4 repeated elements on chromosome 4q35. DUX4 has emerged as pivotal in the pathomechanisms of facioscapulo...

DUX4 at 25: how it emerged from “junk DNA” to become the cause of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy

skeletalmusclejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

#FSHD, #DUX4, #Myoblue #SkeletalMuscle

7 months ago 3 0 0 0
Preview
The HDAC inhibitor romidepsin renders liver cancer vulnerable to RTK targeting and immunologically active - Nature Communications Targeting histone deacetylases (HDACs) alone has shown limited success in solid tumours. Here, authors report that the HDAC1/2 inhibitor romidepsin confers responsiveness to receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors, with enhanced therapeutic effects in models of hepatocellular carcinoma, leading to tumour regression and an immune-stimulatory profile.

The HDAC inhibitor romidepsin renders liver cancer vulnerable to RTK targeting and immunologically active
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Fantastic new paper from Flavio Maina, Celia Sequera, Margherita Grattarola and colleagues at the @crcm.bsky.social

#CancerResearch, #CRCM, #LiverCancer

7 months ago 3 0 0 0
Advertisement

🧠 Position still opened! Don't hesitate to apply if you want to use human pluripotent stem cell based models to understand the evolution of human cerebellar neurons and disorders!

8 months ago 3 8 0 0

Neurotrophin-3 produced by motor neurons non-cell autonomously regulate the development of pre-motor interneurons in the developing spinal cord www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07....

8 months ago 2 1 0 0
Preview
Intramuscular adipose tissue restricts functional muscle recovery With age and disease, skeletal muscle is progressively lost and replaced by fibrotic scar and intramuscular adipose tissue (IMAT). While strongly corr…

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

9 months ago 7 4 0 1