Our latest work on shape-programmable tissues is out in @science.org. By positioning topological defects in cellular nematics, we encode frustrated 2D force fields that relax into predictable 3D shapes. Collaboration with Marino Arroyo’s lab, led by @pauguillamat.bsky.social at @ibecbarcelona.eu.

Pleased to present the lab's first foray into mechanical regulation beyond the cytoskeleton.

In collaboration with Shixin Liu's lab at @rockefeller.edu, we explored the structural response of bacterial (E. Coli) RNA polymerase when it collides with roadblocks.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Very interesting work Raimon 😮

Since #durotaxis was described >25 years ago, most studies report cells migrating from soft → stiff

New work from my team at @ub.edu (in collaboration with D. Odde's lab) suggests we may have been missing the point all along...

🔥 Check out our new preprint here 👇
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Our study on shape diversity in cnidarians is now published. The final version includes extensive new data that substantially extend the original bioRxiv preprint. Congrats to everyone who contributed to this work! www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
@embl.org

Force-modulated structural landscape of the catch bonding F-actin crosslinker α-actinin-4 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03...

@mathildemathieu.bsky.social @ivaskalab.bsky.social New discovery from us! Leupaxin, a paxillin family member typically expressed in immune cells, negatively regulates durotaxis and mechanoresponsiveness in metastatic breast cancer cell variants and in cells cultured on soft ECM lnkd.in/diEk8DSR

A TRPV4-dependent calcium signaling axis regulates lamellipodial actin architecture to promote cell migration Cell migration is crucial for development and tissue homeostasis, while its dysregulation leads to severe pathologies. Cell migration is driven by the…

My PhD work is finally out! Huge thanks to all the collaborators who made this possible 🎉
Looking forward to the next chapter as a postdoc 😁
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

So excited to share the preprint with the bulk of my PhD work in the Beach @myosincity.bsky.social and Oakes @pwoakes.bsky.social Labs at Loyola University Chicago! We investigate the structure, recruitment, and function of septin networks around the nucleus. A thread:
doi.org/10.64898/202...

Vimentin promotes actin assembly by stabilizing ATP-actin subunits at the barbed end Vimentin intermediate filaments play essential roles in maintaining cell integrity and regulating numerous cellular functions. In particular, vimentin cooperates with the actin cytoskeleton in key cel...

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A microexon in Arp2 alters tissue-specific Arp2/3-generated actin structures The Arp2/3 complex nucleates essential branched actin networks in most eukaryotes. Interestingly, the subunit Arp2 encodes two splice variants that differ merely by five amino acids in the D-loop, whi...

After a long break from social media, I’m finally on Bluesky and have a preprint alert from my lab!

doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Cell-type-specific nucleotide sharing through gap junctions impacts sensitivity to replication stress in Drosophila Boumard et al. demonstrate gap-junction-dependent tissue-scale nucleotide sharing, which impacts cellular sensitivity to perturbation of nucleotide homeostasis and replication stress. Drosophila wing ...

The PhD work of @bboumard.bsky.social officially out in print! Happy to share this issue with our downstairs colleagues in the BDD @frelab.bsky.social @robinjournot.bsky.social

www.cell.com/developmenta...

We look forward to hearing feedback from the community on our #preprint where we used #NETosis as a platform to show that chromatin decompaction inside the nucleus directly regulates cell mechanics. This work identifies long-range biophysical impacts of chromatin in mammalian cells.

A mechanical origin for implantation defects in embryos from aged females Women over 35 experience a marked reduction in fertility. The origin of these fertility defects appears to reside in the implantation capacity of the embryo itself, but the mechanistic basis of this i...

First, check out my recent bioRxiv preprint w/ @oweinerlab.bsky.social: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We find contractility shifts the proportion of implantation-competent embryos from young and aged females. Keep reading this for more info!

Huntingtin binds and bundles F-actin!
Thrilled to team up with the Humbert (Sorbonne Université) and Song (KAIST) labs on this discovery.
We had a blast doing cryo-ET on this unexpected complex — and now so many new questions lie ahead!
#TeamTomo #CryoET #HTT #actin

doi.org/10.1126/scia...

Cartoon of a speculative heterogenous cell population performing mesenchymal collective cell migration.

1/12 A very special moment for me! 🎉

My first paper as corresponding author—a @jcb.org Perspective on how contact-based decision-making in collective cell migration can itself encode blueprints for complex patterns and shapes.

rupress.org/jcb/article/...

#cellbio #devbio #science

🧵for details

Lay(-ish) summary of our melanoma confinement paper with some behind the scenes details of how this project came about, and what we’re planning to do next (hint: PDAC 🐟). Thanks @nature.com for featuring our work.

To celebrate the summer, our ReSCU-Net paper is out @jcb.org !! Work led by our dungeon master @ray-hawkins.bsky.social, developing a novel neural network architecture and applying it to explore the role of gap junctions in embryonic wound healing in #Drosophila 🧪.

shorturl.at/xNRKn

Global inhibition of deadenylation stabilizes the transcriptome in mitotic cells In the presence of cell division errors, mammalian cells can pause in mitosis for tens of hours with little to no transcription, while still requiring continued translation for viability. These unique...

New preprint! We solve a mystery you didn't know existed. Mitotic cells lack new transcription but require ongoing translation. Interphase mRNA half life is only 2-4 hrs. So how do cells arrest in mitosis for hours without depleting their transcriptomes?

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

LIM Domain Proteins link molecular and global tension by recognizing strained actin in adhesions Mechanotransduction is fundamental to cell signaling and depends on force-sensitive adhesion proteins. How these proteins differentiate and integrate their responses to tension remains an open questio...

Congratulations to @stefanosala89.bsky.social , with help from @shreya-c.bsky.social al‬ on the optogenetic experiments, for the awesome story! Read the full preprint here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... and thanks for listening!

The NIH budget is on a fast track to disaster An NIH insider explains what Republicans are likely to do next, and what we can do

Yes the NIH people were out in front on this
“Using the rescission process, which requires only a simple majority in the Senate, the Republican majorities in the Senate and House can vote to return the unspent funds. That will avoid impoundment and lop billions off the NIH budget”

April

Happy to share our new pre-print, "Targeting Cholesterol-Dependent Piezo1 Activation Impairs Amoeboid Migration in Melanoma Cells," led by our fabulous research technician, Sylvia Kuang.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

In new study from Muziyue Wu et al. @oweinerlab.bsky.social, in vivo biochemistry sheds new light on how the WAVE complex templates the characteristic shape of lamellipodial protrusions. rupress.org/jcb/article/...

#Cytoskeleton #Actin #Migration #Motility #Biophysics

Congrats Rui and Greg. that's fascin-ating!

Continuous self-repair protects vimentin intermediate filaments from fragmentation | PNAS Intermediate filaments are key regulators of cell mechanics. Vimentin, a type of intermediate filament expressed in mesenchymal cells and involved ...

Intermediate filaments join microtubules in the self-repair club! Great work with in vitro vimentin filaments from @cecileleduc.bsky.social @romet-jegou-lab.bsky.social et al. in @pnas.org: doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

Dynamic cytoskeletal regulation of cell shape supports resilience of lymphatic endothelium Nature - Dynamic cytoskeletal regulation of lymphatic endothelial cell shape, induced by isotropic stretch and crucial for dermal lymphatic capillary function, is identified and found to result...

If you’re curious about why lymphatic endothelial cells have their jigsaw puzzle-like shape,
check out our paper
@Nature
rdcu.be/eejhZ

With nearly all of Harvard Chan School’s direct federal grants terminated, we are relying on philanthropy to power our research and support our educational programs. Every gift, regardless of size, advances our vision of health, dignity, and justice for every human. Support our work: hsph.me/whygive

Program and application instructions for the 2025 Mechanobiology of tissue morphogenesis and disease workshop in Baeza, Spain, October 21-23. Apply at https://www.unia.es/estudios-y-acceso/oferta-academica/formacion-continua/workshop-mechanobiology-of-tissue-morphogenesis-and-disease

Interested in Developmental Mechanics??? We are organizing a mechanobiology workshop in Baeza, Spain, October 21-23, 2025. Come join us (and please help us spread the word)!!!

Excited to share our preprint on the molecular architecture of heterochromatin in human cells 🧬🔬w/ @jpkreysing.bsky.social, @johannesbetz.bsky.social,
@marinalusic.bsky.social, Turoňová lab, @hummerlab.bsky.social @becklab.bsky.social @mpibp.bsky.social

🔗 Preprint here tinyurl.com/3a74uanv

Neighbor cells restrain furrowing during Xenopus epithelial cytokinesis Xenopus epithelial cells mechanosensitively reinforce connections to neighbor cells during cytokinesis. Here, Landino et al. show that actomyosin arrays assembled in neighbor cells restrain cytokineti...

I'm so pleased the final version of this research is published! We found that epithelial cells neighoring the cytokinetic furrow regulate the speed and sucess of cell division, while maintaining barrier function and cell packing geometry. Many thanks to the co-authors who contributed! 🐸 #xenopus