How do cells convert mechanical information into a molecular process? The @alushinlab.bsky.social has captured the first snapshot of a mechanical signaling complex in action, findings in @nature.com that have implications for disorders related to myosin dysfunction.
🔗: https://bit.ly/41Kshjw
Exciting to see this out in its final form! Wonderful work led by @probablycarmen.bsky.social. Want to know why protrusions are better at initiating immune signaling in #Tcells? Look no further. Link to Carmen’s 🧵 on the preprint bsky.app/profile/prob...
Great news indeed. Congrats!! 🍾
We haven't worked with mScarlet-I3, but that phenomenon was also very striking with mScarlet-I in mammalian cells.
Two papers on important roles of the Arp2/3 complex in microglia in the CNS microenvironment by the labs of Jeremy Rotty and Tim Lämmermann @laemmermann-lab.bsky.social @mpi-ie.bsky.social and ZMBE @uni-muenster.de.
Read more:
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Very nice work Bryan!
$2.45 billion NIH grant cuts and ~2300 terminated active research grants were DOGE'd in early 2025
Who were most affected?
www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....
Early career and women researchers
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/
CIHR funding rate: 13.6%.
Early 2000s: 30%+.
Canada’s new $1.7B Impact+ program recruits talent — but without increased Tri-Council base funding, we risk further strain on an already stretched system.
We’re calling for $1B over 5 years.
Support here: tinyurl.com/33c5av46
#ProtistsOnSky
no 'swimming' by 𝘝𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘺𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢, definitively no 'staying still'. just a relaxed walk towards the lunch...
Have you ever heard that women have more chances than men of getting grants or positions in academia? Of course you have, and here are my personal views on this. With the shocking revelation that no, it is NOT TRUE ! (1/n)
Congrats Maik!
Shout out to my post-doc adviser. An exceptional scientist, indeed.
Félicitations Véronique!
Definitely! See you there 😀
@mmorrissey.bsky.social's lab is on 🔥
Another awesome paper from @mmorrissey.bsky.social lab!
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.
Really excited about this! Lucy Shapiro pioneered research on the cell biology of bacteria and was a huge inspiration for my PhD project.
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...
If you're interested in biophysics in the context of infection and immunity, we're looking forward to seeing you at the ASCB/EMBO meeting.
Screenshot of Essay from Martin Schwartz on 'Why would anyone want to be a scientist'. An anniversary article from The Company of Biologists published in Journal of Cell Science. The first few lines are: It is difficult to fathom why anyone intelligent enough to be a scientist would actually choose to be one. Doing good science requires the utmost exertion of body, mind and spirit, yet is consistently filled with failure and rejection. But, strange even to myself, I not only don't question the unfavorable risk-to-reward ratio but consider myself astonishingly lucky to be a scientist. There are three fundamental pleasures that have sustained me through 50 years of this madness.
Why would anyone want to be a scientist?
Check out our new Essay from Martin Schwartz: journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
Comment on our @Reproducibility project in @Drosophila immunity. It is a normal that findings—however exciting and important at the time—may later prove to be more complex than initially believed. Re-evaluations is essential to the self-correcting nature of science. www.science.org/content/arti...
Portrait of Fiona Brinkman, a smiling, middle-aged woman with jaw-length blonde hair and glasses wearing a grey blazer.
Congratulations to #SFU Molecular Biology and Biochemistry distinguished professor Fiona Brinkman who has received a @genomebc.bsky.social Award for Scientific Excellence from Life Sciences BC! www.sfu.ca/science/news...
SFU invites applications from world renowned researchers for the prestigious Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERC) 2026 Competition. Please see the ad to see if you qualify. In Vancouver, BC
www.sfu.ca/vpacademic/a...
Latest from @ivaskalab.bsky.social @jrwconway.bsky.social in NCB. We find that SHP-2 inhibition stops TNBC invasion and limits metastasis by blocking integrin dephosphorylation!
Read more at:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Somehow, I only started to realize this while I became a faculty member. Although, I wonder whether having a better awareness of these challenges would have been discouraging.
Excited to share our discovery www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
that the #centrosome is prone to breakage!
Using #motile cells, we identify centrosome breakage during #pathfinding, caused by #actin #forces, & prevented by #Dyrk3
Kudos to 1st author Madeleine & thanks to all collaborators!
(1/6)
It used to be thought that T-cell priming occurred as single phase. Now we know it takes two.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
@science.org
We're disappointed to see Ben Barres's powerful book "The Autobiography of a Transgender Scientist" among the ~400 titles removed from the Naval Academy Library. Needless to say, we're proud to have published his book and will keep it — and his memory — alive.
