New Pre-Print Alert!
Evolving initial conditions: an alternative developmental route to morphological diversity
with Shannon Taylor and @jamesehammond.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
How can we learn tissue mechanics directly from cell patterns and images?
In our new preprint, we introduce VertAX, a differentiable vertex-model framework in JAX for simulating epithelia, inferring parameters, and designing target tissue behaviors.
shorturl.at/PUzT0
1/5
A real computational tour de force by @ericneiva.bsky.social, carried out as Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellow in the team, now published in the Journal of Computational Physics: urlr.me/AuzK86
Congratulations, Eric!
@cnrsbiologie.bsky.social
Grateful to @ec.europa.eu for funding support
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.
Join us at the LS2 #Theory #across #Biology chalk talk symposium! 12 June 2026 in Bern, CH. @lifesciswitzerland.bsky.social
No movies that fail, no Mac to PC issues. Only the best ideas and exchange across biology from evolution and ecology to physics of life.
meetings.ls2.ch/theory-acros...
Many congratulations James 👏😀!!
Honoured and overwhelmed to receive the 2026 Waddington Medal. Science is a team effort, and I've been fortunate to work alongside exceptional people asking hard questions. Thank you to the BSDB and to everyone who has been part of the journey.
bsdb.org/2026/03/24/2...
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
Delighted our work on chromosomal instability in oesophageal cancer is now out in Science Advances share.google/UcZXne5OZdM9...
International Congress in Biological Physics, Genova, Italy, 28 June to 3 July 2026.
URGENT: submission deadline 25 March.
Session topics, plenary and invited speakers:
www.icbp2026.org
IUPAP Physics of Life medal awarded at meeting.
Spread the word - and act quickly to submit your work.
Just published in @science.org
Whole-embryo spatial transcriptomics at subcellular resolution from gastrulation to organogenesis | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
🚨Only 1 week left to apply🚨 3-year Postdoc Position on Spatial Biology & Bioinformatics in my lab at Oxford👇:
🚨3-year Postdoc Position @halloulab.bsky.social (Kennedy Institute, Oxford) - on Spatial Biology & Bioinformatics of Fibrosis🚨
An exciting project combining #SpatialTranscriptomics & #Mechanobiology👇:
shorturl.at/LLS5r
Deadline: 16 March - Please RT 📢!
@kiroxford.bsky.social @ox.ac.uk
🚨3-year Postdoc Position @halloulab.bsky.social (Kennedy Institute, Oxford) - on Spatial Biology & Bioinformatics of Fibrosis🚨
An exciting project combining #SpatialTranscriptomics & #Mechanobiology👇:
shorturl.at/LLS5r
Deadline: 16 March - Please RT 📢!
@kiroxford.bsky.social @ox.ac.uk
Thank you Denis 😊!
A beautiful and elegant study 🤩! Many congratulations @thibautbrunet.bsky.social and to all authors 👏🎉!!
Final version @nature.com of our paper describing unconventional multicellular development in a choanoflagellate inhabiting an extreme environment. A ton of new data since the first @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social preprint (which we've kept updating).
A brief 🧵 (carried over from the old place)
Celebrating the start of the 3rd year of the Hallou Lab at the Kennedy Institute in Oxford 🥳🍾 !!
The lab is growing and I feel grateful everyday to be working with these amazing young scientists!
Watch this space in the next few weeks for:
- Exciting new science ⚙️🧬💻🔬
- Job openings 😉
Very elegant study demonstrating how the composition / stiffness of the ECM and mechanical forces can play different roles in tuning cell fate decisions and tumour dynamics in vocal folds cancer👇!
Many congratulations @johannaivaska.bsky.social @sarawickstrom.bsky.social and to all authors👏😀!!
Dynamic Cellular #Interfaces reloaded: Join us for the
@sfb1348.bsky.social International Meeting on 'Mechanochemical signals at cellular interfaces' in Münster, May 27–29, 2026.
Registration is open - Limited spots – first come, first serve! More info: tinyurl.com/ypyzd23w
@uni-muenster.de
Save the date!
We have an exciting conference coming up next year for the UK Mechanobiology community!
New preprint @biorxiv-devbio.bsky.social by Harshath Amal and colleagues from our lab @uni-muenster.de shows how a BMP #morphogen gradient is translated into graded junctional permeability by tuning adhesion and actomyosin contractility in #Drosophila
See tinyurl.com/yhbwd9xh
@sfb1348.bsky.social
Do you want to pursue your ideas in computational biology independently, running your group in @embl.org‘s uniquely collaborative environment, beside world’s most comprehensive biomolecular data resources @ebi.embl.org in Genome Campus next to @sangerinstitute.bsky.social?
Apply to join us & share 🙏
Exciting and important preprint from @sarawickstrom.bsky.social, @manningresearch.bsky.social and Niessen Labs on the role of mechanical forces and cell mechanical properties on skin epidermis stratification👇!
Congratulations @clemvilleneuve.bsky.social and to all authors 👏😀!
Delighted to share my last paper published in iScience @cp-iscience.bsky.social on the 'Connections between physics and metabolism in brain functions':
www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
Many congratulations @evapillai.bsky.social 👏😀!!
Beautiful and important study from @franzelab.bsky.social showing how Piezo1 controls not only axon guidance but also brain mechanical properties via cell-cell adhesion 👇!!
Many congratulations @evapillai.bsky.social, @sudimukherjee.bsky.social and to all authors 👏🎉😀!
It was fun to write this with the other speakers of the great (eponymous!) symposium organised by Professor Fanny Mochel (Institut du Cerveau – Paris Brain Institute) and Professor Angela Garcia-Cazorla Cazorla (Barcelona Children's Hospital Sant Joan de Déu)!
In this perspective, we discuss the connections between mechanobiology and metabolism, and how innovative approaches, such as spatial mechano-transcriptomics, can provide new insights on the physiopathology of inherited metabolic disorders.
Delighted to share my last paper published in iScience @cp-iscience.bsky.social on the 'Connections between physics and metabolism in brain functions':
www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
