Alejandro Torres-Sánchez

Researchers at EMBL Barcelona have launched LimbNET, a new online platform that integrates computer modeling, experimental data, and 2D live simulations for limb development.

www.embl.org/news/science...

Come to Biomalpar xxii!!! We have an outstanding line up of speakers!!!

It is a true honor to be an organizer of Biomalpar. It was the first conference I ever attended during my 2nd PhD year so it feels special.

And don't miss the beautiful poster image from Hannah Fleckenstein!

Congratulations!!

Join EMBL's Interdisciplinary Postdoc Programme!
3 years funding, self-designed interdisciplinary project co-led between EMBL PI and PI in one of EMBL's actual, prospect or associate member states.

In particular: AI&Theory, use mathem. models, physics principles and AI

www.embl.org/about/info/p...

It’s time to talk about epithelial geometry and cancer. How can the architecture of an epithelium affect how tumors will grow and spread? In this thread, @jorgealmagro.bsky.social

📢 Paper alert 📢

Chirality is known to be important for the movement of microorganisms and active matter. In our new paper out today in @natphys.nature.com, we show that chirality is used by malaria parasites to control their motion patterns:

doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Here comes a 🧵 ... (1/9)

1/ Cerebral malaria is a severe form of malaria that causes damage to the blood vessels in the brain.

With a #HealthResearch grant, @mariabernabeu.bsky.social uses analytical techniques and human 3D models of blood vessels to ⬆️ our understanding and test new therapies.

https://tinyurl.com/2vtjnwn6

Which features of tissue flows are most robust and how do they emerge from #EpithelialMechanics?

I’m @alex-plum.bsky.social (@mattiaserra.bsky.social group) and I’ll be sharing some papers on characterizing and controlling avian gastrulation flows.

In our latest interview, Kristina Stapornwongkul, the newest group leader at IMBA, shares her journey to joining the institute, why she chose IMBA as the next step in her career, and her vision for her lab exploring how metabolism shapes embryonic development: https://imba.science/49fCrxl

📣Announcing the 4th edition of the EMBL‑IBEC Conference on “Engineering Multicellular Systems”, taking place 11–13 March 2026 in Barcelona. Exploring organoids, mechanobiology, embryo models, organ-on-chip systems, multiomics and more. Abstracts open now!
events.ibecbarcelona.eu/embl-ibec-co...

Innate immune responses to Plasmodium falciparum disrupt the blood-brain barrier Plasmodium falciparum accumulation at the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a hallmark of cerebral malaria, a life-threatening complication. Conversely, the contribution of the immune response to vascular ...

Pre-print alert 🚨
We answer a longstanding question in the field. Do immune cells cause cerebral malaria?

The answer is YES!!!! And independently of P. falciparum accumulation in the brain.

www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

Zebrafish embryo undergoing gastrulation. Credit to Dr. Gopi Shah at EMBL. #ZebrafishZunday 🧪

Just hot out of the press! Rory developed a 3D microvessel model that recapitulates physiological pericyte coverage. We found that Plasmodium falciparum egress products disrupt the barrier and halt ang-1 secretion. The activator AKB-9778 could rescue barrier disruption! Congratulations, Rory!

Genes Have Harnessed Physics to Help Grow Living Things | Quanta Magazine The same pulling force that causes “tears” in a glass of wine also shapes embryos. It’s another example of how genes exploit mechanical forces for growth and development.

Biophysicists are realizing that there is an undervalued element at play in early development: Aside from genes, mechanical forces also steer the growth of embryos. @annademming.bsky.social reports: www.quantamagazine.org/genes-have-h...

Many thanks for the visit, Markus!

Tenure-track Position in Biophysics at Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Physics Location: Pittsburgh, PA Open Date: Sep 19, 2025 Description The Department of Physics at Carnegie Mellon University invites applications for a tenure-track faculty position in biophysics. The appointment is intended to be at the Assistant Professor level, but exceptional candidates at a higher level may also be considered. We seek outstanding candidates with a strong record in cellular and subcellular biophysics. Topics of particular interest include, but are not limited to, uncovering how key characteristics of living systems arise from the interplay between supramolecular cellular structures, how the emergent cellular circuitry defines goals and enables robust decision making, and how metabolic resources are allocated. This encompasses understanding of how information is learned, stored, transduced, and processed across subcellular structures. Applicants with theoretical, data science, or experimental backgrounds within biological physics are encouraged to apply. The ideal candidate will strengthen and extend research programs of current biophysics faculty in the Department of Physics and collaborate with broader life science activities across many departments at CMU and the wider Pittsburgh area. More details on Interfolio: https://apply.interfolio.com/174360

I am super excited to announce that we have a tenure-track faculty position in biophysics open in the Department of Physics at Carnegie Mellon! 🧪

Interfolio link: apply.interfolio.com/174360

PLEASE, share widely across the blue skies!

Let me briefly explain what we're looking for:

1/10

Please allow me to introduce... our new preprint 🎉 Together with Michael Zhao, Anna Erzberger and Alexander Aulehla, we investigate pattern formation due to aggregation in confined systems.

You can find it at arxiv.org/abs/2509.08533

@michaelzhao.bsky.social @erzbergerlab.bsky.social

Febrile temperature enhances Plasmodium falciparum cytoadhesion by disrupting the endothelial glycocalyx Fever, a universal host defense in infection and inflammation, paradoxically contributes to neurological complications in malaria. While febrile temperatures enhance the expression of parasite virulen...

Have you ever wondered what happens with your microvessels after exposure to high temperature in fever? In this preprint former postdoc (ans soon to be PI) Viola Introini found that high temperatures cleaves glycocalyx , having severe consequences in malaria www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

Congrats!!!

Very excited to share - the ERC StG is a game-changer for us 🙏 We're going to learn the rules for timing control across cell types in the embryo and we think we can tune them too 🎛️ ⏳📈- reach out if you’d like to be involved !

Mechanistic origins of temperature scaling in the early embryonic cell cycle - Nature Communications Researchers reveal mechanisms underlying non-Arrhenius temperature scaling of early embryonic cell cycle timing, using modeling, cross-species data, and reconstituted oscillations in frog egg extract.

The theory was part of my PhD work at KU Leuven with @lendertgelens.bsky.social, experimental work by colleagues in Leuven, the Yang lab (U Michigan) and Ferrell lab (Stanford).
Find the paper here:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

We are searching for an enthusiastic scientist to join our team and establish annual killifish as a model system for early developmental biology and biophysics! @embl.org @embldbunit.bsky.social

Apply here:
embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/EMBL/job/Hei...

Please re-post 🙏

Papafilippou, E., Baldauf, L., Charras, G., Kabla, A. J., & Bonfanti, A. (2025). Interplay of damage and repair in the control of epithelial tissue integrity in response to cyclic loading. Current opinion in cell biology, 94, 102511. #EpithelialMechanicsReview
buff.ly/Qzj8OWl

Plasmodium falciparum egress disrupts endothelial junctions and activates JAK-STAT signaling in a microvascular 3D blood-brain barrier model Nature Communications - Here the authors show that Plasmodium falciparum egress products disrupt endothelial barrier and activate JAK-STAT and interferon type response in a 3D blood-brain barrier...

We are happy to show one ourt first exciting papers. We have developed a blood-brain barrier model to study the disruptive effects caused by the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum.

First, congratulations to the fearless @liviapiatti.bsky.social and @alinabatzi.bsky.social

rdcu.be/ezBl7

Out now! Our very first paper@crick.ac.uk, an impressive feat by @tobyandrews.bsky.social where we show how a developing heart grows and scales up its morphological complexity to keep beating...an excellent summary below ⬇️
www.cell.com/developmenta...

Here’s why your blood vessels don’t burst under pressure Cells lining the blood vessels reorganize their inner structures to handle stressful boosts in pressure.

Our study on endothelial mechanics made the news! 🤩

Super nice and clear article on our findings and their implications.
www.snexplores.org/article/how-...

Turing Patterns Turn Up in a Tiny Crystal | Quanta Magazine The mechanism behind leopard spots and zebra stripes also appears to explain the patterned growth of a bismuth crystal, extending Alan Turing’s 1952 idea to the atomic scale.

Between his code-breaking work during World War II and his death in 1954, Alan Turing proposed a mechanism for pattern formation that has been identified in the arrangement of bacteria, stripes on seashells and even the distribution of human settlements.

Congrats @pauguillamat.bsky.social!

New preprint out! We show how cellular nematic order can be harnessed to program tissue-wide force fields and guide 3D shape transformations.

The tissue morphogenesis logic, now engineered into living, programmable materials.

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

#ActiveMatter #TissueEngineering

New Oxford research reveals Uber’s algorithmic pricing leaves drivers A new study from researchers in the University of Oxford’s Department of Computer Science has found that Uber’s use of dynamic pricing has led to higher fares for passengers and lower earnings for

A study from @compscioxford.bsky.social finds Uber’s dynamic pricing leads to higher fares for riders, lower earnings for drivers, and more revenue for the company.

Read more ⬇️