Paul & Virginie - Centriole Lab

Are you interested in cytoskeleton and looking for a postdoc position? I will be advertising positions in the new year but happy to chat in person if you are attending ASCB @ascbiology.bsky.social in Philadelphia. Just drop me a line.

An 8-nm precise map in live cells, which revealed #actin aster formation by #myosin V-driven transport of #formin.

Happy to see this work now out! 😃

In collaboration with @kaksonen.bsky.social lab

#yeast #pombe #cell_fusion

@biology-unige.bsky.social

GitHub - swing-research/icecream: 🍦Icecream: a self-supervised framework for cryo-ET reconstruction 🍦Icecream: a self-supervised framework for cryo-ET reconstruction - swing-research/icecream

We just released version v0.3.1 of 🍦Icecream!
Importantly, this fixes a bug in missing wedge correction. Please update, and let us know how it works for you!
#CryoET #TeamTomo

github.com/swing-resear...

Interested in applying U-ExM to cells, tissues, organoids, or cryo-sections? Our EMBO workshop is open for applications!
🧫🔬 Deadline: 12 Jan 2026 — don’t miss it!

Congratulations to the new cohort of 28 EMBO Young Investigators! They are joining an international network of more than 800 life scientists – Welcome!

Read the press release here:
https://www.embo.org/press-releases/twenty-eight-group-leaders-become-embo-young-investigators/

New must-read review article for all lovers of #centrioles and #centrosomes 😍👇

MIcrotubule Nucleator center (MINC) ?

Great talk (and work 🧪 ) by @computingcaitie.bsky.social from @biozentrum.unibas.ch about exploring multiciliated cells with a complementary trio of structural techniques! Looking forward to sharing the preprint. Thanks for the fab collab @centriolelab.bsky.social @stearnslab.bsky.social #TeamTomo

#uexm of human airway motile cilia

Cool, the HAK-actin preprint was showcased by @prelights.bsky.social
A good reason to read it if you haven't yet 😜

HAK-actin, U-ExM-compatible probe to image the actin cytoskeleton - preLights HAK-actin is a new probe that may help researchers see the actin cytoskeleton in sharper detail using expansion microscopy.

Reliable actin labelling in expansion #microscopy 🔬

Beautiful #preprint from Olivier Mercey, @lreymond.bsky.social & team @dudinlab.bsky.social @centriolelab.bsky.social

Read the latest #preLight from @kanishka03.bsky.social ⬇️👀
prelights.biologists.com/highlights/h...

Congratulations Andreas #Boland 's group and collaborators for you latest publication in Science Advances: Substrate recognition by human #separase @mocel.bsky.social @sciencesunige.bsky.social : www.unige.ch/medias/en/20...

This is a glimpse of the cytoskeletal structures we found doing U-ExM in more than 200 species, now in Cell🤩: shorturl.at/6oHvi
Amazing collaboration between @centriolelab.bsky.social , @dudinlab.bsky.social and @gautamdey.bsky.social labs.
I believe last one is a 🕷️
#FluorescenceFriday
#Microscopy

An Asgard archaeon with internal membrane compartments

Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!

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

Advances in high-resolution imaging of centrioles and cilia Summary: A review of the progressive advances in light and electron microscopy that have revealed unprecedented structural and molecular insights into centrioles and cilia, and reshaped our view of th...

In their Review, Olivier Mercey, @marinebrunet.bsky.social, Paul Guichard & Virginie Hamel @centriolelab.bsky.social highlight advances in microscopy that have significantly deepened our understanding of centriolar & ciliary structure & function.
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
#OpenAccess

JCS Cover: Human tracheal epithelial cells (hTECs) from an air–liquid interface culture imaged using ultrastructural expansion microscopy (U-ExM). Cells are labelled for tubulin (magenta), mCLING (cyan) and DNA (blue, DAPI). Image from Olivier Mercey and Marine Brunet in the Guichard-Hamel lab. See article by O. Mercey et al. (jcs264260).

Our #JCSciliaSI is complete

Explore our ToC: journals.biologists.com/jcs/issue/13...

Our cover image shows tracheal epithelial cells from an air-liquid interface culture imaged using U-ExM from Oliver Mercey and Marine Brunet @centriolelab.bsky.social.
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...

(1/2) A new study from EMBL researchers and their collaborators provides unprecedented insights into the cellular architecture of over 200 species of plankton – tiny but ecologically critical marine organisms – using ultrastructure expansion microscopy.

Learn more: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Exciting day for the lab: our 1rst paper is officially out in @currentbiology.bsky.social 🥳 Wonderful collaboration wt @gautamdey.bsky.social showing how Cryo-ExM achieves consistent immunostaining in diverse diatoms, from the lab and the natural environment 1/n
#ProtistsOnSky
tinyurl.com/2zxaund7

In French - Virginie on Swiss radio! 🎙️ She talks about our latest collab with @dudinlab.bsky.social and @gautamdey.bsky.social #UExM #ProtistsOnSky

Une méthode ouvre lʹaccès à lʹarchitecture interne du plancton | RTS Une étude majeure menée par l’Université de Genève et le Laboratoire européen de biologie moléculaire, publiée dans la revue Cell, révèle l’architecture interne de plus de deux cents espèces de planct...

📻 Interview de Virginie Hamel du @centriolelab.bsky.social pour CQFD de la #RTS: Une méthode ouvre lʹaccès à lʹarchitecture interne du #plancton #microscopie #expansion www.rts.ch/audio-podcas... @mocel.bsky.social @sciencesunige.bsky.social @dudinlab.bsky.social

Advances in high-resolution imaging of centrioles and cilia Summary: A review of the progressive advances in light and electron microscopy that have revealed unprecedented structural and molecular insights into centrioles and cilia, and reshaped our view of th...

Exciting news: the new review from @centriolelab.bsky.social is out in the amazing #JCSciliaSI! 🎉
I had the pleasure of working alongside Olivier Mercey, Paul Guichard and Virginie Hamel on this one.
Cherry on top: our #UExM image was selected for the cover of the issue! 🤩

‪
Congratulations @centriolelab.bsky.social @dudinlab.bsky.social and @gautamdey.bsky.social for your publication in @cp-cell.bsky.social: Charting the landscape of #cytoskeletal diversity in #microbial eukaryotes #Expansion #Microscopy @sciencesunige.bsky.social
www.unige.ch/medias/en/20...

nine fold symmetry
those-who-know know what i mean

🚨Our collaboration with @centriolelab.bsky.social & @gautamdey.bsky.social is out today in @cp-cell.bsky.social
We show that #Expansion #Microscopy is a broad-spectrum modality for Euks, enabling 3D phenotypic maps rooted to phylogeny.
#ProtistsOnSky #SciComm #SciSky

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Mysteries of trafficking of the vRNP segmented genome and assembly of influenza A virus revealed by in situ cryo-ET!
🔗 rdcu.be/eMmct
We are very excited that our paper is finally out!
🎉 Big congratulations to Moritz Wachsmuth-Melm and to everyone involved.

A basal body microtubule singlet-to-doublet transition in Plasmodium male gametogenesis - Nature Communications Yang et al. use cryo-ET and resolve a unique native architecture of microtubule singlet-to-doublet transition in the basal body of Plasmodium. They reveal the key role of δTubulin and ε-Tubulin in thi...

We usually learn that centrioles/basal bodies are made of microtubule triplets. But our work on Plasmodium shows its basal body is built from singlets, which then mature into the doublets of a functional cilium. #TEAMTOMO www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Sketches of six stages of cytokinetic development of the intercellular bridge are illustrated with exmaple U-ExM fluorescence microscopy images. Septin2-GFP shown in green. Tubulin shown in magenta. A shortened workflow illustrates the image alignment and averaging process to generate average 2D reconstructions of cytokinetic stages.

It is out! 🦚 I recorded hundreds of #ExM 🔬images of cytokinetic bridges and averaged them into 6 stages. How? With help from our fantastic collaborators @zacsimile.bsky.social and @jonasries.bsky.social in Vienna 😇. Check out the full atlas here: doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17232370

We are recuiting two new Associate Professors here in Oxford Biochemistry. Come join us! Reach out to me if you have any questions. Please repost! tinyurl.com/mr3m7bd3

U-ExM expanded HeLa cell stained with HAK-actin (orange) and DNA (blue).

HAK-actin™: a new probe to label #actin in your expansion microscopy samples with a robust yet simple protocol.

Find out how HAK-actin™ can help you achieve a bright actin staining in your ExM workflow: spirochrome.com/product/hak-...

Image credits: Olivier Mercey, UNIGE