@septinlab.bsky.social
Professor of Cell Biology (University of Virginia), Research Scientist. Science, music, sports and politics. Opinions are my own and not of my lab or university.
UVA Cell Biology got talent!
Happy Halloween 🎃
Happy Halloween y’all… from the victors of the Creepiest award of the 2025 Spooktacular Carving Contest
31.10.2025 14:12 — 👍 5 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0And @pwoakes.bsky.social? We are crashing this party soon… though! I wanted to go but supposedly reviewing grants for NIH this week if there was no shutdown, and flying to India on Friday for EMBO Cytoskeleton meeting.
26.10.2025 14:38 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Today @anthropic.com released PubMed integration for Claude. No hallucinations. Just real science, real data. As a beta tester, this has been game changing— a supercharged research tool. Here are 6 prompts that will transform how you search the literature. A 🧵
www.anthropic.com/news/claude-...
Do not fold, do not sign
17.10.2025 20:11 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Ooo-la-la!
07.10.2025 23:16 — 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
On the left - western blot of B16F10 cells wt and KO for CDK8. Our in house produced antibodies give a lot of unspecific bands. On the right same probes with antibodies preincubated with fixed CDK8 KO cells - there is a specific band and faint unspecific bands, which can be probably eliminated with increase of amount of KO cells.
Neat trick if you polycolonal ab's suck. Incubate them with fixed cells with a KO of your protein of interest, then spin. Protocol here: www.med.upenn.edu/markslab/ass...
I was amazed how well it worked on first try (I'm sure that I can completely eliminate unspecific bands)
#WesternBlot #cellsky
Exciting news!
Submissions are now open for the first @ascbiology.bsky.social #MBOC Spercial Issue on #Septins
Submission deadline: April 30, 2026
RT and spread the word at #CellBio2025
www.molbiolcell.org/cell-biology...
I was thinking about making reservations at a couple of my favorite places today! No joke.
01.10.2025 20:21 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
NYTimes biopic and chronicle on Stephen Starr who can be credited for the start of Philly's culinary scene.
Good source of restaurant names for your Philly ASCB lab dinners.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/d...
Happy to share the inaugural paper from the lab. We describe a molecular mechanism for the activation of outer dynein arm motors that power the vital motion of cilia.
Open access link below:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Here's a cool animated summary
Congrats!
29.09.2025 23:25 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0👏
29.09.2025 23:24 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Kudos to NYTImes for running this!
Misfit rock'n'roll drummers for 500...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/28/a...
How do cells navigate up gradients of adhesive proteins?
🤔
Termed "Haptotaxis", this effect is ubiquitous in cell migration, but it's mechanism was poorly understood
We show that passive friction directs cells & explains complex trajectories on gradients
👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#SeptforSeptins
24.09.2025 12:05 — 👍 10 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Write your program officer and grants management official TODAY and thank them! It takes 30 seconds and its really appreciated. The only reason they're remotely this close is because those folks are working 60 hour weeks under immense pressure
23.09.2025 23:11 — 👍 21 🔁 8 💬 0 📌 0
#SeptforSeptins
24.09.2025 11:12 — 👍 5 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
I think I have spent all my R35's annual budget on Sigma's GOLDEN 25% off sale...
23.09.2025 19:29 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0we found that nuclear envelope rupture triggers rapid DIAPH3 formin influx to generate a actin mesh to prevent further chromatin leakage from damaged nuclei. thanks to Pitter Huesgen @degradomics.bsky.social and @cibss.bsky.social, @chrkam.bsky.social
22.09.2025 11:00 — 👍 52 🔁 15 💬 1 📌 0
Ever wondered how to control stretch/compression in your epithelial system? Do you know why it’s important, which mechanotransduction mechanisms could be involved? I am @valeriaventurini.bsky.social and today I will guide you through this journey.
21.09.2025 12:52 — 👍 34 🔁 11 💬 1 📌 2Put it in the Louvre!
21.09.2025 23:59 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
This is so great! Beautiful song in the newest Ty Segall LP
60s psych melodies and great guitar solo leads
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbDq...
Got inspired mid-week by Ty Segall’s Tiny Desk Concert and picked up the guitar… then tried to figure out some of the drumming. Got to 7 min into the video - Turn this 💩 up loud and enjoy - better than any alarm clock to get the blood pumping youtu.be/nZzJwMXMvwE?...
19.09.2025 11:10 — 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0that was NOT FUNNY
19.09.2025 07:30 — 👍 5 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0A ring of cells deforms into a triangular keyhole in just 15 minutes. Meet the hindgut, a model for boundary-driven morphogenesis!
Out now in @pnas.org at doi.org/10.1073/pnas... with @zhaoshh.bsky.social, Alex Jacinto, Eric Wieschaus, Stas Shvartsman, @lepuslapis.bsky.social (1/8)
Spindle-localized F-actin regulates polar MTOC organization and the fidelity of meiotic spindle formation
- nice work showing that an F-actin cage-like structure surrounding oocytes polar MTOCs relies on MYO10 and MYO7B.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Hak-tuah, exciting news!
19.09.2025 11:04 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Mäntylä, E., & Ihalainen, T. O. (2021). Brick Strex: a robust device built of LEGO bricks for mechanical manipulation of cells. Scientific Reports, #EpithelialMechanics www.nature.com/articles/s41...
16.09.2025 07:00 — 👍 22 🔁 6 💬 0 📌 3
SPY dyes go up by ~24% on Monday.
Get them now from Cytoskeleton if your stocks getting low.
