Vaishnavi Ananthanarayanan (She/Her)

Thrilled that our recent paper has received the SBMS November 2025 Paper of the Month award. Grateful for this recognition, to the entire team for their hard work, and to my mentor @vaishananth.bsky.social , for her constant support.

www.cell.com/current-biol...

If anyone wondering about academic funding in Aus, this is the stark reality at present. I have written countless letters to politicians like @mehreenfaruqi.bsky.social, @davidpocock.bsky.social who like to say they are leading this conversation in Aus but it is really like shouting into the void.

Candid photo of Zara Weinberg. She has short red hair, bangs and glasses. She is laughing.

The Leading Edge Fellows gathered this week to celebrate Zara Weinberg, a beloved member of our community. Our 7th cohort of Leading Edge Fellows (2026) will be named in her honor.

The Zara Weinberg Leading Edge Cohort application is now open! Due Feb 2.

www.leadingedgesymposium.org/apply/

🚨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...

📣 We are hiring! An education-focused Lecturer or Senior Lecturer in Quantitative Biomedical or Biophysical sciences. It’s a chance to be a part of a team of single molecule /cellular biophysicists building a brand new undergraduate curriculum, here at UNSW in sunny Sydney. Happy to answer queries.

Thrilled to share that this work has been accepted for publication @currentbiology.bsky.social 🥳
Special shoutout to the editorial team – the process was incredibly smooth and productive. Read more here:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Congratulations, Monica! You continue to inspire 🌟

Interphase cell morphology defines the mode, symmetry, and outcome of mitosis During tissue formation, dynamic cell shape changes drive morphogenesis while asymmetric divisions create cellular diversity. We found that the shifts in cell morphology that shape tissues could conco...

My first post on Bluesky! Very excited to share our work just published in @science.org. We find that “Interphase cell morphology defines the mode, symmetry, and outcome of mitosis” - in angiogenesis and other tissues! www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1... www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1...

A scoping study of the whole-cell imaging literature: a foundational corpus, potential for mesoscale data synthesis, and implications for standardization of an emerging field The level of cellular organization bridging the mesoscale and whole-cell scale is coming into focus as a new frontier in cell biology. Great progress has been made in unraveling the complex physical a...

New(ish) preprint! 📰What whole-cell patterns emerge from the arrangement, morphologies, and interactions of organelles in the 3D space of the cell? What would we see if we could gather ALL the whole-cell reconstruction data that's out there in one place? www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🧵 1/11

Sharing Stories of Science through Letters to the Editor The Union of Concerned Scientists invites scientists and experts to a science advocacy training webinar on writing letters to the editor to inform and influence different audiences about the impacts o...

@ucsusa.bsky.social is running a "science advocacy training webinar on writing letters to the editor to inform and influence different audiences about the impacts of federal cuts to science and science workers" next Thursday April 17 🧪

It will be recorded for those who register but cannot attend

The Coming Out of a Transgender Scientist "I know that I am making the right decision because whenever I think about changing my gender role, I am flooded with feelings of relief."

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.

Stretch-induced endogenous electric fields drive directed collective cell migration in vivo - Nature Materials Electric fields guide collective cell migration in developing embryos of Xenopus laevis via a voltage-sensitive phosphatase.

REPOSTING this here just to officially leave "the other place"

Our work on the role of endogenous electric fields in guiding collective cell migration during #morphogenesis is out @naturematerials.bsky.social
nature.com/articles/s41...

tagging @leeba.bsky.social!

First author Leeba with her PhD hat after she submitted her thesis (L) and Vaish Ananthanarayanan (R).

This is the outcome of Leeba Chacko's PhD research - all credit to her (she also recently submitted her thesis - pictured below with her PhD hat). This work also included incredibly fruitful and fun collaborations with Hidenori (Tokushima U.), Richard (UNSW) and @wallaceucsf.bsky.social! (n/n)

In summary, we demonstrate a central role for mitochondrial activity in dictating cellular growth rates/kinetics and ensuring mitochondrial volume homeostasis. (6/n)

comparison of cell size over time of WT and rho0 cells showing a switch from exponential (WT) to linear (rho0) growth in the absence of mtDNA

The prediction of this model was that cells that lacked mitochondrial activity would grow linearly, and indeed we saw that rho0 cells (without mtDNA) switched to linear growth! (5/n)

Plot of cell size over time, fit to an equation that links cell size to mitochondrial activity.

Both the cell size and mitochondrial volume grew exponentially during the cell cycle, but given our previous data, we asked if mitochondrial activity drove the cell's exponential growth - using quantitative modeling we found this was the case. (4/n)

comparison of daughter cell pairs with similar cell sizes at birth but asymmetric mitochondrial partitioning, showing that the daughter cells with less mito grow slower and take longer to achieve the size for division.

We compared pairs of daughter cells that divided symmetrically but partitioned mitochondria asymmetrically - cells with fewer mitochondria grew slower. Those with more mitochondria grew faster. Both daughter cells eventually divided according to the 'sizer' mechanism, but at different times. (3/n)

Plot of mitochondrial volume at division against cell length at birth, showing a linear scaling of mitochondrial volume with cell length

Plot of mitochondrial volume at division against cell length at birth, showing all cells have roughly the same mitochondrial volume at division.

At cell division, small newborn cells inherited fewer mitochondria from the mother, while larger received more. But by division, all cells ended up with the same mitochondrial volume! (2/n)

How is mitochondrial volume maintained across successive generations of dividing cells? In our new preprint, we show how fission yeast cells use mitochondrial activity to control division timing and maintain mitochondrial homeostasis! (1/n)

📖 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

openRxiv has arrived!

We’re thrilled to announce the launch of openRxiv as an independent, researcher-led nonprofit to oversee bioRxiv and medRxiv, the world’s leading preprint servers for life and health sciences.
openrxiv.org/introducing-...

#openRxiv #OpenScience #Preprints #bioRxiv #medRxiv

Posting this here now that the orange man has erasing scientific literature. What people, perhaps without any strong opinions on this, never understand is the barriers that academics have to overcome to publish papers on gender and trans identities.

He can burn the journals, but we will keep PDFs 😘

Group photo of eight colleagues representing the dept, standing in front of the conference mural

Some colleagues sitting around a dinner table

A conference speaker standing at a lectern podium

Arindam Ghosh being introduced to the symposium by Liz Hinde.

Aaaand that’s a wrap at Asia Pacific Microscopy Congress 2025 in sunny Brisbane, attended by a big team from Single Molecule Science. Lots of exciting new 🔬 tools and translation in biomedical investigations. @ijayas.bsky.social @arindam92.bsky.social

U2OS labeled with OMP25-GFP, an outer membrane marker for mitochondria.

Left shows a zoom-in on the dimmer cell.

Imaged by OPM (oblique plane microscope).

#Microscopy

Closing the scissor-shaped curve: Strategies to promote gender equality in academia Gender inequality in STEM fields remains pervasive and undermines the ability for talented individuals to excel. Despite advances, women still encounter obstacles in pursuing academic careers and reac...

Reading the paper in Cell about how to close the scissor plots in gender representation at senior academic positions, I feel just a touch of pessimism. Having reached a level of seniority (middle management) I didn’t think I ever would, I read these great ideas wanting more, much more /1.

My lab at UMass Chan Med School uses a variety of approaches to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of membrane traffic. Striving to make academic science a more diverse, equitable, welcoming and inclusive place. Incoming President for the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)! Opinions are mine.

Congratulations Marcus!

Always a solution

I am delighted to share our new preprint in which we reveal the crucial role for mechanical forces in myoblast fusion. Great work from Yoann, Sushil and Aleksandra and great collaboration with Christophe Marcelle and Amin Doostmohammadi!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...