Marzia Munafò

Single-molecule dynamics of the TRiC chaperonin system in vivo - Nature Single-particle tracking experiments in intact cells reveal dynamic co- and post-translational interactions of the TRiC–PFD chaperonin complex with client proteins during in vivo protein folding.

Read more ➡️ Li & Dalheimer et al., “Single-molecule dynamics of the TRiC chaperonin system in vivo” (2026) Nature www.nature.com/articles/s41...

As a trained molecular biologist, I spend a lot of time thinking about molecules and visualizing their complex interaction dynamics. Bringing them to life in my drawings is always a fascinating process!

In a crowded cellular environment, they can image individual translation events to show how the chaperones Prefoldin and TRiC isolate nascent chains from their surroundings, to assist newly synthesized protein folding.

All lights on protein folding 💡

Out @nature.com , @niko-dalheimer.bsky.social & @rongqinxiaoxiao.bsky.social from the Hartl lab at @maxplanck.de Institute of Biochemistry developed single-particle tracking in living cells to study the dynamics of co-translational protein folding

#sciart #scicomm

Single-molecule dynamics of the TRiC chaperonin system in vivo - Nature Single-particle tracking experiments in intact cells reveal dynamic co- and post-translational interactions of the TRiC–PFD chaperonin complex with client proteins during in vivo protein folding.

I’m excited to share my first-author paper, with co-first author @rongqinxiaoxiao.bsky.social, now out in @nature.com. We developed a live-cell single-particle tracking platform to see how TRiC & prefoldin engage proteins during co- and post-translational folding. 1/9 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Imaging spotlight: U-ExM atlas of microbial eukaryotes - FocalPlane Imaging spotlight: U-ExM atlas of microbial eukaryotes - News

🔬🔦Our Imaging spotlight from @hiralshah.bsky.social & team highlights their U-ExM atlas of planktonic eukaryotes, including details on how you can explore this wonderful resource. Plus, check out Hiral’s top tips on getting started with expansion microscopy.
focalplane.biologists.com/2026/01/20/i...

The beautiful artwork accompanying this spotlight is by Marzia Munafò @munafomarzia.bsky.social. Marzia was one of the first artists that we highlighted in our #SciArt profiles back in 2021!

thenode.biologists.com/sciart-profi...

A nice way to close the chapter on my PhD work: our team was awarded the Bruno Speck Award 2025 by the Swiss Foundation for Haematological Research for our publication on human intestinal evolution.

and @munafomarzia.bsky.social for this beautiful artwork 🙂

Fertilization triggers early proteomic symmetry breaking in mammalian embryos Single-cell proteomics finds asymmetries between sister blastomeres from the 2-cell stage in human and mouse embryos, defining two states: alpha and beta. Alpha-beta asymmetry can be traced back to th...

Check out the full study ⬇️

Iwamoto-Stohl et al., “Fertilization triggers early proteomic symmetry breaking in mammalian embryos” Cell (2025) www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

The stones were inspired by a trip I had just returned from, during which my eyes were captured by the insane diversity of rock patterns and colours across several #USA landmarks, such as the Monument Valley, Zion and the Fire Valley ⛰️ who knew I was gonna love rocks so much!!

In the proposed cover, the 2-cell embryo is depicted as a mosaic, with a multitude of tesserae forming its cytosolic content. Cells start symmetrical with identical proteomes, but rapidly diverge and show unique cytosolic contents, represented as waves tessellated in different colours and textures.

Fertilisation triggers reproducible cytosolic asymmetries that result into two cells (namely, “blastomeres”) with a unique proteomic profile and distinct developmental potential.

Breaking symmetry♋️

Another #NotTheCover from the same issue of @cellcellpress.bsky.social

Here the @zernickagoetz.bsky.social lab @caltech.edu reports the earliest known symmetry breaking event in the mammalian embryo - right at moment of fertilisation!

#sciart #scicomm 🧵

I must admit it is a completely unknown world for me! But there must be so much yet undiscovered 🤩

Bringing sci-fi vibes into the microscopic world 🪐

Charting the landscape of cytoskeletal diversity in microbial eukaryotes An imaging resource of over 200 microbial eukaryotic species provides a glimpse into the remarkable universe of cytoskeletal diversity.

Read the full study ➡️Mikus et al. “Charting the landscape of cytoskeletal diversity in microbial eukaryotes” (2025) Cell
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

It was also really fun to explore this incredible atlas of ultrastructures, trying to figure out what is top, what is bottom, how you match outside and inside…

Something I truly enjoyed about making this was using #art to push the boundaries of what is achievable with #science. It was the only way to visualise at the same time the outside and inside of these microbial eukaryotes!

In this piece, we combined a traditional watercolour-style view of the outer shell of each species, inspired by Heckel’s beautiful illustrations of the natural world, with a sci-fi-style inner structure.

A planetary atlas of plankton 🪐

Closing the year with a bang: out @cellcellpress.bsky.social the @dudinlab.bsky.social & @gautamdey.bsky.social labs used ultrastructure Expansion Microscopy to reveal the stunning cytoskeletal diversity of over 200 plankton species!

A #sciart 🧵

@embl.org

So cool to finally see the flamenco piRNA cluster assembled in its full glory - a ~700kb transcript, almost completely unspliced!

Embryonic signatures of intergenerational epigenetic inheritance across paternal environments and genetic backgrounds | The EMBO Journal imageimagePaternal environmental exposures have been linked with modulation of phenotype and disease risk in offspring via largely unclear mechanisms. This study employs in vitro fertilization and single-embryo transcriptomics to reveal that ...

Big congrats to my brilliant colleagues and friends, check out the full study here www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

Intriguingly, the scale and resolution of the study enabled them to capture how embryonic gene expression varies upon different exposures. Hence, the color variations illustrate the spectrum of subtle phenotypic changes detected in otherwise seemingly identical embryos 🟢🟡🟣⚪️🔴

To robustly identify the earliest molecular signatures of inter generational inheritance, they profiled 100s of embryos, across 3 paternal treatments, 2 paternal ages and 2 genetic backgrounds - represented here by an array of mouse blastocysts (each a real microscopy pic!) 🐁🐁

POP art, with its serial repetitions and many colour variations of otherwise identical objects perfectly embodies this systematic, impressively large-scale study and its key findings.

The multifaceted effects of paternal environments on offspring🌈

Latest from the @jamiehackett.bsky.social lab @embl.org, out now @embojournal.org:

@bbbranjan.bsky.social & @mdura.bsky.social quantitatively investigate the impact of paternal environments on early embryogenesis.

A #sciart 🧵

Talking to students is by far one of my favourite parts of this job ✨

#EUCYS 2025 was a hive of brilliant scientists in the making, so grateful to @embl.org & EIROforum for the opportunity to be there with my science & art!

#scicomm #sciart #stem @ec.europa.eu

By the way, the image for this talk about how cancer cells adapt was painted by the amazing Marzia Munafò! Thank you @munafomarzia.bsky.social!

At least for science in the #oocyte community, the future looks bright with so many curious & young minds thinking about big open questions in oocyte and reproductive biology! Thanks so much to @mhverlhac.bsky.social and @bokelab.bsky.social for organizing and bringing us all together in Paris!