Yu-Chiun Wang

To wrap, while long-time coming, very happy with its ground breaking, or at least tissue "rupturing" insights, thanks to Chun Wai's dedication, Takefumi Kondo's breakthrough scRNA-seq analysis. Much more to learn about the fascinating extraembryonic tissues of flies. Stay tuned. (9/9)

Though gastrulation evolved preventive measures to prevent rupture, increasing number of developmental contexts sees rupture as a critical mechanism. See @rashmi-priya.bsky.social's excellent review bsky.app/profile/rash... (8/9)

In sum, cell-intrinsic compliance is needed to prevent tissue rupture in contexts with strong pulling forces. Complements recent stories of ours with Steffen Lemke and @paveltomancak.bsky.social @bruvellu.bsky.social on how pushing forces are safeguarded. bsky.app/profile/yuch... (7/9)

Lo and behold when mitoTRAP turns Shroom on in amnioserosa that normally does not express it, tissue ruptures. Increased intrinsic junctional stresses rip tissue apart when under external load, echoing insightful in vitro work of @gcharras.bsky.social rdcu.be/e6q7k (6/9)

How do we establish causality? We sommon the awesome power of optogenetics – newly developed photoactivatable Gal4 system we call mitoTRAP Gal4. See how it revs up target gene expression in just 30 minutes.

How does Zen do it? By transcriptionally silencing Shroom, a powerful activator of junctional actomyosin contractility, thereby keeping intrinsic junctional stresses low and cell compliance high. (4/9)

Extreme intrinsic stretchability is ensured by the amnioserosa master regulator Zen. Powerful pulling forces wreak havoc, rupturing tissue in dramatic fashions. No Zen, no (tissue) integrity. (3/9)

Cells of extraembryonic amnioserosa are known to undergo extreme flattening and surface elongation. Turns out elongation depend on both intrinsic property and external pulling forces. Tour de force genetics by Chun Wai Kwan taking out 4 genes, no actually 5, to fully block elongation. (2/9)

Can contractile forces that internalize cells and rearrange tissues cause harm? They can, if not mitigated. We show that built-in high stretchability of the extraembryonic cells protects gastrulating Drosophila embryo from being ripped apart. (1/9) doi.org/10.64898/202...

Final version @nature.com of our paper describing unconventional multicellular development in a choanoflagellate inhabiting an extreme environment. A ton of new data since the first @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social preprint (which we've kept updating).

A brief 🧵 (carried over from the old place)

Do also check out amazing videos of cortical actin dynamics in #zebrafish #endothelialcells such as this one! @riken-bdr.bsky.social

Circumferential actomyosin bundles anchored by CCM1 drive endothelial cell contraction and vessel constriction - Nature Communications Dysregulation of blood vessel size can cause vascular malformations. Here, the authors demonstrate that endothelial cells generate circumferential actomyosin cables to control the size of cells and ve...

Here's the link to the original article if you haven't checked it out already! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

When vessel constriction fails: Cellular mechanics linking developmental remodeling to vascular malformations

Happy to share a write-up of our recent publication @natcomms.nature.com demonstrating
how circumferential actomyosin-driven endothelial cell contractions constrict vessel diameter, providing insights into mechanisms of normal vessel remodelling and CCM.
www.bdr.riken.jp/en/news/rese...

Happy to share this work from Carlos Camacho de la Maccora that reveals how rates of posterior progenitor addition and anterior vacuolation are balanced across the notochord. With Alberto Ceccarelli and @osvaldo-chara.bsky.social we present a model of long-range communication to provide robustness.

Tissue phase transitions in development: more than just mechanics Summary: Tissue material phase transitions are classically thought to regulate tissue deformability. This Review emphasises their unexpected roles in directly influencing growth and patterning signall...

Excited to share our new review in @dev-journal.bsky.social on tissue phase transitions during development!

@karengrace12.bsky.social @nicolettapetridou.bsky.social

🔗 doi.org/10.1242/dev....

Our cells are experts at navigating inherently noisy and complicated environments.

EMBL researchers are using theoretical physics approaches to uncover fundamental principles behind how cells use complex information to self-organise.

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

New preprint @biorxiv-devbio.bsky.social by Harshath Amal and colleagues from our lab @uni-muenster.de shows how a BMP #morphogen gradient is translated into graded junctional permeability by tuning adhesion and actomyosin contractility in #Drosophila
See tinyurl.com/yhbwd9xh
@sfb1348.bsky.social

Break to build: fracture as a unifying morphogenetic strategy Summary: This Review presents mechanical fracture as a unifying morphogenetic strategy and describes how developmental systems actively exploit mechanical fracture to drive morphogenesis, reproduction...

Our latest with @torres-sanchez.bsky.social journals.biologists.com/dev/article-...
Breaking isn’t always a bad thing! Think of birth, seed release...
We highlight how living tissue not only tolerates fractures but actively fracture to grow, shape, reproduce, or adapt – across species and scales.

Beyond Mentorship: Mirai Alliance Launches Year-Long Support Network for Women in Life Sciences

www.bdr.riken.jp/en/news/bdr-...

Feb 11 is International Day of Women and Girls in Science and at RIKEN BDR, we celebrate the achievements of #womeninscience by holding an IDWGIS Symposium. We also recently launched Mirai Alliance, a mentorship network for women researchers in life sciences. www.bdr.riken.jp/en/news/bdr-...

Happy to see Rashmi’s latest on embedded ncMTs at the nucleus and how they enable intercalation out @jcb.org. Congrats to her and many thanks to the constructive editors/reviewers at JCB! doi.org/10.1083/jcb....

Hi bsky!

How do cells coordinate fate with migration during development? 🐣 Turns out EMT doesn't just drive cell behaviour changes... it actively primes BMP signalling competence, creating a reciprocal coupling that drives collective invasion!

(@bensteventon.bsky.social lab)

tinyurl.com/2ncc8zap

We are excited to announce the first Eastern ☀️VGZT session for this season!✨🎉

📅Tomorrow, November 12th
⏰ 9:00 UTC / 9:00 GMT / 10:00 CET / 14:30 IST / 18:00 JST / 20:00 AEDT

Our speakers are:
👉Sameer Thukral (on X: @SameerThukral6)
👉Axel Newton (on X: @AxelHNewton)

See you on tomorrow☕️👋

Interested in polarity and mechanics during epithelial morphogenesis? Considering joining us! Students to be hired initially as Research Associates. Postdocs encouraged to obtain fellowship, and we help/train you to do that. Apply to tinyurl.com/y6x489t5. Deadline Dec 15.

Please repost!

Excited to be traveling to meetings.embo.org/event/25-cyt... in Pune, India. Looking forward to seeing friends not seen in years and revisiting for the first time since 2020. My lab is recruiting. Those interested, let’s meet up there! (Look out for ads up here soon.)

🚨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...

True. You need to be included next time.

Missing also @bipashadey29.bsky.social, but with @sameerthukral.bsky.social crashing the party, more than making up for it!

Black and white portrait of John Gurdon, 1971

John Gurdon, former Group Leader and Head of @cellbiol-mrclmb.bsky.social has died.
Despite calling himself a "total non-intellectual” his work to reprogramme somatic cells to pluripotent stem cells transformed the field of developmental biology.
More: www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/john-gurdon-...
#LMBNews

🧠 Join us @uzh-ch.bsky.social ! We are a new lab looking for PhDs, Postdocs & Master’s students interested in studying how human neural systems emerge & go awry using brain organoids, light-sheet imaging & genomics. 🚀 Deadline for LSZGS 1st Nov! www.lifescience-graduateschool.uzh.ch/en.html.