Jordan Shivers

Sparse mesenchymal cell networks as a fluid under tension https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.07.692626v1

Polymyxins slow down lateral diffusion of proteins and lipopolysaccharide in the E. coli outer membrane - Communications Biology Multi-scale molecular dynamics simulations reveal that polymyxins form polymyxin-protein aggregates upon associating with the E. coli outer membrane thereby reducing lateral mobility of outer membrane...

Our paper on polymyxin interacting with the E. coli outer membrane is out! Simulations by the very talented @dheerajprakaash.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s42...

To scale outer membrane protein island simulated at coarse-grained resolution with portions refined at all atom resolution.

Our Science paper is out!

Huge congratulations to @huabin-zhou.bsky.social, Mike Rosen, and the brilliant @janhuemar.bsky.social @juliamaristany.bsky.social and @kieran-russell.bsky.social from our group

News: bit.ly/4avnkAr and bit.ly/3XBGVHS

Great perspective by @vram142.bsky.social +K Zhang

New preprint! Do you like ocean waves? We found similar waves on bacterial colonies! We found that this collective behavior, known as rippling, is nothing but surface waves on an active nematic. @princeton.edu @mpipks.bsky.social @ub.edu @icreacommunity.bsky.social

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

Today, our animation synthesizing decades of research on actin-mediated endocytosis in budding yeast was published:
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...

The result of a fantastic Iwasa-Drubin lab collaboration.

@margotriggi.bsky.social @jiwasa.bsky.social
movie.biologists.com/video/10.124...

Dynamic Vesicle Reorganization by Internal Active Filaments In our research, we explore the non-equilibrium dynamics of vesicle shape remodeling driven by internal active filaments. We investigate how vesicle volume, filament anisotropy, mobility, and concentr...

Read about the cover art for the newly released issue of Biophysical Journal on the BPS Blog: www.biophysics.org/blog/dynamic...

Dynamic protrusions mediate unique crawling motility in Asgard Archaea (Promethearchaeota) Crawling motility is a hallmark of eukaryotic cells and requires a dynamic actin cytoskeleton, regulated adhesion, and spatially organized signalling pathways. Asgard archaea (phylum Promethearchaeota...

And another Asgard paper. Cells in motion! Wow! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Self-assembled cell-scale containers made from DNA origami membranes - Nature Materials Through the programmable self-assembly of lipid-inspired radially symmetric DNA, porous molecular membranes and cell-sized compartments are formed with applications in bottom-up biology and soft robot...

The long-awaited Dipids paper is finally out www.nature.com/articles/s41...! Check out the largest containers ever self-assembled from DNA origami🧬, and the amazing person and story behind it www.linkedin.com/feed/update/... Congrats to Christoph🎉 and thanks for letting me be part of this journey🥹!

Motivational video for #MigrationMovieMonday. A persistent 4T1 breast cancer cell squeezing itself through a tight constriction despite undergoing repetitive nuclear envelope rupture. Credit: Kristen Nedza @weillinstitute.bsky.social

📢 Paper alert 📢

Chirality is known to be important for the movement of microorganisms and active matter. In our new paper out today in @natphys.nature.com, we show that chirality is used by malaria parasites to control their motion patterns:

doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Here comes a 🧵 ... (1/9)

Synchronized development of zebrafish embryos immobilized by snake venom (alpha-bungarotoxin). Credit to Dr. Ian Swinburne. #ZebrafishZunday

Still posting cytoskeleton videos, it seems. Actin this time.

Sample: Lifeact-eGFP in HeLa cells.
Modality: Airyscan confocal

Timestamp is mm:ss and the scale bar is 5 µm.

Cellular structure self-organizes through an interplay between internal mechanisms and external cues. The single-celled suctorian P. collini builds a trap structure to capture large prey using microtubule feeding tentacles, creating feedback between cell morphology and prey availability.

The law of the jungle.
Interactions of cells in a collective lead to global rotation.
In 80% of the case HUVEC cells turn clockwise.
How many cells does it take for this to happen?

I guess it never gets old...bc we love #CellMigration

ATP has many roles: energy currency, hydrotrope, and *danger signal*

Immune cells are faster after ATP exposure, F-actin (cyan) goes to the rear for nitro boost!

www.science.org/doi/full/10....
@focalplane.bsky.social #fluorescencefriday 🧪🔬

Contact-dependent incorporation of endoplasmic reticulum into retraction fibers and #migrasomes. New study from Peiyao Fan, Yang Chen and colleagues @pku1898.bsky.social: rupress.org/jcb/article/...

#Migration #motility #Biochemistry #Organelles #ER_literature

Ten years ago, I saw a paper with some data that has bothered me ever since: B cells in a 0-100 ng/mL gradient of CCL19 are attracted to CCL19, but B cells in 0-500 ng/mL are repelled (see movie, ignoring the big clusters for now!). Why? Here's our model! doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Just out! Our work on active transport in epithelial tissues. Congrats to Huiqiong Wu, Greg Arkowitz and Ranjith Chilupuri in collaboration with C. Duclut and J. Prost!
PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Systematic membrane thickness variation across cellular #organelles revealed by cryo-ET. New computational workflow developed by Desislava Glushkova (@deglushk.bsky.social), Stefanie Böhm, & Martin Beck (@becklab.bsky.social) @mpibp.bsky.social: rupress.org/jcb/article/...

#StructuralBiology #Golgi

Membrane blebs on a cancer cell videoed through a DIC microscope. What are blebs? Intracellular pressure within the cell blowing up tiny balloons using the plasma membrane. Or something like that. #CellBiology

YouTube video by WU Physics Department The Physics of Mysterious Cellular Droplets

I had the privilege of giving Science Saturday, an engaging public lecture meant to spark curiosity about the wonders of science. My talk, “The Physics of Mysterious Droplets,” explored liquid-like droplets inside our cells and the physics behind their behavior: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5R16...

Get into flow with zebrafish — soon your eyes will glow 🐟✨

Beating iPSC-derived heart muscle cells videoed through a microscope. Alpha-actinin-2 is shown. #CellBiology

We have wondered what a complex archaeal cell might look like ever since 2014. It’s been a long road (and the journey is far from over), but it’s a good time to pause for breath and look. These Asgard archaeal cells are a surprise! And that is the joy of being a cell biologist.

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...

Disparate leukemia mutations converge on nuclear phase-separated condensates Mutant NPM1 and various leukemia oncofusions form biophysically indistingishable nuclear condensates, termed C-bodies, which orchestrate leukemogenic gene expression. These findings consolidate diverse genetic lesions into a shared pathogenic mechanism in AML.

Now online! Disparate leukemia mutations converge on nuclear phase-separated condensates

HL60 cells take on so many fun shapes as they migrate! This #InsightFromImaging data features cells prepared by Leanna and imaged on the @aicjanelia.bsky.social LLSM by @cmhobson.bsky.social

Three-dimensional rendering of microscopic sclerites produced by the soft coral Leptogorgia chilensis. CREDIT: Chenhao Hu and Ling Li

Soft corals switch between flexible and rigid states by jamming together or pulling apart branched skeletal structures suspended in gel. A study explores the shapes of the structures, called sclerites, with implications for soft robotics. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/rRgI50XlMmA

Epithelial Mechanics Fan Club

🎉🎉 We finally have a website! 🎉🎉

Did you miss a thread?
Want to know who our delegates are?
Do you want to join our big club?
Check it out:
epithelialmechanics.github.io

Huge thanks to all thread-contributors and to you for following us!

And now… part two of our twin papers on how chromosomes find their place before division! Led by @krunovuk.bsky.social at @institutrb.bsky.social, out in @natcomms.nature.com!

doi.org/10.1038/s414...
doi.org/10.1038/s414...

Missed the thread on the first paper? Catch up:
bsky.app/profile/ivat...