@micromotility.bsky.social
Cilia and cell motility enthusiast, basal cognition, weird organisms esp protists and larvae, how do living systems compute? Professor of Cellular & Biophysical Dynamics, Living Systems Institute, Exeter (past: DAMTP, Cambridge) www.micromotility.com
A rare opportunity to experience the grandeur of the Alte Aula of UniversitΓ€t Heidelberg, on the occasion of the award of the LautenschlΓ€ger prize to Jan Lohmann of @cosheidelberg.bsky.social Thanks @ulrichschwarz.bsky.social @jekely.biologists.social.ap.brid.gy for letting me tag along!
06.12.2025 09:42 β π 14 π 3 π¬ 1 π 0p.s. not a #protistonsky
02.12.2025 22:33 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0thanks @florianwollweber.bsky.social for pointing me to the paper!
02.12.2025 22:30 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0wow... crawling motility in Asgard #archaea!! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
look at these crazy moves!! Let's face it, what these cells want for Christmas is #cilia... the best type of motility appendage...
cilia? what cilia... just all kinds of weird protrusions... I think he was illustrating the general weirdness of protists...
02.12.2025 22:13 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0New 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...
Congrats again Alexander! (Not on bluesky) You can read about some of his work here in our preprint doi.org/10.1101/2025... , with more to come! ππ #protistsonsky
25.11.2025 21:24 β π 19 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0π’ Paper alert π’
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 𧡠... (1/9)
So happy to announce our new preprint, βA geothermal amoeba sets a new upper temperature limit for eukaryotes.β We cultured a novel amoeba from Lassen Volcanic NP (CA, USA) that divides at 63Β°C (145Β°F) π₯ - a new record for euk growth!
#protistsonsky π§΅
Omg reminds me if fun times in Korea!!
20.11.2025 09:40 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0I have a colleague next door working on zebrafish, apparently they feed them paramecia... sad when one's own model organisms are fed to another person's model organism! :P
19.11.2025 14:17 β π 3 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0In a new study, @yale.edu's Shane Elliott, Paul Ready, and the
@davidbreslowlab.bsky.social identified 2 genesπ§¬that control how cells assemble & dismantle ciliaβpointing to new strategies for treating diseases linked to ciliary breakdown!
Read More Hereπ
news.yale.edu/2025/10/29/n...
now i've seen everything... π±
don't care what anybody says but #protists are cognitive
SWBio PhD studentships available- join my lab to investigate phage structure with @btemperton.bsky.social tinyurl.com/ytdft9bj
10.11.2025 08:58 β π 3 π 4 π¬ 0 π 0
An Asgard archaeon with internal membrane compartments
Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von KΓΌgelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
congrats! beautiful work!
10.11.2025 15:21 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
Very excited to share this one! Our comprehensive structure, genetics and biophysics dissection of which flagellar dyneins and other proteins are needed for flagella to beat and drive cells swimming behaviours: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
08.11.2025 08:42 β π 16 π 6 π¬ 3 π 0interested in mechanobiology and physics of living systems? this is the conference for you! Join us 9-12 June in Heidelberg! with @nicolettapetridou.bsky.social @xaviertrepat.bsky.social Enrique Rojas & Alba Diz-Munoz
Registration OPEN
www.embl.org/about/info/c...
Our special issue on βCilia and Flagellaβ is now out! Huge thanks to all (authors + reviewers) who contributed, and to our wonderful Guest Editors (@cilialab.bsky.social + @lottepedersen.bsky.social) for pulling it together.
Happy reading!
#cilia #flagella
journals.biologists.com/jcs/issue/13...
In May 2024 we had a great workshop on chemotaxis in the MPI PKS in Dresden! The social impressions are in the picture below, and the scientific discussions are summarised in Angewandte Chemie lnkd.in/d6ymRhGK
What a nice way to remember!
First neurons didnβt appear overnight. We trace their roots to ancient secretory cells - showing how lifestyle & behavior shaped the evolution of first synapses.π§ π #Evolution #Neuroscience
Our latest in @natrevneuro.nature.com
Link: rdcu.be/eMX3E
@jeffcolgren.bsky.social @msarscentre.bsky.social
Are you looking for a PhD starting in September 2026/27? Then do not miss the fantastic opportunity to be part of the LSI PhD Community. New positions for the LSI PhD Programme are out now. www.exeter.ac.uk/research/ins... Deadline: 26.11.2025
28.10.2025 09:34 β π 5 π 7 π¬ 0 π 3βͺ
Outstanding work by the entire team - congratulations to all authors involved!
Itβs great to see the precision and performance of the
@rappopto.bsky.social Caliburn ablation laser in action β the level of detail in those cuts is genuinely impressive.
π Join us for an unmissable finale to 2025! π We're thrilled to bring our #cilia & #centrosome community together 25/11/2025 15:00-17:45 GMT! Our 53rd @bscb-official.bsky.social @gensocuk.bsky.social @ukcilianetwork.bsky.social e-symposium schedule is live: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bscb-genso... /1
21.10.2025 18:11 β π 39 π 20 π¬ 1 π 3
Many thanks to all participants to the CFC2025 meeting last week for having made it such a vibrant experience! So much exciting research on #cilia
21.10.2025 11:35 β π 15 π 6 π¬ 1 π 0
A Trypanosoma brucei cell visualized by confocal microscopy after ultrastructure expansion. The cell was immunolabelled for the BILBO1 protein (yellow) and stained with fluorescent NHS-ester (grey). The flagellar pocket is highlighted in pink. Credit: Marie ZelenΓ‘
The flagellar pocket collar (FPC) is a cytoskeletal structure essential for nutrient uptake & immune evasion in #Trypanosome. @mbonhivers.bsky.social &co use U-ExM to provide novel insights into FPC biogenesis, and reveal 2 unknown cytoskeletal structures @plosbiology.org π§ͺ plos.io/4n3bWi6
10.10.2025 16:14 β π 36 π 8 π¬ 0 π 4
Photo of whale at Museum of Zoology and photo of 100 cake
This week has been special for us, marking 100 years of supporting biologists and inspiring biology. We celebrated our achievements at @zoologymuseum.bsky.social last night. We want to thank all our staff, whose continual inspiration and daily support for one another make our work possible.
17.10.2025 13:11 β π 86 π 21 π¬ 0 π 2
something strange about this list perhaps π€¨
18.10.2025 16:46 β π 8 π 0 π¬ 2 π 0New research has unravelled the mystery of how microscopic cilia choreograph their βMexican waveβ, enabling marine creatures to swim.
Cilia are tiny, hair-like protrusions found in many organisms. Yet despite decades of research, the mechanisms of cilia coordination remained disputed.
