Marin Barisic

See this? This = implanting mouse embryo. Usually this happens inside its mother and is invisible to us, but we can actually watch implantation ex vivo with the hope of understanding why implantation goes awry in embryos of older women. A 🧵...

New Aurora A kinase role in maintaining proper nuclear shape organization at mitotic exit:
NuMA inhibition causes its dynamic-to-solid material-state transition, leading to bending of segregated mitotic chromosomes
Sachin Kotak @spindlebehavior.bsky.social et al
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

Computational image analyst (m/f/d) The Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine in Münster, Germany, has an opening for a

My lab @mpi-muenster.bsky.social is looking for a computational biologist with a passion for imaging and spatial biology. A staff scientist position with long-term perspective! Apply and spread the word 🙏 jobs.mpi-muenster.mpg.de/jobposting/0...

Microtubules: from atoms to complex systems

Microtubules: from atoms to complex systems www.embl.org/about/info/c...

The BUB1 and BUBR1 paralogs scaffold the kinetochore fibrous corona The kinetochore fibrous corona docks on CENP-E and a second elusive receptor identified as the checkpoint protein BUB1.

The BUB1 and BUBR1 paralogs scaffold the kinetochore fibrous corona | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Congratulations @vcmentowski.bsky.social for solving a remarkably challenging molecular puzzle

The kinetochore corona orchestrates chromosome congression through transient microtubule interactions https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.10.675486v1

go.bsky.app/KqsM3kd

Happy to share our work in @embojournal 👉 shorturl.at/zXNyn
For decades, we’ve known cells dismantle & rebuild the nuclear envelope in sync with spindle poles. But why does this coordination matter? And how do pole material properties ensure error-free division?
Follow this thread to know more 👇

Chromosome condensation mechanically primes the nucleus for mitosis Timely and accurate transition into mitosis is essential to preserve genome integrity and avoid chromosome segregation errors. This transition depends on spatial and temporal activity patterns of the ...

New preprint from the lab! Please check it out. 🚨
Have you ever wondered how cells decide when it’s time to divide? So did we!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A persistent intracellular bridge and cell cycle misregulation enable polar body cell divisions and tumor formation in Mos-deficient eggs Mammalian female meiosis is uniquely regulated to produce a developmentally competent egg capable of supporting embryogenesis. During meiosis I, homologous chromosomes segregate, with half extruded in...

Check out our new manuscript on biorxiv on the role of MOS in mammalian oocyte meiosis: www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
With @schindlerlab.bsky.social @giselacairobaza.bsky.social @muhammad-haseeb.bsky.social

Excited to share our new @NatureComms paper! We developed C-604, a selective inhibitor of Greatwall kinase, and discovered that cancer cells' sensitivity to it depends on a simple ratio: B55α/Greatwall expression levels.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Is anyone in continental Europe looking for a lab manager? I have a fabulous candidate - let me know and please RT!

Narozna et al @gorbskylab.bsky.social uncover a high-frequency, chromosome 12-specific mis-segregation error in iPSCs. Eroded 12p arms lead to bridging & micronucleation, enabling widespread trisomy 12. A slight growth advantage allows trisomic cells to persist & dominate rupress.org/jcb/article/...

The discovery of CENP-A, the centromere-specific histone H3 variant turns 40 years!
Grant Rowley wrote a wonderful historical piece on the cell cycle control of this fascinating piece of chromatin! Check it out.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Geng, @kjverhey1.bsky.social et al find that KIF1C forms condensates where the exposed #kinesin motor domains entangle nearby #microtubules, causing them to bend & break in a process dependent on motor processivity, cluster properties, cytoplasmic viscosity, & MT anchors rupress.org/jcb/article/...

Thanks Adrian!

Thank you, Vladimir!

Huge thanks to our collaborators Fadhil Kamounah, @pittelkowlab.bsky.social and Morten Meldal for generating clickable PTL and performing molecular dynamics and AlphaFold modeling, and Brian Weinert, Chuna Choudhary, @lgamon.bsky.social and Michael Davies for the mass-spectrometry analysis! 11/11

We propose a model in which the natural product parthenolide covalently binds Cys54 of BUGZ, inhibiting its ability to facilitate proper kinetochore-microtubule attachment required for accurate chromosome segregation in mitosis. 10/11

Finally, we analyzed PTL-bound BUGZ using mass spectrometry and identified Cys54 of BUGZ as the binding site of PTL. 9/11

...and alkyne parthenolide was strongly reduced at the kinetochores of BUGZ-depleted cells, indicating that BUGZ is the main target of parthenolide at the kinetochores! 8/11

Indeed, BUGZ depletion showed a similar mitotic phenotype as observed in parthenolide-treated cells... 7/11

Next, the pull-downs from alkyne parthenolide-treated cells were clicked to the azide agarose beads and analyzed by quantitative mass spectrometry. Using this approach, we identified ZNF207/BUGZ as the most promising candidate involved in the regulation of kinetochore-microtubule attachments. 6/11

First, we generated a clickable derivative of PTL with an alkyne group, clicked it to an azide-fluorophore and monitored intracellular localization of PTL by microscopy. In line with its mitotic effects, we found that PTL localizes at kinetochores in prometaphase cells! 5/11

To identify mitotic targets of PTL, we combined click chemistry with quantitative mass spectrometry and microscopy. 4/11

We found out that PTL does not alter microtubule dynamics directly but rather obstructs the formation of kinetochore-microtubule attachment in early mitosis. 3/11

When added to cells prior to mitosis, the natural product parthenolide (PTL) interferes with chromosome congression to the metaphase plate, causing a strong mitotic arrest. 2/11

Check out our latest research now out @embojournal.org. Huge shout-out to our postdocs Susana Eibes and Bhagya Lakshmi and the rest of the team for their amazing work! 1/11

Microscopy Training Grants Supporting microscopy training for early-career researchers in cell biology Apply for a grant of up to £1,000 Application dates: 6 June 2025 5 September 2025 7 November 2025

If you would like to attend a #microscopy or #bioimageanalysis training course in the next 6 months but don’t have funding, check out our Microscopy Training Grant from @jcellsci.bsky.social and @focalplane.bsky.social.

Next deadline: 6 June 2025

www.biologists.com/grants/jcs-f...

#Training

A highly stable monomeric red fluorescent protein for advanced microscopy - Nature Methods The red fluorescent protein mScarlet3-H is bright, photostable and very robust to high temperature, chaotropic conditions and oxidative environments. mScarlet3-H works well in correlative light and el...

www.nature.com/articles/s41...