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Aline Grata

@alinegrata.bsky.social
98 followers 215 following 20 posts

PhD student working on epithelial cell extrusion in Romain Levayer’s Lab | Social media for Piplettes Magazine ✍🏻 📍Pasteur Institute

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Reposted by Aline Grata
epithelial mechanics fan club @epimechfc.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
Hello epithelia enthusiasts! I’m @inesfournon.bsky.social and I study epithelial mechanics in sea anemones 🪼 Did you know epithelial cell extrusion had never been described outside bilaterian animals before? Well… not anymore 👀 Read ⬇️🧵1/9
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Reposted by Aline Grata
Nisha Veits @nveits.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
How is developmental speed regulated ? 🪰 Happy to share my PhD story from Schweisguth Lab @devstempasteur.bsky.social. Here we show that cellular NAD+ availability and redox constrain developmental speed in the fly eye. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... A big thanks to everyone involved!
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Aline Grata @alinegrata.bsky.social · 04/07/2025
Check out my first #preLight on the work of Sokol's team exploring PCP and mechanosensation! It was so much fun to pick a preprint, read it, write about it, and even get to ask the authors questions directly. I have a feeling this is just the beginning of many more preLight posts to come! 🙌
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Reposted by Aline Grata
epithelial mechanics fan club @epimechfc.bsky.social · 29/06/2025
Epithelial morphogenesis is all about how epithelial tissues develop unique shapes and structures! I'm @nehaghosh.bsky.social and will share some research in this area.
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Aline Grata @alinegrata.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
This project was definitely a joint effort by multiple people. A huge thank you to all the members of Brian Mitchell’s lab at Northwestern University, and a very special thank you to the other co-first authors, Jennifer Sheridan and Julia Dorr!
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Aline Grata @alinegrata.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
Our work suggests that although AK7 localizes at cilia, it has a non-ciliary function too, related to centriole maturation. We propose that the centriolar defects underlie much of the reduction in cilia number, contributing to the loss of mucociliary flow in AK7-depleted tissues, indicative of PCD.
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Aline Grata @alinegrata.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
We observed that AK7 depletion leads to defects in centriole docking, with centrioles remaining sub-apical and therefore failing to nucleate motile cilia.
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Aline Grata @alinegrata.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
The mechanism? Centrioles! Cilia are anchored to the apical surface of MCCs via 150-200 centrioles, also known as basal bodies. These structures are generated close to the nucleus and then migrate apically, where they dock at the cell surface and subsequently give rise to cilia.
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Aline Grata @alinegrata.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
We also performed SEM imaging and observed that ciliary structures are impaired when AK7 is lacking, with reductions in both cilia number and length.
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Aline Grata @alinegrata.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
Loss of AK7 was related to PCD-like phenotypes, with decreased fluid flow and reduced beat frequency of MCCs. One of the challenges was to find a way to visualize live ciliary beating with a good enough spatiotemporal resolution (tipically cilia are around 15μm long with beating frequency of 15Hz).
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Aline Grata @alinegrata.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is a condition characterized by impaired mucociliary flow. Mutations in the AK7 gene have been found in patients, but AK7’s role in flow was unclear. We investigated this matter in flow-generating multiciliated cells (MCCs) in the skin epithelium of Xenopus embryos.
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Aline Grata @alinegrata.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
Super excited to share that the final version of our study on the role of Adenylate Kinase 7 (AK7) on centriole maturation is finally out! @devbiol.bsky.social Read the full version here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Centriolar defects underlie a primary ciliary dyskinesia phenotype in an adenylate kinase 7 deficient ciliated epithelium
The skin of Xenopus embryos contains numerous multiciliated cells (MCCs), which collectively generate a directed fluid flow across the epithelial surf…
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Aline Grata @alinegrata.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
This project was definitely a joint effort by multiple people. A huge thank you to all the members of Brian Mitchell’s lab at Northwestern University, and a very special thank you to the other co-first authors, Jennifer Sheridan and Julia Dorr!
000
Aline Grata @alinegrata.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
Our work suggests that although AK7 localizes at cilia, it has a non-ciliary function too, related to centriole maturation. We propose that the centriolar defects underlie much of the reduction in cilia number, contributing to the loss of mucociliary flow in AK7-depleted tissues, indicative of PCD.
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Aline Grata @alinegrata.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
We observed that AK7 depletion leads to defects in centriole docking, with centrioles remaining sub-apical and therefore failing to nucleate motile cilia.
100
Aline Grata @alinegrata.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
The mechanism? Centrioles! Cilia are anchored to the apical surface of MCCs via 150-200 centrioles, also known as basal bodies. These structures are generated close to the nucleus and then migrate apically, where they dock at the cell surface and subsequently give rise to cilia.
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Aline Grata @alinegrata.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
We also performed SEM imaging and observed that ciliary structures are impaired when AK7 is lacking, with reductions in both cilia number and length.
100
Aline Grata @alinegrata.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
Loss of AK7 was related to PCD-like phenotypes, with decreased fluid flow and reduced beat frequency of MCCs. One of the challenges was to find a way to visualize live ciliary beating with a good enough spatiotemporal resolution (tipically cilia are around 15μm long with beating frequency of 15Hz).
100
Aline Grata @alinegrata.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is a condition characterized by impaired mucociliary flow. Mutations in the AK7 gene have been found in patients, but AK7’s role in flow was unclear. We investigated this matter in flow-generating multiciliated cells (MCCs) in the skin epithelium of Xenopus embryos.
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Reposted by Aline Grata
Tom Cumming @tomcumming.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
The effector caspases drive cell death, but their activation can often be survived, so how do cells make this decision? Our new preprint from @levayerr.bsky.social shows that instantaneous caspase activity is important, but past activation has a key role to play! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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Reposted by Aline Grata
Piplettes Magazine @piplettesmagazine.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
New article alert! Ever met someone who looks exactly like you? Science says it’s more than a coincidence! Read more on the science of look alikes in our latest piece, written by Silvia, PhD student in epigenetics🧬 www.piplettes-pasteur.com/post/you-may...
piplettes-pasteur.com
You may have a twin and you don’t know it: the science of look-alikes
Perhaps someone has already told you that you look like someone else, but is it actually true? It is! Science suggests that there is someone in the world that looks like you and that even shares your ...
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Reposted by Aline Grata
Journal of Cell Science @jcellsci.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
In their Cell Science at a Glance article, @alinegrata.bsky.social & @levayerr.bsky.social @pasteur.fr describe the remodelling steps that take place within dying or extruding cells, outlining the commonalities & variations between tissues &organisms. journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
Epithelial cell extrusion at a glance Icon for The Forest of Biologists
In collection: Adhesion , Cytoskeleton , Mechanobiology
Aline Grata, Romain Levayer
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Aline Grata @alinegrata.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
We tried to cover everything we could - from the overall dynamics of extrusion, to the junction remodeling it requires, until the tissue-scale regulations and its physiological and clinical implications. …I might be biased, but how fascinating is it to see how much there is still to discover?🤩
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Aline Grata @alinegrata.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
So happy to share that our review on epithelial cell extrusion is out! @levayerr.bsky.social Extrusion is such a plastic, context-dependent process, so capturing it visually in the poster that accompanies the article was a super challenging but fun task! journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
journals.biologists.com
Epithelial cell extrusion at a glance
Summary: Cell extrusion is a conserved process that leads to seamless expulsion of epithelial cells from tissues. This Cell Science at a Glance describes the functions and underlying mechanisms of cel...
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Reposted by Aline Grata
Levayer Lab @levayerr.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
Everything you always wanted to know about cell extrusion in one poster...check out this nice visual piece from @alinegrata.bsky.social and the accompanying review in this "at a glance" piece of @jcellsci.bsky.social journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
journals.biologists.com
Epithelial cell extrusion at a glance
Summary: Cell extrusion is a conserved process that leads to seamless expulsion of epithelial cells from tissues. This Cell Science at a Glance describes the functions and underlying mechanisms of cel...
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Aline Grata @alinegrata.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
Just wrapped up an amazing 2-week Principles and Applications of Fluorescent Microscopy #PAFM course @pasteur.fr! Built a microscope, designed a confocal, attended great talks, and got hands-on with the latest tech🔬💡 Great mix of theory and practice. 10/10, highly recommend!🤩 #microscopy #biology
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Aline Grata @alinegrata.bsky.social · 18/01/2025
Check out this great article 🫶🏼 Whales, oceans, hearts adaptations, and whatnot🔬✨ Also available in French 🇫🇷 ! @piplettesmagazine.bsky.social
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