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Franze Lab

@franzelab.bsky.social

379 followers 122 following 25 posts

We are interested in the mechanobiology of the nervous system. @cam.ac.uk @fau.de @mpi-scienceoflight.bsky.social (MPZPM)

Posts Replies Media

Franze Lab @franzelab.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

As every year, we had an exciting practical at @pdncambridge.bsky.social where vet students are shown how to handle reptiles. Big thanks to #AmazingReptiles !!

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Franze Lab @franzelab.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Building on our ex vivo results, we stiffened a local brain region – using sustained compression. This significantly increased Sema3A expression, showing that tissue mechanics instruct chemical guidance cues in vivo.

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Franze Lab @franzelab.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Is stiffness alone enough to change chemical guidance cues? Embedding soft brain regions in stiff 3D gels incresed levels of chemical guidance cues (using #HCRimaging) compared with soft 3D gels.

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Franze Lab @franzelab.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Lower N-cadherin and NCAM1 levels result in softer brains AND a decrease in Sema3A. Changing tissue stiffness seems to be enough to alter chemical guidance cue expression.

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Franze Lab @franzelab.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

How does Piezo1 regulate brain #stiffness? Softening is not due to fewer cells, softer cells, or cytoskeletal changes. What changes is cell-cell #adhesion! Reducing Piezo1 decreases N-cadherin and NCAM1 (two major adhesion proteins).

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Franze Lab @franzelab.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Piezo1 regulates the mechanical landscape of the brain. Depleting it results in softer brain tissue (which isn’t just a consequence of decreasing chemical guidance cues).

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Franze Lab @franzelab.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Downregulating Piezo1 in the developing brain strongly reduces the expression of long-range chemical guidance cues, such as Semaphorin 3A (Sema3A) and Slit 1. Piezo 1 isn’t just mechanical - it shapes the chemical landscape essential for long-range axon navigation.

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Franze Lab @franzelab.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

🧠 In the developing #Xenopus brain, retinal ganglion axons follow a precise path to the optic tectum. Reducing #Piezo1, a mechanosensitive ion channel, in axons or surrounding tissues, result in axons stalling, wandering, or misrouting.

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