iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Juan Manuel Gomez Elliff @gomezjm-devmech.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

📢 🎉Oral presentation at the International Mechanobiology Symposium in Glasgow: Wednesday, Alsh 2 room, 15:30. Come and learn how do epithelial cells mechanically adjust to dramatically stretch using Brillouin microscopy. #ISMB2026 #Mechanobiology #BrillouinMicroscopy #Cytoskeleton @embl.org

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Juan Manuel Gomez Elliff @gomezjm-devmech.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

the most secret desire from Macron is to be a Trump, with good manners

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Virtual Gastrulation Zoom Talks @vgzt2021.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Join us for the next VGZT, featuring complementary approaches to understanding dynamic tissue organization! 🗓️ Thursday, January 22nd ⏰ 9:30 PST / 12:30 EST / 17:30 GMT / 18:30 CET Our speakers are 👉 Chen Yuan Kam (@chenyuankam.bsky.social) 👉 Camilla Autorino (@cami-autorino.bsky.social)

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Priti Agarwal @pritiagarwal.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

🎉 The Developmental Mechanics Seminar Series is back! 🗓️ Thurs, Jan 22 🎙️ Opening talks: 🧬Guy Tanentzapf (UBC) — How cell adhesion molecules wire into the cytoskeleton 🌀Juan Manuel Gomez Elliff (EMBL) @gomezjm-devmech.bsky.social — Mapping tissue mechanics with Brillouin microscopy

tinyurl.com

International Developmental Mechanics Seminar Series

Please fill out the following survey if you are interested in the 2025-2026 International Zoom Seminars on Developmental Mechanics.

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epithelial mechanics fan club @epimechfc.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Malboubi, M., Esteki, M. H., Vaghela, M. B., Korsak, L. I. T., Petrie, R. J., Moeendarbary, E., & Charras, G. (2025). The cytoplasm of living cells can sustain transient and steady intracellular pressure gradients. Elife. doi.org/10.7554/eLif... #EpithelialMechanics

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Juan Manuel Gomez Elliff @gomezjm-devmech.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

Reading early onsets of debilitating blood diseases. Research with biomedical, regulatory and social impact. Quo vadis now?

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Juan Manuel Gomez Elliff @gomezjm-devmech.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

We could add a bit of Brillouin dynamics to this cocktail and 🔥

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paveltomancak.bsky.social @paveltomancak.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

Today our #cephalic #furrow #evolution story hits the shelves in the glossy journal form. How appropriate that it’s architects met in Paris. Missing @bruvellu.bsky.social but joined by #CF enthusiast Mateo Rauzi & @heisenbergcplab.bsky.social @yuchiunwang.bsky.social Steffen Lemke #mechanicsfirst

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Juan Manuel Gomez Elliff @gomezjm-devmech.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

It is Germany, not Heidelberg 🙂. And Berlin does not count as Germany

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Manuel Thery @manuelthery.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

What would happen if cells would express more molecular motors ? They would break all microtubules 😱 As shown by recent great work from @kjverhey1.bsky.social rupress.org/jcb/article-...

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Juan Manuel Gomez Elliff @gomezjm-devmech.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

John’s legacy will continue to inspire. As a developmental biologist, I was profoundly touched by his intellect, generosity, and vision. The Gurdon Institute embodies his belief in creativity and excellence in science. That is his torch that we will carry forward.

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Juan Manuel Gomez Elliff @gomezjm-devmech.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

2) The secret of his chalk drawings: John was renowned for his ability to draw morphogenetic events, e.g. gastrulation, in real-time. Once he 'confessed' that he drew them in green chalk before the class starts, and during the lecture, he followed the trace.

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Juan Manuel Gomez Elliff @gomezjm-devmech.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

Two beautiful memories stand out: 1) John, The Mad Hatter: Seeing Sir John dressed as the Mad Hatter at the Gurdon Institute Christmas party was unexpected and perfect at the same time. He was radiant with joy, and his costume was absolutely perfect, it suited his playful spirit wonderfully.

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Juan Manuel Gomez Elliff @gomezjm-devmech.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

John was always approachable, whether for scientific or political discussions. He was a constant presence at Institute seminars, and there was invariably a key, incisive question coming from him.

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Juan Manuel Gomez Elliff @gomezjm-devmech.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

He created the Gurdon Institute, a top scientific centre at the heart of Cambridge, both geographically and intellectually. My time at the Gurdon Institute began shortly after he received the Nobel Prize.

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Juan Manuel Gomez Elliff @gomezjm-devmech.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

John Gurdon will be deeply missed: a sharp mind, a warm and witty sense of humour, and a visionary who shaped our understanding of developmental biology. I admired his intelligence, envied his prominent hair🙂. Left photo, in archives of Nobel, taken by John Overton, photographer and our lab manager.

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MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology @mrclmb.ac.uk · 08/10/2025

John Gurdon, former Group Leader and Head of @cellbiol-mrclmb.bsky.social has died. Despite calling himself a "total non-intellectual” his work to reprogramme somatic cells to pluripotent stem cells transformed the field of developmental biology. More: www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/john-gurdon-... #LMBNews

Black and white portrait of John Gurdon, 1971

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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 08/10/2025

Dr. John Gurdon, a British biologist and Nobel laureate who in the early 1960s introduced a paradigm-shifting method of cell manipulation that led to the world’s first cloning of a large mammal, a sheep named Dolly, died on Tuesday at 92.

nyti.ms

John B. Gurdon, 92, Dies; Nobelist Paved Way for Cloning of Animals

His work in the manipulation of cells laid the foundation for stem cell biology and regenerative medicine and led to the first cloned large mammal, a sheep named Dolly.

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Juan Manuel Gomez Elliff @gomezjm-devmech.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

And of course, a legacy of Science, and great institute.

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Juan Manuel Gomez Elliff @gomezjm-devmech.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

Couldn t be said better. Great scientist, noble person, great mad hatter at Gurdon parties, best gastrulation drawings on greenboards already pre drawn in disguise by him. 🙂

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Barriga Lab @eliasbarrigalab.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

Are you interested on how regenerating tissues transit between stages? Am sharing here our work showing that during #Xenopus tail regeneration, tissue stiffening activates a Piezo1-Yap1 mechanosensitive cascade to allow wounded epithelia to transit into regenerative states!

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Juan Manuel Gomez Elliff @gomezjm-devmech.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

indeed, so one should start writing early enough

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Mechanobiology Institute @mbisg.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

We would like to once again, thank all the sponsors for their generosity in supporting #MBIMPG2025 @leicamicrosystems.bsky.social @nikoninst.bsky.social @oxfordinstruments.bsky.social, Optics11Life, BGI, Office of Naval Research Global and Paeonia Foundation.

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Juan Manuel Gomez Elliff @gomezjm-devmech.bsky.social · 06/09/2025

Great work from two great scientists that happen to be my friends too, so I am double happy, for Developmental Biology and for them and their groups! Congratulations!!!!!! 🎉🎉Yu Chiun Wang and Steffen Lemke!!!!! @yuchiunwang.bsky.social

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Juan Manuel Gomez Elliff @gomezjm-devmech.bsky.social · 06/09/2025

Great work, congratulations to all co-authors of this beautiful work! @paveltomancak.bsky.social #Mechano-evo-devo #Morphogenesis #Mechanobiology

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Tessmar-Raible Labs @tessmarraiblelabs.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

Interested to use cutting-edge imaging approaches to study the #evolution of #heart #morphogenesis? The Panfilio lab has a fully funded 3-year #postdoc offer in the framework of a new international #HFSP project: tinyurl.com/4p28nzs7 For details and applications, see tinyurl.com/ApplyHeartPo...

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Juan Manuel Gomez Elliff @gomezjm-devmech.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

Thank you very much!!!! Best thing in the world to see a colleague excited about our work!

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Juan Manuel Gomez Elliff @gomezjm-devmech.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

Thank you very much Pavel, looking forward to your opinion about it! 🙂🙏

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Juan Manuel Gomez Elliff @gomezjm-devmech.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

Thanks to everyone who contributed: Carlo for BM, Julio & Abhisha @ncstate.bsky.social for the physical model, @marialep.bsky.social for your feedback and Robert @prevedel-lab.bsky.social for your supervision and allowing me to work freely. BTW: I am looking for GL positions! 👨‍🏫 😃

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Juan Manuel Gomez Elliff @gomezjm-devmech.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

This is the second simulation, with contractility and stiffness increasing over time (the latter derived from what we learnt using Brillouin microscopy):

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Juan Manuel Gomez Elliff @gomezjm-devmech.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

Finally, we developed a physical toy model of mesoderm folding to test if the dynamic, localised increase in stiffness facilitates folding the mesoderm? The answer is YES!. See the simulations ⤵️: first movie: ✅contractility ❌stiffness; second movie: ✅contractility ✅ stiffness.

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Juan Manuel Gomez Elliff @gomezjm-devmech.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

How do microtubules make mesoderm cells -transiently- stiffer? Using live imaging & 3D-SIM, we found microtubules reorganise within the cell's sub-apical compartment, -where we measure the stiffening- by becoming increasingly aligned with each other during mesoderm folding:

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Juan Manuel Gomez Elliff @gomezjm-devmech.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

We wanted to understand what makes the mesoderm transiently stiff during its folding & invagination. We did not see a correlation between actomyosin and the increase in stiffness. But surprise!: We depolymerised microtubules using Colcemid (right panel) and mesoderm cells remained in a softer state😱

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Juan Manuel Gomez Elliff @gomezjm-devmech.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

On the contrary, the ectodermal cells located on the dorsal side of the embryo become softer! In sum, the embryo undergoes two diverging mechanical transitions: mesoderm: stiffening followed by softening; ectoderm: softening. See ⤵️ the softening of dorsal cells when they flatten and stretch:

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Juan Manuel Gomez Elliff @gomezjm-devmech.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

Gastrulation starts when the mesoderm (bottom in ⬆️), folds and invaginates, and next, undergoes EMT. Here, we measured fast and biphasic mechanical dynamics: during mesoderm invagination, cells stiffen (Brillouin shift map -bottom panel-, transient yellow); during EMT, mesoderm cells soften.

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Juan Manuel Gomez Elliff @gomezjm-devmech.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

Using Brillouin microscopy, we measured changes in stiffness within the whole-cell of an intact organism. We focused on the most important event in our life: gastrulation, which in Drosophila is really fast (~30'):

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Juan Manuel Gomez Elliff @gomezjm-devmech.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

What did we find? In our interdisciplinary study, we used Brillouin microscopy to solve a morphogenesis mystery 🕵️🔎: How is the 3D morphology of organisms acquired 🌻🐚🐯? Here, we mapped and investigated the role of the dynamics of cell/tissue mechanical properties (or stiffness) during morphogenesis.

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Juan Manuel Gomez Elliff @gomezjm-devmech.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

If one party bombs scientists it is expected the other party will do the same. If you throw missiles into a country responses will follow. Iran and Israel are neither of them pacific countries, they have aggressive drive. May be we should think about that. And losses are devastating on both ends.

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Juan Manuel Gomez Elliff @gomezjm-devmech.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

My suggestion: let that silly statement not be amplified through our replies. Lets just let it fall in the vacuum of thr forgotten.

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