iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Alexandre Dumoulin @axonsalex.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Can small extracellular vesicles guide growing axons?🧪 Our new preprint provides evidence that small extracellular vesicle (sEV) secretion regulates axon guidance at a key ventral midline choice point during spinal cord development. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... #neuroscience #EVs #axon

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The EMBO Journal @embojournal.org · 07/09/2026

Dynamic control of cell state transitions during tissue morphogenesis Elias Barriga et al @eliasbarrigalab.bsky.social review how gene expression, chromatin modifications & microenvironmental biophysical factors contribute to robust coordination of morphogenesis link.springer.com/article/10.1...

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epithelial mechanics fan club @epimechfc.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Hi! I’m @vitoryang.bsky.social, a PhD candidate studying how cells migrate collectively during development. My work focuses on cytoskeleton dynamics and Rho GTPase signalling, using Drosophila border cells as a genetically tractable in vivo model.

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Sean Carroll @seanmcarroll.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Ever wonder what "information" really means? Here's our new paper, led by @frosas.bsky.social, that lays out the multiple ways the term is used in natural science. rdcu.be/fCDGv

A chart describing four faces of information: Engineering, Statistical, Thermodynamic, and Ontological.

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Joachim Fuchs @joachimfuchs.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

I guess the same applies to the text, but the change in figures just looks so much more dramatic.

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Joachim Fuchs @joachimfuchs.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

I always find it amazing how much review figures or graphical abstracts change over time and with more understanding of the subject. If one slow-cooks instead of AI-generates figures that is.. 🧪🎨

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BioVoxxel (Jan Brocher) @biovoxxel.de · 30/08/2026

Only 5 days left to get the amazing Scientific Illustration Inkscape Masterclass at a reduced price. From zero to illustration hero in no time. Check it out myablefy.com/s/biovoxxel/...

myablefy.com

Scientific Illustration – Inkscape Masterclass for Life Scientists

Learn to create professional scientific illustrations using Inkscape. This BioVoxxel masterclass covers vector graphics, color theory, and 3D effects for life scientists.

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jmutterer.bsky.social @jmutterer.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

I've made a video about Fig_Space, the next version of FigureJ. It has nice new features, I hope you like it. youtu.be/bTKcXN4p-JM

youtu.be

FigSpace Fiji plugin demo

YouTube video by jerome mutterer

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Joachim Fuchs @joachimfuchs.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

How do molecular features of protein complexes allow cells to behave collectively? And what can we learn from collective cell migration in epithelial and mesenchymal cells to understand brain development? These questions motivated our recent review: doi.org/10.1515/hsz-... 🧪🔬🧠 1/10

Adherens junctions balance stability and motility: from cell morphogenesis to neural tissue patterning

Joachim Fuchs, Kawtar Cherkaoui and P. Robin Hiesinger

Published/Copyright: April 8, 2026

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Nikos Konstantinides @nkonst4.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Calling the hive mind: Has anyone encountered an unusually high number of rDNA-associated reads in a 10x v4 scRNA-seq library? We have millions of reads mapping to Drosophila rDNA, multimapping/low MAPQ, with strong enrichment at specific rDNA regions. Curious if others have seen something similar!

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Joachim Fuchs @joachimfuchs.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Writing this was a lot of fun! Thanks to my co-authors Kawtar Cherkaoui and Robin Hiesinger as well as our reviewers for continuously improving this review! And thanks to the amazing AJ/collective cell migration field for all the inspiring work! Links to a few in the alt-text of the images. 11/10

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Joachim Fuchs @joachimfuchs.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

This opens up some exciting questions for future research: is such collective self-organization of growth cones the default or an exception in developing brains? Do mixed cell populations also grow and sort in similar ways? What about pioneer cells and their followers in time? 10/10

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Joachim Fuchs @joachimfuchs.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

These neurons don't require their postsynaptic partner to sort correctly. Only through the interactions of their growth cone filopodia in a confined, quasi-2D plane, each growth cone "guides" its neighbours to their final destination. A self-organized visual map without an external organizer. 9/10

continuation of previous figure with top and side views of developing Drosophila visual map in lamina.

Panel B (pre 45h after pupa formation), shows the arrival of each growth cone from a specific angle (note: a very similar angle as it leaves the bundle it arrived from, see previous post). These growth cones re-sort collectively based on interactions with their neighbouring photoreceptor growth cones without requiring guidance signals from their future postsynaptic partner. (see Agi et al. 2024, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adk3043.
N-Cadherin stabilizes the bond between the growth cone and its postsynaptic partner cells (L-cells).
Panel B shows a later timepoint (after 50h pupal development) where the sorting plane (lamina plexus) disassembles, and growth cones elongate along their postsynaptic partner cell where they form synaptic connections.

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Joachim Fuchs @joachimfuchs.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

An example occurs in the developing visual map of Drosophila. Here, ca. 5000 growth cones (from the roughly 800 single eyes of a fly's compound eye) re-sort from a retinotopic (one eye = one subregion in the brain) to a visuotopic arrangement (one point in space = one subregion). 8/10

Early phase of Drosophila visual map formation. The image shows a side view and a top view of a developing lamina plexus (around 25h after pupa formation). The side view shows an individual bundle of six photoreceptor axons from one single-eye of the fly's compound eye. The neighbouring photoreceptors are linked by AJ components and sidekick (sdk), the neighbouring bundles by an adhesion-GPCR flamingo (Fmi), thereby preserving the arrangement of cell bodies in the eye to the arrangement of growth cones in the brain (as described by Kehribar et al. 2026, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2026.01.007). The regularly patterned structure in the fly eye thereby translates into a very similar pattern in the developing brain.

In the lamina plexus, each axon turns by 90° to continue extending in a quasi-2D plane where all neighbouring growth cones of the arriving photoreceptors interact.

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Joachim Fuchs @joachimfuchs.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Is such collective migration also found in developing brains? We think so, but with some twists. Not only can cells bodies migrate collectively (e.g. during sorting of neuronal precursors into layers and nuclei in the spinal cord), but also some of their sub-compartments: growth cones! 7/10

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Joachim Fuchs @joachimfuchs.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

In zebrafish embryos during polster cell migration, AJs coordinate which side of a cell can form filopodia. This way, so called follower cells bias where the cells in front of them grow - basically steering from the backseat. Local interactions enable the coordinated movement of a collective. 6/10

Three panels showing various zoom levels of the "guidance by followers" model as described by Boutillon et al. 2022, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2022.05.001
First panel showing the direction of polster cell migration in zebrafish embryo (upwards towards the animal pole, shaped somewhat like a mushroom.
Second panel zooms to the cellular level highlighting filopodia with adherens junctions at their tip predominantly protruding to the direction of migration. The third panel shows the described model by the authors where mechanoresponsive engagement of AJs at the rear of cells prevents the formation of filopodia. This biases filopodia-formation to the front, and thereby steers the cellular collective to migrate forward. Local interactions that seem similar to the movements of a flock of birds

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Joachim Fuchs @joachimfuchs.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

This enables a tissue-scale function: during wound closure, AJs move into opposite directions on the opposing fronts of epithelia (cells migrate forward by treadmilling F-actin). When the fronts meet, treadmilling strengthens AJ-binding (& seals the wound) and treadmilling & migration stops. 5/10

Reciprocal effects of adherens junctions (AJ) and cortical F-actin flow as described by Noordstra et al. 2023 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2023.06.011.

top part shows an AJ coupled to treadmilling F-actin. The AJ moves the same direction as the F-actin it is attached to.

bottom panel: AJs bound transcellularly as well as bound to treadmilling F-actin intracellularly. Given F-actin treadmilling on these cells pulls the AJs into opposite directions, they experience mechanical force, strengthen their binding and accumulate at the interface. This transcellular bond gets so strong, that F-actin can't treadmill any further, and the cells do not move further. In effect the same mechanism that closes the wound tightly (extracellular binding & mechanoresponsive strengthening of AJs), also stops the migration of the cells.

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Joachim Fuchs @joachimfuchs.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Another cool feature: they can be moved around both from within (by treadmilling of the connected F-actin), and from without (if interacting AJs on other cells move). The localization and function of AJs on individual cells can only be fully understood when also looking at its neighbours! 4/10

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Joachim Fuchs @joachimfuchs.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

One cool molecular feature: they adapt their binding strength to mechanical stress they experience. This way, connected cells can buffer acute forces to not tear apart. But at the same time, the reduced adhesion of AJs in the absence of mechanical stress allows for remodelling within tissues. 3/10

Mechanoresponsive strengthening of adherens junctions. With increasing tension, both extracellular binding strength increases (by switching the type of bond from a catch-bond to a slip-bond, and by recruiting more cadherins), as well as the binding to the intracellular actin cytoskeleton (by unfolding of alpha-catenin to link to F-actin, by additionally binding and unfolding Vinculin, and by recruiting afadin as a further linker of AJs to F-actin).
reviewed in much more detail in Campàs et al. 2024 (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41580-023-00688-7) ; Eckert et al. 2025 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ceb.2025.102536); James et al. 2025 (https://doi.org/10.1242/jcs.264055); Pinheiro and Bellaïche 2018 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2018.09.014)

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Joachim Fuchs @joachimfuchs.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Adherens Junctions (AJs) are cellular contact sites established by adhesive transmembrane proteins of the cadherin and nectin-family, and intracellular scaffold proteins. They link cells to each other not just by gluing their membranes, but also by connecting to the cytoskeleton. 2/10

Core adherens junction. Extracellular domains of Nectins & Cadherins interact transcellularly and bind to intracellular scaffold proteins Afadin, beta-catenin, alpha-catenin and p120-catenin. The intracellular scaffold proteins bind to the actin cytoskeleton.

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Joachim Fuchs @joachimfuchs.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

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Floris BOSVELD @florisbosveld.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Doing a Master or PhD and interested in Developmental Biology? Join the free Institut Curie developmental biology course in beautiful Paris this fall! Great speaker lineup, check: training.institut-curie.org/courses/deve... Registration deadline Sept. 18 2026.

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Paul Francois @pfrancois.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

New paper 🧵 What if the "landscape" that guides cell differentiation isn't fixed, but is sculpted, in real time, by the very cells moving through it? We call this a 'sandscape' : grains of sand that carve dunes as they move, while the dunes' shape simultaneously steers where the grains go next.

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Johannes Hohlbein @hohlbeinlab.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

You might have heard about our GitHub repository on #OpenMicroscopy. I finally vibecoded a page that (a) allows to search all entries and (b) generates a new database as soon as items are added on GitHub: hohlbeinlab.github.io/OpenMicrosco... Check it out and comments welcome!

hohlbeinlab.github.io

Open Microscopy — Resource Index

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Helena Klara Jambor @helenajambor.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

😎 to have this out! --> stay tuned, this is a series about 📊#dataviz for #science 🧪

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Andrew Plested @andrewplested.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Just a couple more days to get your application in! www.biologie.hu-berlin.de/en/groupsite...

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Reese Richardson @reeserichardson.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

The Thermo Fisher situation keeps getting worse. We've now collected 450+ problematic images presented as verification data in TF's antibody catalog. This includes: 🖌️ Dozens more images with duplications or painting 🖨️ Hundreds of blots that all share the same background (behold slideshow below)

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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

tl;dr: There never was a paradox of the organism. It was just a mistake about genes. But genetic conflicts do occur and are fascinating. This is also an invitation: if you like the selfish-gene idea, I'd love to hear why. What biological reality does the metaphor capture?

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Andrew Plested @andrewplested.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

I'm quite tempted! Plasmid cloning in the terminal. Amazing concept and execution from @atinygreencell.bsky.social Love it.... "A live spinner and poll counter prove the search is really running, and Cancel actually stops it." 😂 github.com/Binomica-Lab... #Python #bioinformatics

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Fran Bottanelli @franbottanelli.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Exciting to see this out in its final form! Wonderful work led by @probablycarmen.bsky.social. Want to know why protrusions are better at initiating immune signaling in #Tcells? Look no further. Link to Carmen’s 🧵 on the preprint bsky.app/profile/prob...

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Nikos Konstantinides @nkonst4.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Félix Simon's paper is out in its final form 😍 When we got into (extreme) detail in the temporal and spatial patterning of neuroblasts, Félix asked a simple question "sure, but how does this translate into neuronal cell fate?". www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.com

Spatial, temporal and Notch determination of terminal selector expression controls neuronal cell fate in the Drosophila optic lobe - Nature Neuroscience

The authors characterized the spatial origin of Drosophila medulla neurons, completing their previous characterization of the temporal and Notch origins of these neurons and allowing them to correlate...

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Jakob Rentsch @jakobrentsch.eurosky.social · 13/02/2026

New Hiesinger Lab paper! Melinda Kehribar et al. show how Flies preserve the spatial organization of visual input through axonal projections into the brain. A temporal gradient and two adhesive forces ensure a retinotopic map without a target-derived mechanism. #neurosky #neuroskyence #Drosophila

youtube.com

Target-independent retinotopy in Drosophila / Curr. Biol., Feb. 3, 2026 (Vol. 36, Issue 5)

YouTube video by Cell Press

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Berna Devezer @devezer.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

On the publication bias discourse, I regret that metascience has become a source of decontextualized, low-res, bean-counting-focused `science is in crisis' narratives. It is largely uncurious abt science, desperately lacking in theory & measurement. I'll quote a few takes I liked & add my thoughts🧵

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epithelial mechanics fan club @epimechfc.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

How do cells orchestrate themselves to achieve a directional movement as a group? Hi, I’m @sayukihirano.bsky.social. In this thread, I’ll highlight key mechanisms of how cells communicate with each other to perform directional collective migration.

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Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽 @needhibhalla.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

“adoption of AI in science presents what seems to be a paradox: an expansion of individual scientists’ impact but a contraction in collective science’s reach, as AI-augmented work moves collectively towards areas richest in data...

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Nikos Konstantinides @nkonst4.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

I am very happy (and a bit scared) to present to you what we have been working on over the last 4 years. This manuscript is exactly what I dreamt of when I started the lab and I could not be happier and prouder of the outcome!

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Lucien Hinderling @lhinderling.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

Won best thesis award with this video! 4 years of research and play in 3 minutes :') youtu.be/so0fPlK1-LM

youtu.be

Smart microscopy, computer vision, and controlling cells with light -- my PhD thesis in 3 minutes

YouTube video by Pertz Lab

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Hannah Haberkern @hannah-haberkern.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

📢 Join us, the Haberkern lab, @uni-wuerzburg.de for a postdoc studying neural circuit mechanisms of navigation. You’ll spearheading neurophysiology experiments on our brand new 2P! ⏳ Apply by 28th February 2026 Details: www.haberkernlab.de/docs/ENPostd... #neuroscience #academicjobs #postdoc

On the left, the image shows a schematic of a fly head, ring neurons and EPG neurons together with some calcium imaging frames. On the right is a photo of a fly on a ball in virtual reality and another schematic of a VR system.

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Jean-Yves Tinevez @jytinevez.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

We just released a new major version of TrackMate (v8), the cell and organelle tracking plugin of Fiji. It ships many new features, detailed below, but that are articulated around the following:

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Kai Murk @kaimurk.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

This #microscopymonday is a cleaning day. Watch how a #microglia cell mops up and phagozytoses debris and junk in a very messy neuronal co-culture. BTW, it was a proper cleaning job → the neurons made it and formed nice networks Phase contrast imaging started at DIV1. One frame per 20 min.

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Jean-Yves Tinevez @jytinevez.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

Job alert! We are looking for a bioimage analysis to work in an image analysis core facility in beautiful Paris. Can I ask you to share this opportunity with your networks? See also on the forum: forum.image.sc/t/research-e...

forum.image.sc

Research engineer in Bioimage Analysis for the researchers of the inIdEx FORMULA

Hi all We are looking for a bioimage analysis to work in an image analysis core facility in beautiful Paris. Can I ask you to share this opportunity with your networks? The position is in the Instit...

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Siân Culley @superresolusian.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

BioImage analysis friends - King's are recruiting for a full-time, permanent facility position! Come and work with fun microscopes and fun people (and me!) - please share! www.kcl.ac.uk/jobs/126345-...

kcl.ac.uk

Bioimage Analysis Specialist | King's College London

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eLife @elife.bsky.social · 07/09/2025

Reconstructing long-range axons from dense brain images is tough. This study introduces a novel method that separates axon identification from global statistical rules, showing big improvements over existing tools for mapping neuronal projections. buff.ly/OBKr9cM

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Lucien Hinderling @lhinderling.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

🔬🧠 Our paper on smart microscopy & the issue of interoperability! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... LONG THREAD WARNING: Smart microscopy uses real-time image analysis to automatically guide the acquisition or perturbation of the sample (closed feedback-control loop). Many applications exist:

Figure legend: Categories and capabilities of smart microscopy systems integrating real-time image analysis and feedback control. Top: Smart microscopy workflows can be classified based on the driving logic behind decision-making: Event-driven (reacting to rare biological events), Outcome-driven (using feedback-control to steer biological systems toward a desired state), Quality-driven (optimizing signal quality or imaging metrics), and Information-driven (guided by models that predict which measurements/perturbations will yield the most informative data). Middle: Central feedback loop between the microscope and an image analysis system, which continuously
exchanges images and commands to guide acquisition dynamically. Bottom: Key control actions enabled by smart microscopy: adjusting imaging modality (e.g. switching from brightfield to fluorescence, adjusting sampling rate), repositioning the field of view (e.g. tracking, drift correction), optimizing acquisition settings (e.g. adaptive optics),
and performing photomanipulation (e.g. FRAP, ablation, optogenetics).

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Lucien Hinderling @lhinderling.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

Automated optogenetic control of hundreds of cells in parallel. Each cell is individually steered, collectively acting as a "tissue printer". Preprint & code out! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Yi-Jyun Luo @yjluo.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

Our bryozoan paper is out in @genomeresearch.bsky.social! Led by @tomlewin.bsky.social, we report genome shuffling across the phylum and synteny evidence for the Lophophorata hypothesis. Grateful to John Bishop @thembauk.bsky.social and the DToL project for sharing openly! doi.org/10.1101/gr.2...

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FlyBase @flybase.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

FlyBase needs your help! We ask that European labs continue to contribute to Cambridge, UK FlyBase, whereas US and other non-European labs can contribute to US FlyBase. For more information and how to donate: wiki.flybase.org/wiki/FlyBase...

wiki.flybase.org

FlyBase:Contribute to FlyBase - FlyBase Wiki

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