iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

And here's the real deal. Pretty amazing place.

030

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Acrylic painting of Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, Iceland #art

130

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

Of course a painting won't get everything right but may fuel discussion. Wasn't planning on anyone wanting a copy but if you'd like I can look into it 😁.

110

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

Thanks! Basic idea is you start as mesoderm (top left) and then as development proceeds you suddenly fall off the cliff and are cardiac progenitor. No way to go back. The math also indicates there should be a window where both cells are present, but no hybrid mesoderm-cardiac single cells.

210

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

Just started painting again after many years, working on a few others in this theme of math in the heart.

120

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

My painting of some fun math that we found to be key in cardiac development. We showed that the abrupt switch from mesoderm to cardiac progenitor is driven by a pair of saddle node bifurcations. #sciart

271

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

Missed the #aurora but still good stargazing in #cville

070

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

Happy New Year! Just 5 days until the 4th Netflux and Network Biology Virtual Conference on Jan 7, 1-5 pm ET. Please share. Agenda and free registration at: tinyurl.com/netfluxnet2026

035

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 14/12/2025

Snowy hike to Hawksbill Summit, Shenandoah NP

1130

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

Making the Right Moves is great www.hhmi.org/sites/defaul...

hhmi.org

130

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

Always fun collaborating on networks of cardiac development with Irfan, @benoitbruneau.bsky.social, and team!

061

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

The 4th Netflux and Network Biology Virtual Conference is coming, Jan 7! Talks on network modeling across methods and biological systems. Free! tinyurl.com/netfluxnet2026

080

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 06/12/2025

More snow hike pics, Percival's Island, #Lynchburg

040

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Here's the comparison of time-evolving phase portraits of cardiac differentiation in WT (2 saddlenode bifurcations: mono->bi->new monostable) vs. Brm-KO (reversal of 1 saddlenode bifurcation: mono->bi->old bistable)

000

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Still, I'm very excited by the potential for more generalized Waddington/energy landscapes such as yours for revealing a wide range of transition types.

100

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

In contrast, as @benoitbruneau.bsky.social noted the original Waddington diagram only shows pitchfork bifurcations (2 stable states split off from 1)

100

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Great questions, agreed! There are a number of possible transition types. I think this demo by my daughter of how Brahma KO breaks the second saddle node bifurcation was surprisingly our most intuitive.

100

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

Yes this is very cool! Our Brahma model was more focused and hypothesis driven, but would be cool to see if this data driven approach can find the saddle node bifurcations automatically.

100

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

I think "should" is very important during review. "Suffering happens in the gap we hold between the expectations we have (of preliminary data) and reality." — Poppy Jamie

010

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

Would love to see a survey on what percent of an NIH grant should already be completed as preliminary data.

210

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

Announcing the 4th Netflux and Network Biology Virtual Conference, Jan 7! Free registration and abstract submission (Dec 12). Live demo of the new user-friendly Netflux webapp, student talks, keynote by Suzanne Gaudet (Novartis): bit.ly/4i1eQD6

181

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

Sauce lab dressed for Halloween as favorite proteins! 🎃👻🕷️. I was a serotonin receptor bound to LexaPro for Taylors recent paper.

060

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

Rain fog and leaves turning along Riprap. One of my favorite trails in Shenandoah NP. #hiking

270

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

These show that neuregulin-1 induces cardiomyocyte Feret elongation via sustained PI3K signaling, while transient p38 signaling increases cell size but not shape. This study leverages experimental-computational methods to dissect how signaling dynamics distinctly regulate cell size vs. shape. 3/3

020

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

We first characterized the proteomic, gene expression, and phenotypic responses of cardiomyocytes (including our new cell shape metric Feret elongation) to diverse ligands. We integrated this data with data-driven and mechanistic computational models, validated with new perturbation experiments. 2/

120

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

How do signaling pathways differentially control cell size vs. shape? In a new preprint led by Alice Luanpaisanon, we iterate between experimental and computational methods to discover such pathways. 1/ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

172

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

I would say that tracks but...

010

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

Spooky fall day in Shenandoah NP

130

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

Finally, check out the eye candy! Awesome multi-channel live-cell videos analyzed with machine learning segmentation and tracking. Shows the complex fates that cells commit to. 3/3

050

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

Inhibition of caspase-3 changes a cell's bias from apoptosis to hypertrophy. Initial cell and nuclear morphological features also bias a cell's decisions. These results demonstrate that the single-cell dynamics of cardiomyocyte growth and death are highly heterogeneous and dynamic. 2/3

150

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

Paradoxically, heart failure involves both cell death and growth. How does a cell decide? In a paper at JMCC Plus led by Bryan Chun and Lavie Ngo, we find that rather than dying following hypertrophy, stressed cardiomyocytes commit early to either grow or die. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

171

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 14/09/2025

Thanks! The Point, Rose River Loop, Big Meadows

110

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 05/09/2025

@j-muncie-vasic.bsky.social and @benoitbruneau.bsky.social show that MEF2C is not a one trick pony- it distinctly regulates different regions of heart tube formation. Glad @aclark.bsky.social and I could contribute gene regulatory networks that predict mechanisms.

041

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

Nice to walk out of my backyard onto the #Crozet Connector Trail. #cville

150

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

Further, pharmacologic and postnatal genetic inhibition of DYRK1A enhanced cardiomyocyte cycling and cardiac functional recovery after MI. Overall, our findings reveal network mechanisms by which a small molecule inhibitor drives cardiomyocyte cycling and post-MI functional recovery. 3/3

000

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

We used network modeling to predict mechanisms by which DYRK1A inhibition induces cardiomyocyte cell cycling. We validated these predictions using a recently described small molecular inhibitor of DYRK1A by imaging and RNA sequencing of cultured cardiomyocytes. 2/3

110

Jeff Saucerman @jsauce7.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

Happy to share our latest preprint, "Network Modeling Predicts How DYRK1A Inhibition Promotes Cardiomyocyte Cycling after Ischemic/Reperfusion Injury", in collaboration with Matthew Wolf's lab, led by Bryce Murillo and Alex Young! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

180