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Laura Bianchi

@laurafbianchi.bsky.social
130 followers 202 following 10 posts

Looking at embryonic zebrafish epithelial cells eat and divide under a microscope 🐟🍽🔬 Former PhD student at Ruprecht lab @crg.eu

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Reposted by Laura Bianchi
Biomedical Picture of the Day BPoD @bpodaily.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Eating the Dead: E-cadherin keeps epithelial cells together and equips them for devouring cellular debris 📷 Hanna-Maria Häkkinen, Marta Batet & @laurafbianchi.bsky.social et al @crg.eu in @natcomms.nature.com ➡️ bpod.org.uk/archive/2026... with @rooph.bsky.social
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Laura Bianchi @laurafbianchi.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Thanks a lot Diana!!
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Laura Bianchi @laurafbianchi.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
6/ Importantly, we found that this mechanism isn't zebrafish-specific: E-cadherin-dependent apoptotic cell clearance is conserved in the mouse trophectoderm, pointing to a broader, evolutionarily conserved strategy for epithelial efferocytosis.🐟🐁
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Laura Bianchi @laurafbianchi.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
5/ In other words, the E-cadherin/catenin complexes is repurposed at the phagocytic synapse, acting not as static glue, but as an active mechano-regulator coordinating force generation and restraint during efferocytosis.
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Laura Bianchi @laurafbianchi.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
4/ But this assembly isn’t about adhesion. Targeted perturbations revealed two distinct mechanical functions: -α-catenin transmits actin-generated forces needed to engulf the target -p120-catenin restrains Myosin II activity, allowing efficient, controlled clearance
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Laura Bianchi @laurafbianchi.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
3/ At the basal surface, where phagocytes contact apoptotic cells, we identified a dynamic de novo assembly of the E-cadherin/catenin complex, the same core adhesion machinery normally associated with stable cell-cell junctions.
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Laura Bianchi @laurafbianchi.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
2/ We discovered that E-cadherin is essential for the phagocytic activity of epithelial cells: reducing E-cadherin levels or disrupting its binding capacity leads to a failure of apoptotic cell clearance
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Laura Bianchi @laurafbianchi.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
1/ Epithelial phagocytosis of apoptotic cells is a key innate immune response during development. Live imaging in #zebrafish embryos showed that basal and apical epithelial domains are mechanically decoupled during engulfment, enabling shape change at the base while the apical barrier stays intact.
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Laura Bianchi @laurafbianchi.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
This exciting work has been a wonderful collaborative effort with @hannamariahakkinen.bsky.social , @martabatetpalau.bsky.social and all co-authors from the Ruprecht lab at @crg.eu ! If you want to know more, follow the thread:
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Laura Bianchi @laurafbianchi.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Ever wondered how epithelial cells clear apoptotic cells while maintaining tissue cohesion?🍝🔗 Check our new paper in which we show that E-cadherin plays a dual role in regulating basal cortex dynamics upon phagocytosis while maintaining connected tissue organization www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
De novo E-cadherin/catenin complex formation controls basal epithelial mechanics and force transmission for apoptotic cell clearance - Nature Communications
Epithelial cells remodel their shape during phagocytosis while preserving tissue cohesion. Here, authors show that the E-cadherin/catenin adhesion complex is repurposed at phagocytic contacts, where i...
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Reposted by Laura Bianchi
Fletcher Lab @fletcherlabucb.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
How does a macrophage decide to eat or simply nibble? Check out our latest paper! You can also read this nice review. Congrats Caitlin for leading this amazing work! www.nature.com/articles/s41... www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Target cell cortical tension regulates macrophage trogocytosis - Nature Cell Biology
Cornell et al. show that target cells with low cortical tension induce macrophages to preferentially trogocytose, or engulf in small fragments, whereas target cells with high cortical tension tend tow...
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Laura Bianchi @laurafbianchi.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
I'm extremely happy to say that a new preprint from Ruprecht lab is out! Check it to to know more about a novel role for the E-cadherin/catenin complex in controlling epithelial phagocytosis 🍽🐟🔬
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Reposted by Laura Bianchi
Zebrafish Rock! 🎃 @zebrafishrock.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
Features new works from Stankunas Lab @uoregon.bsky.social, Ruprecht Lab @crg.eu & @campaslab.bsky.social (albeit mammals this time 😉)
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Reposted by Laura Bianchi
bioRxiv Cell Biology @biorxiv-cellbio.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
De novo E-cadherin/catenin complex formation controls basal epithelial mechanics and force transmission for apoptotic cell clearance www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/20…
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Reposted by Laura Bianchi
Xavier Trepat @xaviertrepat.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
How to turn a layer of fibroblasts into a tulip 🌷? Check out our new pre-print on shape-programmable living surfaces. Led by @pauguillamat.bsky.social‬ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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Reposted by Laura Bianchi
Florence Niedergang @florenceniedergang.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
Thrilled to share that our "Poster at a Glance" on #Phagocytosis is out! Thank you @jcellsci.bsky.social @biologists.bsky.social for the invitation ! Prepared with @manondepierre.bsky.social @chiarapompili.bsky.social from @institutcochin.bsky.social journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
journals.biologists.com
Phagocytosis at a glance
Summary: Phagocytosis involves receptor-driven actin and membrane remodelling to engulf microbes and debris. The phagosome then matures for degradation, supporting both nutrition and immune responses.
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Reposted by Laura Bianchi
Esteban Hoijman @estebanhoijman.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
How innate immunity starts? Early embryos eliminate bacterial infections by epithelial phagocytosis, a conserved process from zebrafish to human embryos. Check our story: www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
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Reposted by Laura Bianchi
Anh Hoang Le, PhD 🏳️‍🌈🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇻🇳 @anhhle2702.bsky.social · 29/03/2025
I knew there would be an effect! This has been one of the questions that I had for the longest time. Changing the mechanics of the substrate affects phagocytosis. Very interesting paper! www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
cell.com
A crosstalk between adhesion and phagocytosis integrates macrophage functions into their microenvironment
Cell biology; Organizational aspects of cell biology; Specialized functions of cells; Functional aspects of cell biology
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