iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Blake Hernandez @loxstoplox.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Thrilled to be back in my home state preaching the gospel of Actin. Big thanks to Rice Bioengineering for the invitation to present my work!

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Reposted by Blake Hernandez

Kevin Terretaz @kwolbachia.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

Another aspect to consider is how much colors are saturated, depending on the LUT, the screen type and settings it can make a huge difference on data readability. Green Fire Blue is popular but really saturated

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Blake Hernandez @loxstoplox.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

Not all colormaps are created equal. Notice the nonlinear brightness scaling in two very popular ImageJ LUTs! (Glow & GFB)

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Reposted by Blake Hernandez

Spirochrome @spirochrome.com · 23/06/2025

Let's start the week with this movie kindly shared by @loxstoplox.bsky.social The movie shows a mouse embryo labeled with Formin-2-GFP and SPY650-DNA during nuclear envelope breakdown. Note the nuclear dilution of Formin-2-GFP immediately before the SPY650-DNA labeled chromosomes start compaction.

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Reposted by Blake Hernandez

Science Magazine @science.org · 30/05/2025

New findings in Science demonstrate that successful mitosis may draw on more mechanisms than commonly assumed. Learn more in this #SciencePerspective: scim.ag/4dFbqnp

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Rewriting the rules of cell division

Microtubules get help from actin filaments during mitosis

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Reposted by Blake Hernandez

Andy Moore @aaandmoore.bsky.social · 25/05/2025

Actin sun.

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Blake Hernandez @loxstoplox.bsky.social · 24/05/2025

You appear to suggest that nuclear actin filaments disassemble during interphase. However, using phalloidin labeling we observed that nuclear actin density increases over the course of cell cycle progression.

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Blake Hernandez @loxstoplox.bsky.social · 24/05/2025

Hi Robert, I’m assuming this is in response to Manuel’s post. I’m very familiar with your paper, nice work! Again, I disagree that the conclusions in my paper are similar to yours. In fact, here’s an example from your paper where we reach very different conclusions.

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Blake Hernandez @loxstoplox.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

A big thank you to our collaborators and the entire lab for their support inside and outside of lab! And huge shoutout to UPenn alum and actin guru @aaandmoore.bsky.social for key technical advice during the early stages of the project!!

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Blake Hernandez @loxstoplox.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

I won’t spoil the details of the entire paper here, but we also identified a network of branched actin at the metaphase spindle periphery that modulates spindle size, offering a new explanation for the spindle scaling behavior seen in large acentriolar cells.

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Blake Hernandez @loxstoplox.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

Surprisingly, network contraction is not driven by myosin-2. We instead found that contractile stress is generated by filament disassembly within the crosslinked network. We propose that after nebd, formin dilution from the nuclear region triggers filament disassembly and network contraction.

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Blake Hernandez @loxstoplox.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

Actin to the rescue! A network of nuclear actin cables captures prophase chromosomes and contracts following nuclear envelope breakdown, gathering chromosomes towards the cell center. We propose that this mechanism of chromosome organization is required to achieve mitotic fidelity.

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Blake Hernandez @loxstoplox.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

Even more puzzling, the first phase of mitotic chromosome organization occurs independently of spindle microtubules. So then what cellular component generates the necessary force to organize chromosomes?

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Blake Hernandez @loxstoplox.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

It’s therefore puzzling that spindle assembly in the early embryo is highly inefficient, exemplified by comically disordered spindles during early mitosis (shown below).

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Blake Hernandez @loxstoplox.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

In the classical view of mitotic cell division, the spindle apparatus maintains principal control of chromosome capture and alignment. Any breakdown in spindle function can result in chromosome mis-segregation, producing daughter cells with abnormal chromosome number.

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Blake Hernandez @loxstoplox.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

I’m excited to announce that my paper describing non-canonical mitotic mechanisms in the early mouse embryo is out in @science.org ! (link at end of 🧵)

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Blake Hernandez @loxstoplox.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

The first part of the paper is indeed closely aligned with great work from the Lenart lab. It’s also important to note that our paper focuses on mitosis, whereas much of the work you referenced centers on meiosis.

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Blake Hernandez @loxstoplox.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

Regarding your comments on novelty: while it’s true that our work builds on the results of others (including your own), I disagree with the comparison to great work from the Schuh, Mogessie, or Grosse labs.

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Blake Hernandez @loxstoplox.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

Hi Manuel, big fan of your work! I’d like to point out that the manuscript you reviewed is not the version that was ultimately published. Once you’ve had a chance to read the final version, I’d really appreciate hearing your thoughts.

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Blake Hernandez @loxstoplox.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

Thank you Christophe!! I’ll post a thread later today

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Blake Hernandez @loxstoplox.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

Quincy gets my vote for Off the Wall alone!

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Reposted by Blake Hernandez

Andy Moore @aaandmoore.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

What started as a brief chat with @buvansr.bsky.social and @vgelfand.bsky.social at the 2023 CellBio meeting @ascbiology.bsky.social has grown into our published collaborative work on single vimentin IF dynamics and organization in cells. Love when stuff like that happens.

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