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Markus Mukenhirn

@markusmukenhirn.bsky.social
2.1K followers 4.5K following 106 posts

Post-Doc @katjaroeper.bsky.social lab @pdncambridge.bsky.social Interested in kidney organoids and lumen formation; Former @honigmann_lab, @biotec-tud.bsky.social, @cmcb-tud.bsky.social,@mpicbg.bsky.social and @boulantlab

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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
epithelial mechanics fan club @epimechfc.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Hsiao, S., Mukenhirn, M., Werner, C., Honigmann, A., & Krieg, E. (2025). Reconfigurable Microenvironments Uncover Mechano‐Sensing Timescales and Direct Cell Polarity. Advanced Functional Materials, 35(49), e13028. #EpithelialMechanics advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Are you looking for a postdoc exploring the cell biology of development, defining how cells change shape and move? Do you want to develop a research program & teaching skills preparing you for a position at a college or small University? Our new NIH grant will support those goals 1/n Please share
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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
MwahahahahahadScientist @mads100tist.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This is it. This is what everyone is enabling by humoring genAI: you spend months writing something that took you years to get at, for an opaque algorithm that a few control to spit a number and cut you off right there and then. This is what we're up against 🧪
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Claire Dessalles @clairedessalles.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
NeMo is finally out! 🐟 We present our new method to peel cellular layers and extract their nematics. If you're wondering what a fish has to do with curved nematics, check out the thread and the publication 👀👇🏼 arxiv.org/html/2609.12...
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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
Osvaldo Chara @osvaldo-chara.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
🧵 What do zebrafish notochord cells 🐟 and Galilean relativity 🚀 have in common? Quite a lot, apparently. 😄 Check this out in the published version of our article in @dev-journal.bsky.social: doi.org/10.1242/dev.... 1/7
doi.org
Coupling Vgll4b/Yap-regulated posterior cell addition with anterior vacuolation enables robust notochord elongation
Highlighted Article: YAP activation in notochord progenitors of vgll4b mutant zebrafish leads to enhanced progenitor addition to the notochord, compromising the ability of notochord cells to undergo v...
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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
Julia Eckert @juliaeckert.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
From cell signaling to collective tissue dynamics, our community is sharing incredible research! 🔬 Thanks to everyone! Want to become an @epimechfc.bsky.social delegate and share your passion for science with us? Reach out and let us host your next thread.🧵 👉 epithelialmechanics.github.io/threads/
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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
Prof. Stefan Rahmstorf @rahmstorf.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Ready for some good news? We can do it! www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Climate solutions most likely to reach ‘positive tipping points’ revealed by scientists
Global shift towards clean electricity could trigger ‘cascade’ of progress, helping reduce air pollution, cut waste and revive oceans
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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
Dr. Lutz Böhm @drlutzboehm.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Ein Tag voller mündlichen Prüfungen beginnt. Da schadet ein wenig physikochemisches Zen nicht. Und damit Guten Morgen!
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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
Stefan Luschnig @luschnig.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Interested in combining #Drosophila genetics, advanced imaging, and modeling to study inter-organ transport and epithelial dynamics? Apply now for #PhD position @uni-muenster.de, integrated in @sfb1348.bsky.social Graduate School. Learn more tinyurl.com/5n86bmsf and tinyurl.com/ypx74a5d
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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
Alejandro Fábregas-Tejeda @alejandrofabregastejeda.com · 08/09/2026
Interesting 📰 @theguardian.com by @samanthsubramanian.bsky.social on non-neural cognition: www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte... Confronted with this polarizing debate, @philosobio.bsky.social & I wrote a balanced take on basal #cognition from an #evobio lens 👇 link.springer.com/article/10.1... #HPS
theguardian.com
‘This is dangerous’: slime moulds and the bitter debate over the nature of intelligence
The long read: Scientists are battling over whether supposedly simple organisms should be considered ‘intelligent’. The outcome could reshape our understanding of the natural world – and our own place...
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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
Cell Press @cellpress.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
New collection from the FlyEM project Team and collaborators is out in @cp-cell.bsky.social and @currentbiology.bsky.social delivering a complete Drosophila melanogaster connectome —a step forward in the quest to link neural circuits and behavior. dlvr.it/TVNg1X
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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
Anh Hoang Le, PhD 🏳️‍🌈🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇻🇳 @anhhle2702.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Very happy to share my postdoc paper is out now in @natcellbio.nature.com titled "Tissue flow acts as a guidance cue for immune cell polarization and directional migration". If you love imaging and immune cells, this is for you! #microscopymonday www.nature.com/articles/s41... A 🧵: 1/n
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Ricarda Lang @ricardalang.eurosky.social · 07/09/2026
Die rechtsextreme AfD hat gestern in Sachsen-Anhalt die Wahl gewonnen und das bei einer  Rekordwahlbeteiligung. Wäre das BSW unter 5% gekommen, hätte sie die absolute Mehrheit. Dieses Ergebnis ist eine Katastrophe, daran gibt es nichts Beruhigendes, nichts was man schön reden kann.
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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
Jasmin Schreiber @schreibersnaturarium.de · 07/09/2026
Mein Herz blutet echt für alle Menschen in Sachsen-Anhalt, die keine Rechtsextremen gewählt haben, und für die, die sich für die Demokratie und ihr Bundesland einsetzen. Es gibt da wirklich so tolle Leute und Institutionen. ❤️‍🩹
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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
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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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
Development @dev-journal.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
The role of geometry in morphogenesis Read this Review from our special issue #DevSIextracellular by Ryan Harrison, Olivier Hamant and @timesaunders.bsky.social. journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
Role of geometry in shaping tissues. Multiple factors, including cell shape (top left), boundary constraints (top right), topological inputs (bottom left) including from different cell alignment defects (±1/2) and biophysical factors (bottom right) impact how the final tissue form emerges (centre). Centre shows images of a 48 h neuruloid (left; magenta, DAPI; green, actin) and a young Arabidopsis flower (right) treated with oryzalin (depolymerised microtubules) thus showing isotropic growth, but no defect in patterning (organs are still initiated in the right position).
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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
Ulrich Schwarz @ulrichschwarz.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Very nice thread on our new paper on competing actin networks now live at PRX Life 😀👍🙏🏻
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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
@MEmilieTerret @memilieterret.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Great speakers, great science, great location = great meeting! EMBO workshop Forces across scale April 27-30, 2027 in Porto. meetings.embo.org/event/27-for...
meetings.embo.org
Forces across scales
This EMBO Workshop on Forces Across Scales will provide an integrative perspective on mechanobiology, a rapidly advancing field that examines how mechanical forces shape biological systems across mol…
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Markus Mukenhirn @markusmukenhirn.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
journals.physiology.org/doi/abs/10.1...
journals.physiology.org
The fibrocystin C-terminal domain inhibits Src/STAT3 signal induced cystogenesis of kidney epithelial cells. | American Journal of Physiology-Cell Physiology | American Physiological Society
Autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease (ARPKD) is caused by impaired function of fibrocystin/polyductin (FPC) in collecting duct epithelia resulting in cyst formation. We hypothesized that the ...
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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
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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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
Traffic @traffic-journal.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Happy 50th anniversary, Clathrin! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... @effc.bsky.social
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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
MwahahahahahadScientist @mads100tist.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
It's out! I will do a thread tomorrow, but for now: rejoice, my microscopy nerds and also learn about zebrafish notochord development! 🧪🐟
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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Very cool new work revealing an unexpected role for cadherins and their associated catenins, mediating interaction with phagocytic neighbors cells during apoptosis
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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
Ulrich Schwarz @ulrichschwarz.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
📢 Paper alert 📢 Now out in New Journal of Physics @ioppublishing.bsky.social: our first passage time analysis of a general batch arrival-degradation model doi.org/10.1088/1367... which models e.g. the time-asymmetric bursty dynamics of vesicle-mediated signaling at neurological synapses.
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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
Sara Wickstrom @sarawickstrom.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Truly honored to recieve this recognition-a testament to the dedication, hard work and creativity of past and current lab members, I am grateful to be able to do science with them. Also want to thank all our wonderful collaborators that facilitate interdisciplinary work essential for new discoveries
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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
Ricard Alert Zenón @ricardalert.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
New paper @natcellbio.nature.com! We propose to understand embryo implantation as active wetting. Embryos from older mothers spread less because they are too contractile and viscous. Experiments by @katecavanaugh.bsky.social and theory by MJ Franco-Oñate in my group. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Elevated contractility drives implantation failure in mouse embryos from aged females - Nature Cell Biology
Cavanaugh et al. show that embryos from aged mice have increased contractility and tissue viscosity on embryonic day 4.5, which leads to poor spreading and attachment. Similar age-associated mechanica...
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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
Rashmi Priya @rashmi-priya.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
A perspective in @natmethods.nature.com on Why forces are fundamental to understanding how life comes into being - by us, @campaslab.bsky.social @yanlanmao.bsky.social @sarawickstrom.bsky.social Miguel Concha, Alba Diz-Muñoz and @streichan.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
The physics of sculpting a living creature - Nature Methods
Cell biologists have long known that mechanical forces, such as tension and compression, influence tissue differentiation. Now, advanced methods are letting them observe and manipulate these forces in...
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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
Willem van Schaik @wvschaik.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Dolly Parton, country star, actor and philanthropist, dies aged 80 Songwriter of I Will Always Love You, Jolene and 9 to 5 also invested millions in child literacy, Covid-19 vaccine development and other causes www.theguardian.com/music/2026/a...
theguardian.com
Dolly Parton, country star, actor and philanthropist, dies aged 80
Songwriter of I Will Always Love You, Jolene and 9 to 5 also invested millions in child literacy, Covid-19 vaccine development and other causes
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Ricarda Lang @ricardalang.eurosky.social · 25/08/2026
Ich habe das Gefühl, viele hier denken häufiger an Annalena Baerbock, als ich an meinen Ehemann.
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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
KatajistoLab @katajistolab.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Happy to see this fantastic paper finally out. Started as a PostDoc in our lab and finished in her own lab at @mpi-cbg.de talented Sandra Scharaw show how intestinal stem cells optimize niche signal reception by multiple lateral Golgi stacks facing Paneth cells www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Golgi organization regulates stem cell function in the small intestine - Nature Communications
Here the authors show that intestinal stem cells reorganize their Golgi apparatus to improve the delivery of receptors that receive signals from nearby support cells. This adaptation promotes efficien...
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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
Andrea Musacchio @andrea-musacchio.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
“An almost unbelievable blunder has occurred in the field of senescence…” forbetterscience.com/2026/06/02/m...
forbetterscience.com
Mind over Antibody
“I considered whether I should email Abcam and ask them to change the name of the ab51243 antibody on their website to reduce confusion, but […] I will instead continue to watch the car…
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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
Katja Röper @katjaroeper.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Scientific and medical progress will be stunted if we don’t find a way to sustainably fund these important resources!
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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
Walker Bragman @walkerbragman.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Note that the statement of agreed upon facts in David Morens’ plea deal demonstrates that he categorically rejected the COVID-19 lab leak theory as “anti-science” at the time of this supposed “conspiracy.” Also, the big gift he accepted supposedly to defraud the U.S.? 2 wine bottles…~$40-50 ea.
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 29/07/2026
cnsplots: Publication-Ready Scientific Plots for Cell, Nature, and Science Journals github.com/faridrashidi... really cool work here from a postdoc at NIH.
github.com
GitHub - faridrashidi/cnsplots: 🎨 Toolkit for generating publication-quality plots for Cell, Nature and Science journals
🎨 Toolkit for generating publication-quality plots for Cell, Nature and Science journals - faridrashidi/cnsplots
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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
Ben Steventon @bensteventon.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Happy to see Carlos Camacho-Macorra’s paper now out in Development! It was a fun collaboration with @osvaldo-chara.bsky.social and Alberto Ceccarelli, to determine how the notochord balances its elongation at both ends. eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...
eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
Coupling Vgll4b/Yap regulated posterior cell addition with anterior vacuolation enables robust notochord elongation
Robust tissue growth control requires long-range communication between the rate of progenitor addition and tissue expansion. However, the regulatory mechanisms that couple these processes are unknown....
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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
Elisha Krieg @elishakrieg.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
How can we record the mechanical activity of cells in three dimensions? Our DNA force-history probes convert transient piconewton forces into persistent fluorescent signals, revealing spheroid activity, cellular protrusions, and migration tracks in a 3D matrix. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
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Roux Lab, Geneva @rouxlab.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Fantastic collaboration with the Kaksonen lab, amazing work from Anne-Laure Boinet with some truly surprising result! Congrats to all contributors!
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Markus Mukenhirn @markusmukenhirn.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
Achiral Odd Mechanics in Cell Monolayers
Cell monolayers are active, orientationally ordered materials whose mechanics can depart from near-equilibrium behavior. Existing continuum theories often inherit assumptions from equilibrium liquid-c...
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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
Petros Ligoxygakis @petrosligoxygakis.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
“If we let only our opponents tell the story, then it becomes a parable about the hazards of striving for progress and equality, rather than about the institutions that reduced equality to a mere PR exercise.” www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
The takedown of Jason Arday has overjoyed the right, and must be a wake-up call for the left | Jason Okundaye
The Cambridge academic has rightly now resigned. But that won’t end the targeting of senior black figures or the lazy way institutions promote faux equality, says Guardian columnist Jason Okundaye
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Cell - a Cell Press journal @cp-cell.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Now online! Basement membrane turnover controls cell shape
dlvr.it
Basement membrane turnover controls cell shape
Basement membranes are scaffolds of proteins, like collagen, that give organs shape. During development, basement membranes must adapt to the growing organ. We infer how fast the basement membrane adapts by measuring collagen turnover. We find that perlecan, another basement membrane protein, regulates collagen turnover to control organ shape.
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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
epithelial mechanics fan club @epimechfc.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Perez-Tirado, A., Unkelbach, U., Oswald, T. A., Rheinlaender, J., ... Honigmann, A., & Janshoff, A. (2025). Differences in apical and basal mechanics regulate compliance of curved epithelia. Cell Reports Physical Science, 6(3), 102485. doi.org/10.1016/j.xc... #EpithelialMechanics
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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
Ricard Alert Zenón @ricardalert.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
New paper! Inspired by gliding bacteria, we introduce active screws: Particles that self-propel by spinning around their propulsion axis. We show that active screws form active chiral nematics. With Debu Banerjee and @lauritzh.bsky.social @mpipks.bsky.social journals.aps.org/prresearch/a...
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paveltomancak.bsky.social @paveltomancak.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
#Twisting embryos and multiple #attachment sites in #Drosophila - now both available as #preprints. Proud of @giuliaserafini.bsky.social & @cuencam15.bsky.social, who worked together & established theory collaborations with @lepuslapis.bsky.social & @carldmodes.bsky.social @mpi-cbg.de at its best
Giulia SerafiniMarina Cuenca
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Özden Terli @terliwetter.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
www.deutschlandfunk.de/wie-man-den-...
deutschlandfunk.de
Von der Demokratie zur Plutokratie? - Wie man den Regimewechsel noch verhindern kann
Geld regiert die Welt, eine alte Weisheit, die Schule macht. Trump und Musk sind dabei, in den USA die Verbindung von Macht und Geld in Politik zu verwandeln.
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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
Journal of Cell Science @jcellsci.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Niharika Patel, Daniel Conway and colleagues find that apical-out polarity in epithelial spheroids requires α6β4 integrins, cell proliferation and anchorage independence. #OpenAccess #ReadandPublish journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
Proposed mechanism for eversion. Epithelial cells in Matrigel or collagen develop with apical-in polarity, forming a single hollow lumen. Local breaks in cell–cell adhesions can induce a rapid collapse of the lumen. This is then followed by a collective migration, using α6β4 interactions across the laminin network that everts the spheroid.
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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
Yanlan Mao @yanlanmao.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
This epic paper, which has been a heroic 10 year journey for the lead author, Ricardo Barrientos, is finally out in Cell today! Many thanks to all co-authors, especially Billie Meadowcroft and Andela Saric for their beautiful MD simulations www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
cell.com
Basement membrane turnover controls cell shape
Basement membranes are scaffolds of proteins, like collagen, that give organs shape. During development, basement membranes must adapt to the growing organ. We infer how fast the basement membrane ada...
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Reposted by Markus Mukenhirn
epithelial mechanics fan club @epimechfc.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Cheng, B., Li, M., Lin, M., Guo, H., & Xu, F. (2025). Mechanobiology across timescales. Nature Reviews Physics, 7(11), 621–644. www.nature.com/articles/s42... #EpithelialMechanicsReview
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Markus Mukenhirn @markusmukenhirn.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Found this cool review on lumina and balloons: arxiv.org/html/2605.01...
arxiv.org
Lumens as active balloons: a biological physics review
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Ulrich Schwarz @ulrichschwarz.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
📢Paper alert📢 Now out in @natcomms.nature.com: malaria parasites in infected red blood cells 🦟🔴 divide asynchronously due to a limiting replication resource🧬. Another great collaboration within #SFB1129 👍 Read our open access paper here: doi.org/10.1038/s414...
doi.org
Competitive resource allocation drives asynchronous and rapid nuclear multiplication in the malaria parasite - Nature Communications
Within red blood cells, Plasmodium falciparum forms cells with multiple nuclei that replicate asynchronously despite residing in a shared cytoplasm. In this study, the authors developed a biophysical ...
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Joël Lemière @joellemiere.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
New preprint! How does a cell "know" how big to make its nucleus? This has puzzled biologists since the 1800’s. We show the answer is physics: colloid osmotic pressure. 🧵1/5
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