iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

9/Big picture takeaway: A transient extracellular matrix protein (DPY-6) acts as a molecular mold that propagates spatial information across tissue regeneration cycles. Not just building structure—but copying it.

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8/Mechanistically, its C-terminal “cysteine cradle domain” is essential. Removing this domain: • disrupts furrow alignment • causes collagen bundles to become misoriented • phenocopies strong patterning defects

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7/DPY-6 is only required after the first embryonic cuticle. The initial pattern can form without it—but later molts need DPY-6 to replicate that pattern correctly. So it’s not the origin of periodicity—it’s the copier.

6/What does DPY-6 do? it acts like a template: a temporary scaffold that tells newly secreted collagens where the periodic furrows should go. no DPY-6 → furrow collagens are secreted and self-assemble into a pasta-like disorganised pattern

5/Enter DPY-6, a mucin-like protein that appears early, transiently, and exactly at the time new cuticle patterns are formed. It localizes to future furrow positions—but disappears once the mature cuticle is built.

4/Moreover, these 6 collagens depend on each other: If one is missing, the rest get stuck inside cells instead of being secreted—suggesting they travel or assemble as a coordinated complex.

3/These furrow collagens are initially made as membrane-associated proteins. To be secreted into the cuticle, they must be cleaved from a transmembrane domain. Blocking this cleavage → no secretion in the cuticle → →induction of the immune response in the epidermis

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2/Key structural components are six “furrow collagens” (DPY-2, DPY-3, DPY-7, DPY-8, DPY-9, DPY-10). They are essential for: • periodic furrow formation in the cuticle • normal body shape • immune balance in the epidermis

1/The system: the worm cuticle, a protective extracellular matrix #aECM that gets rebuilt 4 times at every larval molt. It has striking periodic circumferential “furrows” that must be precisely positioned each time the animal grows.

European Research Council (ERC) @erc.europa.eu · 17/04/2026

Spatial memory in tissue architecture: how a transient extracellular scaffold propagates positional information #aECM #Celegans @plos.org 🙏to talented Sophie Mazzoli @ciml.bsky.social @centuri-ls.bsky.social @univ-amu.fr & great collaborations @dynamo-lab.bsky.social @meera-sundaram.bsky.social 🧵👇

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The number of grant applications is rising sharply. Our capacity for their evaluation isn’t. ERC President Maria Leptin explains why stricter resubmission limits are being introduced for 2027 calls and what they mean for applicants. 🔗 link.europa.eu/xF7kjc

link.europa.eu

ERC President explains stricter application measures amid rising demand for funding

The text of an open letter sent by ERC President Maria Leptin to ERC panel members, grantees and other stakeholders on 16 April 2026.

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Jean Léon Maître @maitrejl.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Congratulations to these excellent CNRS PIs 🤩 for their promotion (pending a lot of bureaucracy🥲)! Full details in the link c3n-cn.fr/2025/12/12/c...

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Jean Léon Maître @maitrejl.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

Congratulations to the shortlisted candidates at section 24 of CNRS! c3n-cn.fr/2025/12/12/c...

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Pujol lab @pujol-lab.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

… but this is not a C.elegans….🤔

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PLOS Biology @plosbiology.org · 19/03/2026

What concrete steps can we take to reinforce #biorisk management? In this Perspective, an international group of experts advocate for better global standards for #pathogen research. 🧪 #MicroSky #DURC plos.io/3NN7451

No matter where they are performed, studies with infectious agents need ironclad biorisk management. This can be promoted through robust gatekeeping of funding and publication, using a new formal reporting standard for pathogen research.

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Alfredo Sciortino @asciortino.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

This weekend we projected cells and filaments on the roof of the @museeorsay.bsky.social in Paris, then we contracted it with a pinch of myosin. And it was fabulous! Grateful to have been part of this art/science project & thx to @manuelthery.bsky.social @lblanchoin.bsky.social & the CytoMorphoLab

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Pujol lab @pujol-lab.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

👉unofficial guidelines for CNRS application in cell biology, development or evo-devo c3n-cn.fr/section-24-w...

c3n-cn.fr

Section 24 – Competition – Coordination des instances du Comité National

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Oded Rechavi @odedrechavi.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

Read this inspiring perspectives coauthored by the Worm Resource directors and worm Nobel Laureates! 4 Nobel Prizes and how they were enabled by major NIH-supported research resources (the Caenorhabditis Genetics Center, WormBase, and WormAtlas) www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

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Meera Sundaram @meera-sundaram.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

#aECM Cub starts next week Nov 18 with talks on patterning the Drosophila lens, mouse tectorial membrane, and C.elegans cuticle furrows. You can still sign up for access using the link below.

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Pujol lab @pujol-lab.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

... a new virtual seminar series on apical extracellular matrix #aECM on different #organisms 🪱🪰🐁🌱🦠will start in Fall 2025, with short talks and discussions If you are interested 👉https://forms.gle/Y6UjbnXPH1pDHAE97 @meera-sundaram.bsky.social @gotworms.bsky.social @heiman.bsky.social

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Christophe 🔬 Leterrier @christlet.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

Isotropic STED resolution (~70 nm) with a single objective using a new type of light modulator. "m-order vortex retarder" sounds like a Star Trek contraption but the images are stunning! arxiv.org/abs/2507.06718

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Baris Tursun @baristursun.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

Fantastic Nobel Moment at #worm25 with Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun.

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Bruce Hinze @brucehinze.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

“No Kings” demonstration, Ocean Beach, San Francisco

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Pujol lab @pujol-lab.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

So true… so my next goal: simplify/linearize the stories and publish before they leave 😂😂 and Carpe Diem…

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epithelial mechanics fan club @epimechfc.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

Oil form droplets when mixed with alcohol, your monolayers dewet to form spherical aggregates, your friends dancing in a club form a circle, why? I’m @challopeau.bsky.social and I will tell you about the origins and consequences of interfacial tension in tissues.

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Buzz Baum @buzzbaum.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

With a heavy heart I have decided not to attend a meeting in the US this June. I can’t act as if things are normal when science, universities, dissent & truth are all under threat. And I feel I can’t attend when there are scientists who are not able to travel to the US without fear of arrest.

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Pujol lab @pujol-lab.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

#fluorescenceMonday another nice example of regionalization of #aECM, during development #celegans vulv(a), of one of the Cystein Cradle domain # ECM protein, a familiar shape in Marseille😉 🙏to Sophie Mazzoli, @france-bioimaging.bsky.social platform @ciml.bsky.social & www.excitingworms.eu/SEGiCel/

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Pujol lab @pujol-lab.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

in a new micropub 🙏 @micropub7n.bsky.social we shows the secretion of the Antimicrobial Peptide nlp-29 in the apical extracellular matrix #aECM upon several aECM damage in #Celegans 🙏Henrik Bringmann @cmcb-tud.bsky.social for the KI strain doi.org/10.17912/mic...

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Pujol lab @pujol-lab.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

these apposed mitochondria reveal a novel striated contact site

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epithelial mechanics fan club @epimechfc.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

How is extrusion of infected host cells related to ERK (extracellular signal-regulated kinase) activity? Hi, I’m @hundsdorfer.bsky.social from the @effiebastounis.bsky.social lab. Let’s follow the recent development of bacterially-infected cell extrusion & mechanochemical ERK activity waves.

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Pujol lab @pujol-lab.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

Amazing non-worm collaboration with great EM experts Nicolas Brouilly @ibdm.bsky.social & Rémy Pujol Institut for Neurosciences Montpellier see more in our short report www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... ...post to be continued...

SPIA-1 is an #aECM protein sharing a novel Cysteine-Cradle-Domain with 5 other worm proteins

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We found a new #aECM protein involved in signaling damage to the epidermis in #C.elegans. SPIA-1 localised to periodic furrows in the cuticle, it interacts with furrow collagesn to signal damage in the epidermis

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Our new paper out @plos.org @ciml.bsky.social @centuri-ls.bsky.social Fantastic collaborations 👏Antonina Andreeva #EBI-EMBL, Claire Valotteau @DyNaMo @felix_rico, Andrew Chisholm, Jordan Ward @gotworms.bsky.social, and great discussions with @meera-sundaram.bsky.social dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...

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