Heading home from Physics of Cancer #PoC2026 conference in Leipzig. An excellent conference with world-class speakers at the interface between physics and cancer biology. Here are a few talks that caught my attention 🧵👇
Raimon Sunyer
@raimonsunyer.bsky.social
1.1K followers 918 following 90 posts
Associate professor at @unibarcelona.bsky.social • Previous RyC • NIH & @ibecbarcelona.bsky.social alumni • Interested in #CellMigration & #mechanobiology
![A screen for adherens junction proteins regulating collective cell migration and testis morphogenesis reveals important roles for the Rab GAP RN-tre and the kinase Par-1
Sarah Clark, Siobhan Morris, Joseph Dordor, Lawrencia Semireka Amo, Renick Wiltshire, Taino Encarnacion, Maik Bischoff, Mark Peifer
doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.05.22.727264
This article is a preprint and has not been certified by peer review [what does this mean?].
Abstract
Animal tissues have diverse architectures and cell behaviors across the epithelial-mesenchymal spectrum. Cell adhesion mediated by classical cadherins is foundational. Cadherins nucleate complexes of dozens of proteins connecting junctions to the cytoskeleton and signaling downstream. Many junctional proteins are well-studied in epithelia, but less is known about roles during mesenchymal migration. The nascent myotubes of the pupal Drosophila testis provide an excellent model for N-cadherin mediated mesenchymal migration. We combined a proximity proteomics dataset of adherens junction proteins in mammalian epithelial cells with genome-wide shRNA libraries knocking down Drosophila genes to begin to define the subset of junctional proteins important in mesenchymal migration. While N-cadherin is predominant, E-cadherin plays a supporting role. Surprisingly, several proteins with key roles in epithelial morphogenesis, including Afadins homolog Canoe, ZO-1s homolog Polychaetoid, and Par3s homolog Bazooka play at most modest roles. Twenty-two genes with diverse cell biological roles had strong to moderate defects in testis morphogenesis. These will provide a community resource. We followed up two. The kinase Par-1 is important for migration and gap closure, with knockdown phenotypes paralleling those of myosin. The Rab GAP RN-tre does not have roles until after migration and works in parallel with N-cadherin during testis spiralization.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
Funder Inf…](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:r3avzdjyhu6jm7vxia265ncu/bafkreidugglr2vul5hlcrj542yutvkt7dfhxfvtvqvqksx7khjx2yyijeu)
![1 [Nurse talking to camera]
This is usually our busiest time of year at the centre
2 [Show a sign outside a medical institution reading:]
Centre for Adults Who Still Can’t Get Their Heads Round Daylight Savings
3
NURSE:
We have a spike in admissions when BST starts
4
CONFUSED PATIENT BEING LAID DOWN BY NURSES:
Is it forward or back?
NURSE:
Lie down love
5
We often see the same patients ever year
PATIENT:
So it’s like… time travel?
DOCTOR:
No
6 Every year we try to explain BST to them in a fun and memorable way
[The patients are sat around a fun show, with people dressed in bunny suits jumping around a giant clock]
BUNNY: And now I *spring forward*...
7
[Bunny springs forward one hour on clock]
8
PATIENT WATCHING SHOW:
I don’t get it
9
The hardest patients are the Summer Time refusers
10 PATIENT [sat strapped to a chair as a doctor talks to him through a screen, through a tannoy]
PATIENT: But why is it better?
DOCTOR [talking through microphone]:
Because it complicates things.
11
PATIENT:
How is that good?
DOCTOR:
It makes you more tired.
12
DOCTOR [to assistant]:
Fetch the cattle prod
[Ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreig3ajb2wja3a6grndpmpunqogqdeg52wtkr2gpxqng6gx47ixpgee)
