Denis Wirtz
@deniswirtz.bsky.social
VP for Research, T.H. Smoot Professor
Depts Chemical and Biomolecular Engn, Pathology, Oncology, INBT
Johns Hopkins University
3D multi-omic, CAR T therapy, cell migration and mechanics
Lab: https://wirtzlab.johnshopkins.edu
Depts Chemical and Biomolecular Engn, Pathology, Oncology, INBT
Johns Hopkins University
3D multi-omic, CAR T therapy, cell migration and mechanics
Lab: https://wirtzlab.johnshopkins.edu
Colleague Prof. Earle Havens is showing a group of Hopkins faculty an original Audubon’s Birds of America, elephant folio at the Evergreen house in Baltimore
November 11, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Colleague Prof. Earle Havens is showing a group of Hopkins faculty an original Audubon’s Birds of America, elephant folio at the Evergreen house in Baltimore
We have written two reviews providing a practical guide and fundamentals of cell migration:
(1) How to select an optimal cell migration assay,
(2) How to analyze cell migration data.
We also added a perspective on AI methods of analysis.
Coming out soon in Nature Methods.
(1) How to select an optimal cell migration assay,
(2) How to analyze cell migration data.
We also added a perspective on AI methods of analysis.
Coming out soon in Nature Methods.
November 8, 2025 at 6:17 PM
We have written two reviews providing a practical guide and fundamentals of cell migration:
(1) How to select an optimal cell migration assay,
(2) How to analyze cell migration data.
We also added a perspective on AI methods of analysis.
Coming out soon in Nature Methods.
(1) How to select an optimal cell migration assay,
(2) How to analyze cell migration data.
We also added a perspective on AI methods of analysis.
Coming out soon in Nature Methods.
Our recent observations are distinct from conventional active matter. Self-propelled colloidal particles neither secrete inhibitory molecules, nor actively modulate adhesion molecules, which are two key ingredients leading to our observed patterned aggregates.
Here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
November 8, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Our recent observations are distinct from conventional active matter. Self-propelled colloidal particles neither secrete inhibitory molecules, nor actively modulate adhesion molecules, which are two key ingredients leading to our observed patterned aggregates.
Here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We have observed a beautifully strange phenomenon of phase separation by human monocytes placed on soft matrix, which do it for survival.
We model it by incorporating the Cahn–Hilliard equation with a Turing mechanism of local activation/global inhibition
More here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We model it by incorporating the Cahn–Hilliard equation with a Turing mechanism of local activation/global inhibition
More here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Mechano-induced patterned domain formation by monocytes - Nature Materials
Human primary monocytes reversibly phase separate into regular, multicellular, multilayered domains on soft matrices with physiological stiffness due to local activation and global inhibition processe...
www.nature.com
November 5, 2025 at 12:41 PM
We have observed a beautifully strange phenomenon of phase separation by human monocytes placed on soft matrix, which do it for survival.
We model it by incorporating the Cahn–Hilliard equation with a Turing mechanism of local activation/global inhibition
More here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We model it by incorporating the Cahn–Hilliard equation with a Turing mechanism of local activation/global inhibition
More here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Immune hot spots in human tissues mapped with our CODA workflow.
When zoomed in, it looks like abstract art.
When zoomed in, it looks like abstract art.
October 31, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Immune hot spots in human tissues mapped with our CODA workflow.
When zoomed in, it looks like abstract art.
When zoomed in, it looks like abstract art.
Good night and good luck
October 30, 2025 at 10:41 PM
Good night and good luck
Reposted by Denis Wirtz
I wrote an op-ed on the world-class STEM research ecosystem in the United States, and how this ecosystem is now under attack on multiple fronts by the current administration: newsletter.ofthebrave.org/p/im-an-awar...
I’m an award-winning mathematician. Trump just cut my funding.
The “Mozart of Math” tried to stay out of politics. Then it came for his research.
newsletter.ofthebrave.org
August 18, 2025 at 3:45 PM
I wrote an op-ed on the world-class STEM research ecosystem in the United States, and how this ecosystem is now under attack on multiple fronts by the current administration: newsletter.ofthebrave.org/p/im-an-awar...
Reposted by Denis Wirtz
"The scientific hegemony the USA had for decades has gone...the percentage of papers with a Chinese author [i]n 2025 is 23%, the USA 11%...transition to open access is only possible if Chinese researchers change their publishing habits" newsletter.journalology.com/p/the-rise-o...
The rise of China and the fall of open access
The theme of Open Access Week is "Who owns our knowledge?". The answer is increasingly likely to be "China".
newsletter.journalology.com
October 25, 2025 at 10:33 PM
"The scientific hegemony the USA had for decades has gone...the percentage of papers with a Chinese author [i]n 2025 is 23%, the USA 11%...transition to open access is only possible if Chinese researchers change their publishing habits" newsletter.journalology.com/p/the-rise-o...
Colleague Prof. Max Konig and Johns Hopkins colleagues show that anti-9G4 precision cellular therapies provide a strategy to selectively target pathogenic B cells in lupus, while minimizing risks of infection and cytokine-related toxicities.
Read more here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Read more here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
October 25, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Colleague Prof. Max Konig and Johns Hopkins colleagues show that anti-9G4 precision cellular therapies provide a strategy to selectively target pathogenic B cells in lupus, while minimizing risks of infection and cytokine-related toxicities.
Read more here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Read more here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Fall colors at Hopkins
October 24, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Fall colors at Hopkins
Health economist extraordinaire Dan Polski can take a selfie…
This is my team; their passion is to support Hopkins researchers
This is my team; their passion is to support Hopkins researchers
October 24, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Health economist extraordinaire Dan Polski can take a selfie…
This is my team; their passion is to support Hopkins researchers
This is my team; their passion is to support Hopkins researchers
We are celebrating the 150th anniversary of Johns Hopkins University this year. We’re using the wonderful Peabody Library to host our great faculty for a great evening of celebrations
October 23, 2025 at 9:54 PM
We are celebrating the 150th anniversary of Johns Hopkins University this year. We’re using the wonderful Peabody Library to host our great faculty for a great evening of celebrations
It’s that time of the year again when we celebrate the amazing achievements and discoveries made by Johns Hopkins faculty.
We take over the Peabody Library so that awardees of our internal grants get a chance to talk to one another and forge new collaborations
We take over the Peabody Library so that awardees of our internal grants get a chance to talk to one another and forge new collaborations
October 23, 2025 at 9:48 PM
It’s that time of the year again when we celebrate the amazing achievements and discoveries made by Johns Hopkins faculty.
We take over the Peabody Library so that awardees of our internal grants get a chance to talk to one another and forge new collaborations
We take over the Peabody Library so that awardees of our internal grants get a chance to talk to one another and forge new collaborations
Latrobe Hall at Johns Hopkins University
October 23, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Latrobe Hall at Johns Hopkins University
High-throughput screening of drugs that affect cell proliferation is easily done using a plate reader.
No such luck for cell migration. So, we developed an assay for label-free deep learning-based automated cell tracking.
Read more about our assay here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
No such luck for cell migration. So, we developed an assay for label-free deep learning-based automated cell tracking.
Read more about our assay here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
October 22, 2025 at 12:25 AM
High-throughput screening of drugs that affect cell proliferation is easily done using a plate reader.
No such luck for cell migration. So, we developed an assay for label-free deep learning-based automated cell tracking.
Read more about our assay here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
No such luck for cell migration. So, we developed an assay for label-free deep learning-based automated cell tracking.
Read more about our assay here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
L’Empire des Lumières
October 21, 2025 at 10:18 PM
L’Empire des Lumières
Homewood campus is glorious today
Johns Hopkins
Johns Hopkins
October 21, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Homewood campus is glorious today
Johns Hopkins
Johns Hopkins
We use CODA to map human endometrial tissue at single-cell resolution, a map that then serves as a blueprint to design a multi-compartment multicellular assembloid of the endometrium.
Read about our approach to organoids/assembloids here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Read about our approach to organoids/assembloids here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
October 18, 2025 at 3:41 PM
We use CODA to map human endometrial tissue at single-cell resolution, a map that then serves as a blueprint to design a multi-compartment multicellular assembloid of the endometrium.
Read about our approach to organoids/assembloids here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Read about our approach to organoids/assembloids here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Pretty Fall colors at Homewood
Johns Hopkins university
Johns Hopkins university
October 17, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Pretty Fall colors at Homewood
Johns Hopkins university
Johns Hopkins university
Prof. Jasmina Wiemann has been selected for a prestigious Packard fellowship. This the first recognition of a paleobiologist by the Foundation!
That is 8 Packard Fellows in 6 years for Johns Hopkins University.
Prof. Wiemann's website is the stuff of movies: www.jasminawiemann.com
That is 8 Packard Fellows in 6 years for Johns Hopkins University.
Prof. Wiemann's website is the stuff of movies: www.jasminawiemann.com
October 15, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Prof. Jasmina Wiemann has been selected for a prestigious Packard fellowship. This the first recognition of a paleobiologist by the Foundation!
That is 8 Packard Fellows in 6 years for Johns Hopkins University.
Prof. Wiemann's website is the stuff of movies: www.jasminawiemann.com
That is 8 Packard Fellows in 6 years for Johns Hopkins University.
Prof. Wiemann's website is the stuff of movies: www.jasminawiemann.com
Nuclear segmentation is a difficult task, especially for whole slides...we are working on a solution.
(Art in Science)
(Art in Science)
October 15, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Nuclear segmentation is a difficult task, especially for whole slides...we are working on a solution.
(Art in Science)
(Art in Science)
Good morning!
(Homewood campus, Hopkins University, which is celebrating its 150th birthday)
(Homewood campus, Hopkins University, which is celebrating its 150th birthday)
October 15, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Good morning!
(Homewood campus, Hopkins University, which is celebrating its 150th birthday)
(Homewood campus, Hopkins University, which is celebrating its 150th birthday)
2025 Nobel winner Philippe Aghion:
'The key factor of economic power is technological leadership'
'The key factor of economic power is technological leadership'
October 13, 2025 at 8:14 PM
2025 Nobel winner Philippe Aghion:
'The key factor of economic power is technological leadership'
'The key factor of economic power is technological leadership'
Great vinyl records collection at the Smart Art Museum at the University of Chicago
October 11, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Great vinyl records collection at the Smart Art Museum at the University of Chicago
CAR T therapy has seen great effectiveness in liquid tumors, but little in solid tumors (e.g. ovarian cancer).
Here we developed hyper-migratory CAR TV cells to infiltrate en masse ovarian tumors. (Left: control CAR T cells; right CAR TV cells).
Read this here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Here we developed hyper-migratory CAR TV cells to infiltrate en masse ovarian tumors. (Left: control CAR T cells; right CAR TV cells).
Read this here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
October 5, 2025 at 4:48 PM
CAR T therapy has seen great effectiveness in liquid tumors, but little in solid tumors (e.g. ovarian cancer).
Here we developed hyper-migratory CAR TV cells to infiltrate en masse ovarian tumors. (Left: control CAR T cells; right CAR TV cells).
Read this here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Here we developed hyper-migratory CAR TV cells to infiltrate en masse ovarian tumors. (Left: control CAR T cells; right CAR TV cells).
Read this here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...