ernestiu.bsky.social
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ernestiu.bsky.social
ernestiu.bsky.social
@ernestiu.bsky.social
Anything about #cytoskeleton and #microscopy
Pinned
I'm thrilled to finally share my PhD work on understanding how Ca2+ signals regulate the protruding front of the cell. It’s been an incredible journey working alongside all the collaborators.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A TRPV4–dependent calcium signaling axis governs lamellipodial actin architecture to promote cell migration
Cell migration is crucial for development and tissue homeostasis, while its dysregulation leads to severe pathologies. Cell migration is driven by the extension of actin–based lamellipodia protrusions...
www.biorxiv.org
Reposted by ernestiu.bsky.social
After a long break from social media, I’m finally on Bluesky and have a preprint alert from my lab!

doi.org/10.1101/2025...
A microexon in Arp2 alters tissue-specific Arp2/3-generated actin structures
The Arp2/3 complex nucleates essential branched actin networks in most eukaryotes. Interestingly, the subunit Arp2 encodes two splice variants that differ merely by five amino acids in the D-loop, whi...
doi.org
October 24, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Reposted by ernestiu.bsky.social
We look forward to hearing feedback from the community on our #preprint where we used #NETosis as a platform to show that chromatin decompaction inside the nucleus directly regulates cell mechanics. This work identifies long-range biophysical impacts of chromatin in mammalian cells.
Chromatin is a long-range force generator that regulates plasma membrane tension and cell integrity independently of gene expression https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.02.680155v1
October 6, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Reposted by ernestiu.bsky.social
First, check out my recent bioRxiv preprint w/ @oweinerlab.bsky.social: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We find contractility shifts the proportion of implantation-competent embryos from young and aged females. Keep reading this for more info!
A mechanical origin for implantation defects in embryos from aged females
Women over 35 experience a marked reduction in fertility. The origin of these fertility defects appears to reside in the implantation capacity of the embryo itself, but the mechanistic basis of this i...
www.biorxiv.org
October 1, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Reposted by ernestiu.bsky.social
Huntingtin binds and bundles F-actin!
Thrilled to team up with the Humbert (Sorbonne Université) and Song (KAIST) labs on this discovery.
We had a blast doing cryo-ET on this unexpected complex — and now so many new questions lie ahead!
#TeamTomo #CryoET #HTT #actin

doi.org/10.1126/scia...
September 25, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by ernestiu.bsky.social
1/12 A very special moment for me! 🎉

My first paper as corresponding author—a @jcb.org Perspective on how contact-based decision-making in collective cell migration can itself encode blueprints for complex patterns and shapes.

rupress.org/jcb/article/...

#cellbio #devbio #science

🧵for details
September 24, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Reposted by ernestiu.bsky.social
Lay(-ish) summary of our melanoma confinement paper with some behind the scenes details of how this project came about, and what we’re planning to do next (hint: PDAC 🐟). Thanks @nature.com for featuring our work.
A really nice Research Briefing on Miranda's @mrndhntr.bsky.social paper. Check it out here: doi.org/10.1038/d415...
September 4, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Reposted by ernestiu.bsky.social
To celebrate the summer, our ReSCU-Net paper is out @jcb.org !! Work led by our dungeon master @ray-hawkins.bsky.social, developing a novel neural network architecture and applying it to explore the role of gap junctions in embryonic wound healing in #Drosophila 🧪.

shorturl.at/xNRKn
August 11, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Reposted by ernestiu.bsky.social
New preprint! We solve a mystery you didn't know existed. Mitotic cells lack new transcription but require ongoing translation. Interphase mRNA half life is only 2-4 hrs. So how do cells arrest in mitosis for hours without depleting their transcriptomes?

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Global inhibition of deadenylation stabilizes the transcriptome in mitotic cells
In the presence of cell division errors, mammalian cells can pause in mitosis for tens of hours with little to no transcription, while still requiring continued translation for viability. These unique...
www.biorxiv.org
July 23, 2025 at 10:57 AM
Reposted by ernestiu.bsky.social
Congratulations to @stefanosala89.bsky.social , with help from @shreya-c.bsky.social al‬ on the optogenetic experiments, for the awesome story! Read the full preprint here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... and thanks for listening!
LIM Domain Proteins link molecular and global tension by recognizing strained actin in adhesions
Mechanotransduction is fundamental to cell signaling and depends on force-sensitive adhesion proteins. How these proteins differentiate and integrate their responses to tension remains an open questio...
www.biorxiv.org
July 21, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Reposted by ernestiu.bsky.social
Yes the NIH people were out in front on this
“Using the rescission process, which requires only a simple majority in the Senate, the Republican majorities in the Senate and House can vote to return the unspent funds. That will avoid impoundment and lop billions off the NIH budget”

April
The NIH budget is on a fast track to disaster
An NIH insider explains what Republicans are likely to do next, and what we can do
donmoynihan.substack.com
July 16, 2025 at 12:19 AM
Reposted by ernestiu.bsky.social
Happy to share our new pre-print, "Targeting Cholesterol-Dependent Piezo1 Activation Impairs Amoeboid Migration in Melanoma Cells," led by our fabulous research technician, Sylvia Kuang.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org
July 17, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Reposted by ernestiu.bsky.social
In new study from Muziyue Wu et al. @oweinerlab.bsky.social, in vivo biochemistry sheds new light on how the WAVE complex templates the characteristic shape of lamellipodial protrusions. rupress.org/jcb/article/...

#Cytoskeleton #Actin #Migration #Motility #Biophysics
July 16, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Reposted by ernestiu.bsky.social
Intermediate filaments join microtubules in the self-repair club! Great work with in vitro vimentin filaments from @cecileleduc.bsky.social @romet-jegou-lab.bsky.social et al. in @pnas.org: doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
Continuous self-repair protects vimentin intermediate filaments from fragmentation | PNAS
Intermediate filaments are key regulators of cell mechanics. Vimentin, a type of intermediate filament expressed in mesenchymal cells and involved ...
doi.org
June 14, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Reposted by ernestiu.bsky.social
If you’re curious about why lymphatic endothelial cells have their jigsaw puzzle-like shape,
check out our paper
@Nature
rdcu.be/eejhZ
Dynamic cytoskeletal regulation of cell shape supports resilience of lymphatic endothelium
Nature - Dynamic cytoskeletal regulation of lymphatic endothelial cell shape, induced by isotropic stretch and crucial for dermal lymphatic capillary function, is identified and found to result...
rdcu.be
March 20, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Reposted by ernestiu.bsky.social
With nearly all of Harvard Chan School’s direct federal grants terminated, we are relying on philanthropy to power our research and support our educational programs. Every gift, regardless of size, advances our vision of health, dignity, and justice for every human. Support our work: hsph.me/whygive
May 16, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Reposted by ernestiu.bsky.social
Interested in Developmental Mechanics??? We are organizing a mechanobiology workshop in Baeza, Spain, October 21-23, 2025. Come join us (and please help us spread the word)!!!
April 25, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Reposted by ernestiu.bsky.social
Excited to share our preprint on the molecular architecture of heterochromatin in human cells 🧬🔬w/ @jpkreysing.bsky.social, @johannesbetz.bsky.social,
@marinalusic.bsky.social, Turoňová lab, @hummerlab.bsky.social @becklab.bsky.social @mpibp.bsky.social

🔗 Preprint here tinyurl.com/3a74uanv
April 11, 2025 at 8:35 AM
Reposted by ernestiu.bsky.social
I'm so pleased the final version of this research is published! We found that epithelial cells neighoring the cytokinetic furrow regulate the speed and sucess of cell division, while maintaining barrier function and cell packing geometry. Many thanks to the co-authors who contributed! 🐸 #xenopus
Neighbor cells restrain furrowing during Xenopus epithelial cytokinesis
Xenopus epithelial cells mechanosensitively reinforce connections to neighbor cells during cytokinesis. Here, Landino et al. show that actomyosin arrays assembled in neighbor cells restrain cytokineti...
www.cell.com
April 10, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Reposted by ernestiu.bsky.social
Important to celebrate trainee victories: excited to have Holly Merta's @hollymerta.bsky.social paper out!

We use TurboID sub-organelle proteomics to map the ER network.

We find calmin/CLMN, an ER-to-actin tether regulating focal adhesions & cell motility.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Spatial proteomics of ER tubules reveals CLMN, an ER-actin tether at focal adhesions that promotes cell migration
The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is structurally and functionally diverse, yet how its functions are organized within morphological subdomains is incomp…
www.sciencedirect.com
April 7, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Reposted by ernestiu.bsky.social
Excited to share our latest work on how Ca²⁺ regulates actin in cell protrusions—now available as a preprint on bioRxiv! 🎉 Huge congrats to Ernest Iu for leading the project, and a special thanks to our amazing collaborators!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A TRPV4–dependent calcium signaling axis governs lamellipodial actin architecture to promote cell migration
Cell migration is crucial for development and tissue homeostasis, while its dysregulation leads to severe pathologies. Cell migration is driven by the extension of actin–based lamellipodia protrusions...
www.biorxiv.org
March 30, 2025 at 11:41 AM
I'm thrilled to finally share my PhD work on understanding how Ca2+ signals regulate the protruding front of the cell. It’s been an incredible journey working alongside all the collaborators.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A TRPV4–dependent calcium signaling axis governs lamellipodial actin architecture to promote cell migration
Cell migration is crucial for development and tissue homeostasis, while its dysregulation leads to severe pathologies. Cell migration is driven by the extension of actin–based lamellipodia protrusions...
www.biorxiv.org
March 30, 2025 at 12:44 PM