New preprint alert! The uterus expands ~500-fold in pregnancy, yet we know little about how pressures are sensed. Led by @yunxiao-dr.bsky.social, we show PIEZOs are required for contractions and birth in mice, with dual roles of PIEZO1 in muscle and PIEZO2 in neurons
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

I spoke with Jade Hindmon, host of @kpbssandiego.bsky.social Midday Edition, about the consequences of the current administration’s cuts to science funding. Please share to help spread the word and raise awareness.
www.kpbs.org/podcasts/kpb...

Excited to share our latest story in Nature. We developed a high-throughput cellular stretch system to look for genes regulating membrane rupture under tension, and found an amazing small protein called NINJ1 that weakens the membrane for rupture! H/T to Zozo, my 10-y.o. for her artist's impression😃

Join us for the next SGP EpIC Seminar on Tuesday, 5 May, at 12:00 pm Eastern featuring a talk by Amanda Lewis, "Piezo1 ion channels are capable of conformational signaling." As ever, registration is free and all are welcome. sgp-epic-seminars.com

Published an op-ed for @cnn.com: “Nobel laureate: I owe America my success. Today, its scientific future is in danger.”
A personal reflection on what’s at stake as science funding gets slashed. I’d be grateful if you could amplify both in and beyond the science world.
www.cnn.com/2025/04/09/h...

📣 📣 📣 Optically Guided Tension Clamp 📣 📣 📣

Now out: Michael Sindoni developed a new system that uses machine learning & closed-loop control to clamp membrane tension with high precision. Study your favorite force-gated ion channel!
#IonChannel #Biophysics

Read more: www.cell.com/biophysj/ful...

The Patapoutian lab started 25 years ago on March 1, 2000. A quarter-century of science with brilliant trainees, colleagues & collaborators. Cheers to my mentors & mentees! Excited to celebrate with past & present lab members in November. Here’s to more great science 🧪 and better times ahead!

In our recent article we show the YbiO mechanosensitive channel can achieve pore openings of 3nS under membrane tension equalling the largest known gated-pore MscL and we also solve a cryo- EM structure of a YbiO in a sub-open state. Great effort by @lane-b.bsky.social www.cell.com/structure/fu...

Glad to share a new minireview with Zhou Chen summarizing our current thoughts on how cells make electrosomes (aka ion channels).

portlandpress.com/biochemsoctr...

Our lab will be presenting 1 talk at 3 posters at the upcoming Biophysical Society Annual Meeting. If you are attending we would love to connect with you and show our work:

1) A CLOSED-LOOP SYSTEM FOR MILLISECOND READOUT AND CONTROL OF MEMBRANE TENSION.

Poster B284. Monday, Feb 17 1:45 PM

To catch up, I recently had the opportunity to give a seminar at Johns Hopkins - Neuroscience. How much fun to meet my former Scripps Chair Uli Mueller and @ardemp.bskyverified.social postdoc colleague Zhaozhu Qiu, and make new friends Alex Kolodkin, Edward Twomey, and Xinzhong Dong.

Excited to join Bluesky today! As an ion channel biophysicist, Professor at Duke Neurobiology, and Director of Graduate Studies I will be sharing my insights. Plus the occasional post of my private life. Please help me connect to my community by sharing this post.

Follow the work of the Grandl Lab: sites.duke.edu/grandllab/