Marko Kaksonen
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kaksonen.bsky.social
Marko Kaksonen
@kaksonen.bsky.social
1.4K followers 720 following 29 posts
Biologist fascinated by cells, molecules and the evolution of cellular processes.

Membrane traffic, cytoskeleton, microscopy, fungi, evolutionary cell biology.

https://www.unige.ch/sciences/biochimie/labs/marko-kaksonen/
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kaksonen.bsky.social
Marko Kaksonen @kaksonen.bsky.social · Nov 10
Starting my Bluesky life by resharing this six-day time lapse movie of Dictyostelium discoideum we took a few years ago.
Reposted by Marko Kaksonen
plantophagy.bsky.social
This Halloween, we have a spooky evolutionary story for you.
The brainchild of @delaconcepcionjc.bsky.social, Nick Irwin and our fantastic collaborators is now out in @natplants.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Here’s why I love this work — and why I think you’ll enjoy it too. 👇
October 31, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Reposted by Marko Kaksonen
dudinlab.bsky.social
🚨Our collaboration with @centriolelab.bsky.social & @gautamdey.bsky.social is out today in @cp-cell.bsky.social
We show that #Expansion #Microscopy is a broad-spectrum modality for Euks, enabling 3D phenotypic maps rooted to phylogeny.
#ProtistsOnSky #SciComm #SciSky

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
October 31, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Reposted by Marko Kaksonen
martaalvarez.bsky.social
Now Christopher Toret is talking about collective invasion organisations in eukaryotic multicellular transitions. #Multicellverse
October 11, 2025 at 8:02 AM
Reposted by Marko Kaksonen
katrinavelle.bsky.social
PhD or Master's position available for Fall 2026!

Interested in how actin drives cell crawling, eating, dividing, or osmoregulation? What about pathogenesis of a brain-eating amoeba? Or eukaryotic evolution? If so, apply through my website: katrinavelle.wixsite.com/science/cont...
Please share!
October 5, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Reposted by Marko Kaksonen
borissieber.bsky.social
Mammalian cells have KSR, budding yeast has Ste5… and fission yeast has Sms1 as the MAPK scaffold for sexual reproduction!

Very excited to share my postdoc work where we discover that the hemi-arrestin Sms1 binds all components of the MAPK cascade, including ERK-like Spk1

doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Schematic of MAPK signalling in fission yeast, budding yeast and Metazoa. No MAPK scaffold was known for ERK-like MAPK in fission yeast, as opposed to budding yeast Ste5 and metazoan KSR1/2.
September 25, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Reposted by Marko Kaksonen
centriolelab.bsky.social
Be our new colleague! 🎉
The Dept of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Geneva is hiring an Assistant Professor or Associate Professor.

👉 More details here: lnkd.in/e8Z9eAm4
👉 Our department: mocel.unige.ch

Please feel free to share this opportunity with your network.
September 15, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Reposted by Marko Kaksonen
robinpranter.bsky.social
How does cell end developmental biology inform our understanding of evolution? Join us for an afternoon of discussion about #cells, #development, #plasticity and #evolution.
Zoomlink Sep 25th: lu-se.zoom.us/j/62473328732
Zoomlink Sep 26th: lu-se.zoom.us/j/67411449026
#EvoDevo @biologylu.bsky.social
Symposium in Lund September 25th The cellular roots of evolutionary change Sep 25 14:30 - 17:00 Blå hallen, Ekologihuset, Sölvegatan 37, Lund How does cell- and developmental biology improve our understanding of the evolutionary process? Join us for an afternoon of discussions about cells, development and evolution. Program 14:30 Introduction 14:40 Arild Husby, Plasticity of a life history trade-off: from GRN to high level phenotypes 15:10 Markéta Kaucká, Cell type evolution 15:40 Coffee break 16:00 Gunter Wagner, From cells to tissues and organs: nothing in evolutionary biology makes sense except in the light of cell biology 16:30 Emilia Santos, Interplay between genetics and phenotypic plasticity in the adaptation to novel environments Bonus Sep 26: 09:00 Robin Pranter, Thesis defense - Neural crest cells and the evolution of a phenotypic syndrome Lund University
September 19, 2025 at 11:54 AM
Reposted by Marko Kaksonen
felixmendu.bsky.social
Next Thursday Sept 25 (4-6pm CET) we have our first #FocalPlaneFeatures together with our #membranetrafficking community! Thanks to all who submitted such exciting abstracts. The final program is out, featuring a keynote by Gillian Griffiths. Register here: focalplane.biologists.com/2025/09/16/f...
FocalPlane features... membrane trafficking Thursday 25 September, 15:00 -17:00 BST (UTC+1) Chaired by Francesca Bottanelli, Felix Campelo and Ishier Raote Nick Ader (UNC Greensboro) Keep it together! Mechanisms of membrane maintenance and biogenesis Hannes Maib (University of Sheffield) Multiplex and super resolution imaging of phosphoinositide conversion during receptor trafficking Mónica Quiñones-Frías (Brandeis University) Loss of ER-Shaping protein Atlastin causes synaptic ER stress and membrane trafficking defects Keynote speaker Gillian Griffiths (Yale University) Unexpected membrane dynamics in T cells
September 16, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Reposted by Marko Kaksonen
garushyants.bsky.social
hey bluesky 👋 visa hurdles mean I’m looking for opportunities outside the US. I’m a computational biologist (bacterial + phage genomics, postdoc in Koonin’s group @ NIH). I am interested in teaming up on funding apps. reach out if this resonates!
September 15, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Reposted by Marko Kaksonen
radinbio.bsky.social
Do you know what happens when you touch a carnivorous sundew plant?
If the touch is strong and large enough, a cytosolic calcium wave will spread from the site of touch throughout the whole plant, but if you only touch one tentacle (see post below), the calcium wave will be local and less intense.
September 15, 2025 at 2:26 PM
kaksonen.bsky.social
And quite suddenly the autumn daffodils start blooming…
Sternbergia lutea flowers opening after autumn rains
September 11, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Reposted by Marko Kaksonen
jcb.org
Allocation of resources among multiple daughter cells. New study from Alison Wirshing, Daniel Lew and colleagues @mit.edu: rupress.org/jcb/article/...

#Cytoskeleton #Development
September 9, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Reposted by Marko Kaksonen
thibautbrunet.bsky.social
New short paper from our lab @currentbiology.bsky.social, in which we discover of a new mode of cell motility for choanoflagellates: flagellar gliding. www.cell.com/current-biol... - A 🧵
Flagellar gliding in choanoflagellates
Freire-Delgado and Brunet discover a new mode of cell motility in choanoflagellates, the closest relatives of animals. Under mild confinement, choanoflagellate move over surfaces without cell deformat...
www.cell.com
September 9, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Reposted by Marko Kaksonen
syncellbiolab.bsky.social
How do cells keep their #actin “highways” stable?🚦
Our paper @PLOS Genetics reveals surprising teamwork (and backup plans!) between tropomyosin isoforms in yeast. #imaging #cytoskeleton #celldivision
This work was brilliantly led by @anubhavdhar.bsky.social @bagyasree.bsky.social
t.co/RvUrzad5tL
September 9, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Reposted by Marko Kaksonen
blarson.bsky.social
What could be more exciting than watching Euplotes scurry around under the microscope? How about adding some raptorial predation by supergiant cannibal cells?

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Video by Vittorio Boscaro.

1/n
August 26, 2025 at 8:56 PM
kaksonen.bsky.social
Leaving Barcelona after an exciting week of evolutionary biology at the #ESEB2025 meeting!
August 23, 2025 at 7:29 AM
Reposted by Marko Kaksonen
flodebarre.bsky.social
Folks going to #ESEB2025 : To help people connect on Bluesky, I've started making starter packs. Here is a first one with the names that were available when I started.

Ping me if you want to be included in the next one!
August 14, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Reposted by Marko Kaksonen
gautamdey.bsky.social
Want to acquire #ExM images like this and help us understand the true extent of cytoskeletal diversity across the tree of life? This position might be for you!

embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j...

With @dudinlab.bsky.social
@embl.org @biology-unige.bsky.social @moorefound.bsky.social
August 7, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Reposted by Marko Kaksonen
actin-paris-saclay.bsky.social
🎓 My team is seeking a PhD student in Biochemistry & Cell Biology at I2BC, Paris-Saclay!
🔬 Study cytoskeletal signaling in collective cell migration
🌍 Fully funded, 3 yrs | 📍 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
🗓️ Apply by Aug 22 via the following link:
emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/Docto...
August 6, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Reposted by Marko Kaksonen
thattai.bsky.social
I set out to review the evolution of eukaryotic intracellular traffic, but along the way a new hypothesis came into focus: maybe the earliest membrane carriers were tubules, not coated vesicles!

New preprint: ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...

Here’s the idea. 🧵
A schematic showing two models for the evolution of the eukaryotic cell plan starting from an archaeal ancestor. The "inside-out" and "outside-in" models both lead to an intermediate stage with internal and plasma membranes connected by tubules. The sequence continues through the formation of an endomembrane lumen, followed by the emergence of membrane contact sites and tubular carriers, and finally coated vesicles and stable compartments.
August 4, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Reposted by Marko Kaksonen
lizmillercu.bsky.social
Go check out the latest preprint from Giulia Zanetti's lab. @dr-downes.bsky.social used cryo-tomography to directly visualize COPI and COPII coated vesicles in situ at unprecedented resolution in human cells. Amazingly beautiful, rigorous, insightful work.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Multi-scale Molecular Imaging of Human Cells reveals COPI and COPII Vesicles at ER Exit Sites
Trafficking from the endoplasmic reticulum to the Golgi apparatus comprises the first steps toward the correct localization of 30% of eukaryotic proteins. Coat protein complexes COPII and COPI are inv...
www.biorxiv.org
August 4, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Reposted by Marko Kaksonen
anhhle2702.bsky.social
I was looking through my old microscopy videos, and found this perfect shot of a macropinosome forming through the collapse of an actin-driven membrane ruffle (cyan). Immediately, CRYI-A (orange) is recruited to the vesicle to finish the job. Still in awe with this process after all those years!
July 31, 2025 at 11:19 PM
Reposted by Marko Kaksonen
elife.bsky.social
While academic publishing may not be broken, it isn’t built to serve science either. It runs on a chain of perverse incentives, but everything we need to rebuild it is already in our hands.

#OpenScience #AcademicSky
buff.ly/oSesI1s
Screenshot of article summary of: Toward Science-Led Publishing by Damian Pattinson, George Currie published as an opinion piece, in Learned Publishing Summary The current dynamic of scholarly publishing prioritises the wants of the publishing industry over the needs of the research community. This article explores this theme through the lens of ‘publisher-led science’ as a description of our current status quo, and through ‘science-led publishing’ as an improved future state. We argue that financial motivations central to most publishing distort how research is presented, how it is assessed and even what research is undertaken, leading to a system that hinders, rather than facilitates, scientific progress. We propose three elements of a science-led publishing approach that would accelerate research communication, incentivise collaboration between authors, editors and reviewers, and create a more transparent and equitable research landscape. We believe that research funding and research assessment are two of the primary levers for wider change in research and research culture and consider the future purpose of scholarly publishing in a world where these proposals have been widely adopted.
July 12, 2025 at 10:01 AM
kaksonen.bsky.social
How does evolution shape ancient cellular processes? Our new paper uncovers the mosaic evolution of conserved and diverging endocytic traits in fungi!

www.cell.com/current-biol...
Mosaic evolution of clathrin-mediated endocytosis in fungi
Picco et al. take an evolutionary approach to study clathrin-mediated endocytosis in a fungal clade and discover that the process is evolving in a mosaic fashion. The early phase of endocytosis has sh...
www.cell.com
July 10, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Reposted by Marko Kaksonen
hansonmark.bsky.social
The "reproducibility crisis" in science constantly makes headlines. Repro efforts are often limited. What if you could assess reproducibility of an entire field?

That's what @brunolemaitre.bsky.social et al. have done. Fly immunity is highly replicable & offers lessons for #metascience

A 🧵 1/n
July 10, 2025 at 8:23 AM