Philipp Niethammer
@niethammerlab.bsky.social
Cell biologist interested in how tissues sense and adapt to physical and chemical stress. Wound healing and regeneration. Quantitative imaging approaches. Nuclear mechanotransduction, ROS signaling & metabolism. All opinions are my own.
Pinned
Endoplasmic reticulum disruption stimulates nuclear membrane mechanotransduction
Nature Cell Biology - Shen, Gelashvili and Niethammer developed an inner nuclear membrane tension sensor and demonstrated that ER–nuclear membrane contiguity acts as a mechanical buffer.
rdcu.be
Joe Shen’s and Zaza Gelashvili’s work on the role of the ER in nuclear membrane mechanotransduction finally came out in a journal!
Zaza’s main PhD work just came out in a journal! Macrophage cell nuclei physically sense 50 um/s fast osmotic shock waves coming from wounds to mediate rapid vessel permeabilization and serum exudation - one of the hallmarks of acute inflammation. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Zebrafish macrophages convert physical wound signals into rapid vascular permeabilization - Nature Communications
Real-time imaging in zebrafish shows that macrophages convert fast osmotic wound signals into rapid vessel permeabilization via cPla2-dependent nuclear membrane mechanotransduction.
www.nature.com
February 6, 2026 at 11:37 AM
Zaza’s main PhD work just came out in a journal! Macrophage cell nuclei physically sense 50 um/s fast osmotic shock waves coming from wounds to mediate rapid vessel permeabilization and serum exudation - one of the hallmarks of acute inflammation. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Excited to join the Editorial Board of @plosbiology.org, one of the pioneers of high-quality, open-access publishing.
PLOS Biology
journals.plos.org
February 2, 2026 at 2:07 PM
Excited to join the Editorial Board of @plosbiology.org, one of the pioneers of high-quality, open-access publishing.
Calcium waves and nuclear tension changes coordinate mechanical stress dissipation in locally folded epithelia: iScience www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
Calcium waves and nuclear tension changes coordinate mechanical stress dissipation in locally folded epithelia
Cell biology; Mechanobiology
www.cell.com
January 31, 2026 at 4:35 PM
Calcium waves and nuclear tension changes coordinate mechanical stress dissipation in locally folded epithelia: iScience www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
β2-Integrins regulate dendritic cells through nuclear deformation and activation of phospholipase A2 and DNA damage–inducible GADD34 - Journal of Biological Chemistry www.jbc.org/article/S002...
β2-Integrins regulate dendritic cells through nuclear deformation and activation of phospholipase A2 and DNA damage–inducible GADD34
Dendritic cells (DCs) reside in tissues and are activated by danger or pathogen-associated
signals, leading to expression of costimulatory markers and cytokines, downregulation
of β2-integrin–mediated...
www.jbc.org
January 31, 2026 at 4:30 PM
β2-Integrins regulate dendritic cells through nuclear deformation and activation of phospholipase A2 and DNA damage–inducible GADD34 - Journal of Biological Chemistry www.jbc.org/article/S002...
Looking forward to presenting two exciting discoveries made by Yanan Ma and Miklos Lengyel on the role of metabolic redox signaling for epithelial defense and resilience on the European Phagocyte Workshop in Oxford in March (1/3).
www.phagocytes2026.com
www.phagocytes2026.com
HOME | European Phagocyte Workshop 2026
Website about the 2026 European Phagocyte Workshop being held in Oxford.
www.phagocytes2026.com
January 30, 2026 at 3:27 PM
Looking forward to presenting two exciting discoveries made by Yanan Ma and Miklos Lengyel on the role of metabolic redox signaling for epithelial defense and resilience on the European Phagocyte Workshop in Oxford in March (1/3).
www.phagocytes2026.com
www.phagocytes2026.com
Reposted by Philipp Niethammer
Cells navigating microscale curved environments stretch their nuclei, triggering the membrane stretch-sensitive cPLA2 pathway, which in turn rewires cell signaling and morphodynamics to propel the cell forward and avoid steric hindrance pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
Curved Microfluidic Confinement Reveals Cell-Shape-Dependent Nuclear Mechanotransduction in Adaptive Migration
Cells navigate within diverse curved microenvironments derived from extracellular matrix (ECM) and neighboring cells in vivo. While current studies primarily focus on cell migration on curved surfaces...
pubs.acs.org
January 26, 2026 at 4:31 PM
Cells navigating microscale curved environments stretch their nuclei, triggering the membrane stretch-sensitive cPLA2 pathway, which in turn rewires cell signaling and morphodynamics to propel the cell forward and avoid steric hindrance pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
Latest LCS update: Besides generating 'syntactic overlap networks' from different sGCA sheets, the 'Build network' button now also integrates different sGEA sheets (functional associations) into a 'semantic overlap network'. Just load sGEA- instead of sGCA-sheets.
github.com/niethamp/Log...
github.com/niethamp/Log...
January 6, 2026 at 4:38 PM
Latest LCS update: Besides generating 'syntactic overlap networks' from different sGCA sheets, the 'Build network' button now also integrates different sGEA sheets (functional associations) into a 'semantic overlap network'. Just load sGEA- instead of sGCA-sheets.
github.com/niethamp/Log...
github.com/niethamp/Log...
Happy New Year everybody!
December 31, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Happy New Year everybody!
A substantially revised version of Zaza's outstanding PhD work is accepted (in principle) at Nature Communications. Many thanks to the reviewers and editor for their constructive comments and guidance!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Perivascular Macrophages Convert Physical Wound Signals Into Rapid Vascular Responses
Leukocytes detect distant wounds within seconds to minutes, which is essential for effective pathogen defense, tissue healing, and regeneration. Blood vessels must detect distant wounds just as rapidl...
www.biorxiv.org
December 19, 2025 at 5:13 PM
A substantially revised version of Zaza's outstanding PhD work is accepted (in principle) at Nature Communications. Many thanks to the reviewers and editor for their constructive comments and guidance!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
This review was a fun collaboration with
Pere Roca-Cusachs - just published in a journal! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Pere Roca-Cusachs - just published in a journal! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Mechanotransduction by nuclear envelope tension
Mechanotransduction mediated by the tension in lipid membranes is a well-established paradigm. This has been studied largely in the context of the plasma membrane, but recent work shows that it app...
www.tandfonline.com
December 17, 2025 at 10:27 AM
This review was a fun collaboration with
Pere Roca-Cusachs - just published in a journal! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Pere Roca-Cusachs - just published in a journal! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Wonderful that MPG is coming to my hometown Heilbronn, previously best known for wine, Audi, Lidl, Robert Mayer (thermodynamics), and the Kaethchen (see below) - and now they are doing: Membrane Biophysics!!! ("Wir koennen alles ausser Hochdeutsch") 😉. Exciting - best of luck!
December 10, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Wonderful that MPG is coming to my hometown Heilbronn, previously best known for wine, Audi, Lidl, Robert Mayer (thermodynamics), and the Kaethchen (see below) - and now they are doing: Membrane Biophysics!!! ("Wir koennen alles ausser Hochdeutsch") 😉. Exciting - best of luck!
Joe Shen’s and Zaza Gelashvili’s work on the role of the ER in nuclear membrane mechanotransduction finally came out in a journal!
Endoplasmic reticulum disruption stimulates nuclear membrane mechanotransduction
Nature Cell Biology - Shen, Gelashvili and Niethammer developed an inner nuclear membrane tension sensor and demonstrated that ER–nuclear membrane contiguity acts as a mechanical buffer.
rdcu.be
December 9, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Joe Shen’s and Zaza Gelashvili’s work on the role of the ER in nuclear membrane mechanotransduction finally came out in a journal!
Reposted by Philipp Niethammer
I wrote a piece for Marginalia Review of Books, based on a talk earlier this year, about the role of narratives in science - something that I think deserves more attention than it gets.
www.marginaliareviewofbooks.com/post/theory-...
www.marginaliareviewofbooks.com/post/theory-...
Theory, Metaphor, Narrative: How Science Creates the Stories it Tells
PHILIP BALL | Science is often not a competition between theories but a process of narrative creation in which the paradigm tends to be set by the most persuasive narrative
www.marginaliareviewofbooks.com
December 8, 2025 at 9:52 PM
I wrote a piece for Marginalia Review of Books, based on a talk earlier this year, about the role of narratives in science - something that I think deserves more attention than it gets.
www.marginaliareviewofbooks.com/post/theory-...
www.marginaliareviewofbooks.com/post/theory-...
Membrane potential mediates the cellular response to mechanical pressure: Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Membrane potential mediates the cellular response to mechanical pressure
Cells in tissues need to know when to start growing and when to stop growing to quickly
heal wounds but prevent tumorous overgrowth. Membrane potential allows cells to sense
physical forces, including...
www.cell.com
December 5, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Membrane potential mediates the cellular response to mechanical pressure: Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Eric Karsenti about EMBL's Golden Age of innovation and biological vision - was exciting to witness a small part of it as a young PhD student.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5QY...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5QY...
Éric Karsenti, EMBL Group Leader 1985-2013
YouTube video by EMBL Alumni
www.youtube.com
December 2, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Eric Karsenti about EMBL's Golden Age of innovation and biological vision - was exciting to witness a small part of it as a young PhD student.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5QY...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5QY...
Take this, biorender and AI slop! Lack of talent is still better than lack of soul 🤣
December 2, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Take this, biorender and AI slop! Lack of talent is still better than lack of soul 🤣
Looking forward to this!
December 1, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Looking forward to this!
Fascinating book!
November 26, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Fascinating book!
Friedrich Hoelderlin about a critical, non-genetic step of human evolution (Hyperion).
November 20, 2025 at 11:56 PM
Friedrich Hoelderlin about a critical, non-genetic step of human evolution (Hyperion).
Very interesting data!
Divergence of immune cell types in chordate blood
Innate immune cells are found in almost all metazoans, but the evolution and conservation
of these cells is poorly characterized. Scully et al. present a transcriptional and
morphological atlas of blo...
www.cell.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Very interesting data!
If you are interested in persuing a PhD in basic biology or bioengeneering, check out our MSK graduate school. MSKCC runs two highly curated PhD programs that cater to open-minded students curious about applied or fundamental biological research.
Training Tomorrow’s Leaders: Graduate Education at GSK
Since its founding 19 years ago, the Gerstner Sloan Kettering Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences has attracted bright minds drawn to its connection to MSK. Learn more about how we're training tomo...
www.mskcc.org
November 18, 2025 at 4:22 PM
If you are interested in persuing a PhD in basic biology or bioengeneering, check out our MSK graduate school. MSKCC runs two highly curated PhD programs that cater to open-minded students curious about applied or fundamental biological research.
Thrilled to visit my old postdoctoral home-base, where I spent some of the most exciting years of my career in Tim Mitchison’s lab! sysbio.med.harvard.edu
Systems Biology
sysbio.med.harvard.edu
November 16, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Thrilled to visit my old postdoctoral home-base, where I spent some of the most exciting years of my career in Tim Mitchison’s lab! sysbio.med.harvard.edu
Reposted by Philipp Niethammer
What kind of cognitive complexity can a cell display? What is the role played by nonlinear dynamics of signalling networks? Check this wonderful review paper by Aneta Koseska @koseskalab.bsky.social & Philippe Bastiaens @jgojalvo.bsky.social @jordiplam.bsky.social www.embopress.org/doi/pdf/10.1...
June 3, 2025 at 10:56 AM
What kind of cognitive complexity can a cell display? What is the role played by nonlinear dynamics of signalling networks? Check this wonderful review paper by Aneta Koseska @koseskalab.bsky.social & Philippe Bastiaens @jgojalvo.bsky.social @jordiplam.bsky.social www.embopress.org/doi/pdf/10.1...
Reposted by Philipp Niethammer
Wound healing is a hallmark feature of all life, including single cells. In a new preprint, Ambika Nadkarni @biochembika.bsky.social investigates a new dimension in cellular wound healing: how cells recover AFTER the wound has been closed
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 10, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Wound healing is a hallmark feature of all life, including single cells. In a new preprint, Ambika Nadkarni @biochembika.bsky.social investigates a new dimension in cellular wound healing: how cells recover AFTER the wound has been closed
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...