Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
@surajshankar.bsky.social
Asst. Prof. in Physics
LSA Collegiate fellow
University of Michigan
Previously JF at Harvard & PhD at SU
he/him
https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/shankar-lab/
How function emerges collectively in soft, active, living matter? | Physics, maths, & biology
LSA Collegiate fellow
University of Michigan
Previously JF at Harvard & PhD at SU
he/him
https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/shankar-lab/
How function emerges collectively in soft, active, living matter? | Physics, maths, & biology
Pinned
Preprint 🚨! B cells form localized patterns in the immune synapse when mature, allowing improved affinity discrimination. How? We suggest a new mechanism using dynamic active forces and feedback! Read more @ arxiv.org/abs/2510.18771. Great colab with Shenshen Wang, Tom Chou and Tony Wong (UCLA).
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
☕Using #pancreatic #organoids, Lee et al. show that the balance between epithelial tissue permeability-driven lumenal pressure and cell proliferation affects ductal morphogenesis.
bit.ly/4qozmjG
bit.ly/4qozmjG
Permeability-driven pressure and cell proliferation control lumen morphogenesis in pancreatic organoids - Nature Cell Biology
Using pancreatic organoids, Lee et al. show that the balance between epithelial tissue permeability-driven lumenal pressure and cell proliferation affects ductal morphogenesis.
bit.ly
February 8, 2026 at 2:51 PM
☕Using #pancreatic #organoids, Lee et al. show that the balance between epithelial tissue permeability-driven lumenal pressure and cell proliferation affects ductal morphogenesis.
bit.ly/4qozmjG
bit.ly/4qozmjG
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
Arnoldo Bazan, a 16-year-old U.S. citizen, was put in a chokehold by ICE agents.
Agents took his phone, which he tracked to a used electronics vending machine near an ICE detention center.
Yes: ICE is stealing and selling people’s things after brutalizing them. There are no words.
Agents took his phone, which he tracked to a used electronics vending machine near an ICE detention center.
Yes: ICE is stealing and selling people’s things after brutalizing them. There are no words.
We Found More Than 40 Cases of Immigration Agents Using Banned Chokeholds and Other Moves That Can Cut Off Breathing
Civilians have had apparent seizures. One had his eyes roll back. Another had ribs broken. “I felt like I was going to p
www.propublica.org
January 15, 2026 at 7:15 PM
Arnoldo Bazan, a 16-year-old U.S. citizen, was put in a chokehold by ICE agents.
Agents took his phone, which he tracked to a used electronics vending machine near an ICE detention center.
Yes: ICE is stealing and selling people’s things after brutalizing them. There are no words.
Agents took his phone, which he tracked to a used electronics vending machine near an ICE detention center.
Yes: ICE is stealing and selling people’s things after brutalizing them. There are no words.
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
Why does life explore so few of the forms it could possibly take? Using fractal descriptors, this #scienceadvances paper shows that Earth’s biosphere clusters around simple shapes, reflecting deep evolutionary constraints. @artemyte.bsky.social @manlius.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1...
January 11, 2026 at 1:23 PM
Why does life explore so few of the forms it could possibly take? Using fractal descriptors, this #scienceadvances paper shows that Earth’s biosphere clusters around simple shapes, reflecting deep evolutionary constraints. @artemyte.bsky.social @manlius.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1...
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
With Byung Ho Lee and Kana Fuji as first/lead authors, @anne-grapin.bsky.social group, @utokyoofficial.bsky.social, Inst. of Physics of Academia Sinica, & @igbmc.bsky.social found the shape of lumens in the developing pancreas is controlled by pressure & proliferation. www.mpi-cbg.de/news-outreac...
Engineering the development of the pancreas
Researchers found that the shape of the fluid-filled cavities in the developing pancreas is controlled by pressure and the rate cells divide.
www.mpi-cbg.de
January 9, 2026 at 12:17 PM
With Byung Ho Lee and Kana Fuji as first/lead authors, @anne-grapin.bsky.social group, @utokyoofficial.bsky.social, Inst. of Physics of Academia Sinica, & @igbmc.bsky.social found the shape of lumens in the developing pancreas is controlled by pressure & proliferation. www.mpi-cbg.de/news-outreac...
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
Are you a junior scientist working in theoretical biophysics? @zamakany.bsky.social and I are organizing another workshop this fall here at @hhmijanelia.bsky.social. Travel and the workshop expenses are all covered!
tinyurl.com/yc66fawc
tinyurl.com/yc66fawc
Junior Scientist Workshop on Theoretical Biophysics
Attendees will have the opportunity to present as well as learn from one another. They will give 20-minute talks on their own research questions, as well as in-depth 45-minute whiteboard tutorials on
tinyurl.com
January 9, 2026 at 5:33 PM
Are you a junior scientist working in theoretical biophysics? @zamakany.bsky.social and I are organizing another workshop this fall here at @hhmijanelia.bsky.social. Travel and the workshop expenses are all covered!
tinyurl.com/yc66fawc
tinyurl.com/yc66fawc
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
Excited to share Alison's @alisonkickuth.bsky.social paper from the lab out in @nature.com this week! We uncovered how a mechanical ratchet mechanism drives cytokinesis in early #zebrafish embryos. Read more in this thread 🧵 and at www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🤩
@poldresden.bsky.social @mpi-cbg.de
@poldresden.bsky.social @mpi-cbg.de
January 7, 2026 at 4:02 PM
Excited to share Alison's @alisonkickuth.bsky.social paper from the lab out in @nature.com this week! We uncovered how a mechanical ratchet mechanism drives cytokinesis in early #zebrafish embryos. Read more in this thread 🧵 and at www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🤩
@poldresden.bsky.social @mpi-cbg.de
@poldresden.bsky.social @mpi-cbg.de
With @tzerhan29.bsky.social, @jasnir.bsky.social and Asja Radja, we are thrilled to organize an Aspen summer workshop (Aug 9-Sept 6) on the "Physics of Collective Function in Active Living Matter". Applications are open at aspenphys.org/event/physic... till Jan 15!!
Please share and apply soon!
Please share and apply soon!
January 6, 2026 at 7:58 PM
With @tzerhan29.bsky.social, @jasnir.bsky.social and Asja Radja, we are thrilled to organize an Aspen summer workshop (Aug 9-Sept 6) on the "Physics of Collective Function in Active Living Matter". Applications are open at aspenphys.org/event/physic... till Jan 15!!
Please share and apply soon!
Please share and apply soon!
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
I am beyond excited to announce that the Bisson Lab has a new home!!! Starting January 2026, I will join the Biology Department at Indiana University Bloomington as Associate Professor with tenure.
I am actively recruiting scientists across all levels. More in our website: bissonlab.com/join
[1/4]
I am actively recruiting scientists across all levels. More in our website: bissonlab.com/join
[1/4]
December 24, 2025 at 5:10 PM
I am beyond excited to announce that the Bisson Lab has a new home!!! Starting January 2026, I will join the Biology Department at Indiana University Bloomington as Associate Professor with tenure.
I am actively recruiting scientists across all levels. More in our website: bissonlab.com/join
[1/4]
I am actively recruiting scientists across all levels. More in our website: bissonlab.com/join
[1/4]
Katherine was a fantastic editor and writer. I got to know her when I was a graduate student, and she was always so supportive and encouraging of younger scientists. A shocking loss, she will be sorely missed.
Katherine was an intellectually intrepid writer and editor. She had great ambitions for what physics journalism could be and she pushed those around her to meet that mark, as this eulogy attests. It is just devastating to lose her.
In Memory of Katherine Wright | Physics Magazine
We pay tribute to our friend and colleague, whose journalistic talent and commitment to inclusivity left an indelible mark on Physics Magazine.
physics.aps.org
December 24, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Katherine was a fantastic editor and writer. I got to know her when I was a graduate student, and she was always so supportive and encouraging of younger scientists. A shocking loss, she will be sorely missed.
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
🚨 POSTDOC OPENING 🚨
NIH-funded Bio-Fluid Mechanics Postdoc in my lab @univmiami.bsky.social
Hofstenia miamia | cilia-driven flows | behavior & neuroscience
Collab w/ Mansi Srivastava @harvard.edu
🕒 Start: Jan–Feb 2026
⏳ 1 yr, renewable | Email me ASAP!
#Postdoc #Biophysics #FluidDynamics
NIH-funded Bio-Fluid Mechanics Postdoc in my lab @univmiami.bsky.social
Hofstenia miamia | cilia-driven flows | behavior & neuroscience
Collab w/ Mansi Srivastava @harvard.edu
🕒 Start: Jan–Feb 2026
⏳ 1 yr, renewable | Email me ASAP!
#Postdoc #Biophysics #FluidDynamics
December 23, 2025 at 6:31 PM
🚨 POSTDOC OPENING 🚨
NIH-funded Bio-Fluid Mechanics Postdoc in my lab @univmiami.bsky.social
Hofstenia miamia | cilia-driven flows | behavior & neuroscience
Collab w/ Mansi Srivastava @harvard.edu
🕒 Start: Jan–Feb 2026
⏳ 1 yr, renewable | Email me ASAP!
#Postdoc #Biophysics #FluidDynamics
NIH-funded Bio-Fluid Mechanics Postdoc in my lab @univmiami.bsky.social
Hofstenia miamia | cilia-driven flows | behavior & neuroscience
Collab w/ Mansi Srivastava @harvard.edu
🕒 Start: Jan–Feb 2026
⏳ 1 yr, renewable | Email me ASAP!
#Postdoc #Biophysics #FluidDynamics
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
The lab’s first pre-print! We investigated how growth-inducing Erk activity waves are regulated in regenerating zebrafish scales. We discovered that Erk waves are followed by waves of expression of their own inhibitors, as predicted by excitable waves theory. tinyurl.com/26r2cmpj
November 20, 2025 at 6:11 PM
The lab’s first pre-print! We investigated how growth-inducing Erk activity waves are regulated in regenerating zebrafish scales. We discovered that Erk waves are followed by waves of expression of their own inhibitors, as predicted by excitable waves theory. tinyurl.com/26r2cmpj
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
🙊
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 1:15 AM
🙊
Excited to be at ICTS for the school on Geometry, Mechanics and the Physics of Growth, co-organized with Ganga Prasath (IITM) and @joelmarthelot.bsky.social (Aix-Marseille)! Fantastic start with a lecture on continuum elasticity by @abigailplummer.bsky.social (BU)
November 3, 2025 at 5:26 AM
Excited to be at ICTS for the school on Geometry, Mechanics and the Physics of Growth, co-organized with Ganga Prasath (IITM) and @joelmarthelot.bsky.social (Aix-Marseille)! Fantastic start with a lecture on continuum elasticity by @abigailplummer.bsky.social (BU)
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
Had the pleasure of working with @mohannad-dardiry.bsky.social to rethink what it means to develop for life. Many thanks to @dev-journal.bsky.social! @embl.org #LifelongDevSI
October 31, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Had the pleasure of working with @mohannad-dardiry.bsky.social to rethink what it means to develop for life. Many thanks to @dev-journal.bsky.social! @embl.org #LifelongDevSI
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
Excited to share our new paper out in @isme-microbes.bsky.social. We asked if environmental microbial communities can be adaptively modulated by host species that transiently acquire their symbionts from the environment #SymbioSky #MicrobiomeSky
doi.org/10.1093/isme...
doi.org/10.1093/isme...
Host-mediated niche construction of bacterial communities in an aquatic microecosystem
Abstract. Microbes coordinate homeostasis in host-associated and environmental ecosystems alike, but the connectivity of these biomes is seldom considered.
doi.org
October 28, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Excited to share our new paper out in @isme-microbes.bsky.social. We asked if environmental microbial communities can be adaptively modulated by host species that transiently acquire their symbionts from the environment #SymbioSky #MicrobiomeSky
doi.org/10.1093/isme...
doi.org/10.1093/isme...
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
📣 New preprint! Stoked to share a fantastic collaboration with @campaslab.bsky.social!
We discover a unique mammalian mechanism for body axis elongation using mouse and human gastruloids, and confirm central findings in mouse embryos.
Check out the 🧵 👇
@mpi-cbg.de @poldresden.bsky.social
We discover a unique mammalian mechanism for body axis elongation using mouse and human gastruloids, and confirm central findings in mouse embryos.
Check out the 🧵 👇
@mpi-cbg.de @poldresden.bsky.social
Really excited to present the results of a fantastic collaboration with Jesse Veenvliet @jesseveenvliet.bsky.social @mpi-cbg.de @poldresden.bsky.social 🤩
We find a unique mechanism for body axis elongation in mammals, different from other vertebrate species
➡️ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We find a unique mechanism for body axis elongation in mammals, different from other vertebrate species
➡️ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
October 28, 2025 at 3:34 PM
📣 New preprint! Stoked to share a fantastic collaboration with @campaslab.bsky.social!
We discover a unique mammalian mechanism for body axis elongation using mouse and human gastruloids, and confirm central findings in mouse embryos.
Check out the 🧵 👇
@mpi-cbg.de @poldresden.bsky.social
We discover a unique mammalian mechanism for body axis elongation using mouse and human gastruloids, and confirm central findings in mouse embryos.
Check out the 🧵 👇
@mpi-cbg.de @poldresden.bsky.social
Preprint 🚨! B cells form localized patterns in the immune synapse when mature, allowing improved affinity discrimination. How? We suggest a new mechanism using dynamic active forces and feedback! Read more @ arxiv.org/abs/2510.18771. Great colab with Shenshen Wang, Tom Chou and Tony Wong (UCLA).
October 24, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Preprint 🚨! B cells form localized patterns in the immune synapse when mature, allowing improved affinity discrimination. How? We suggest a new mechanism using dynamic active forces and feedback! Read more @ arxiv.org/abs/2510.18771. Great colab with Shenshen Wang, Tom Chou and Tony Wong (UCLA).
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
“Cellular Olympics” our catalog of freeky ultra fast cellular superhero’s is freely available “Ann Rev of microbiology”
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
This is a compilation of world’s fastest single cell organisms - enjoy this buffet of rare delightful protists with mind bending speeds. 🧪
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
This is a compilation of world’s fastest single cell organisms - enjoy this buffet of rare delightful protists with mind bending speeds. 🧪
October 24, 2025 at 10:57 AM
“Cellular Olympics” our catalog of freeky ultra fast cellular superhero’s is freely available “Ann Rev of microbiology”
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
This is a compilation of world’s fastest single cell organisms - enjoy this buffet of rare delightful protists with mind bending speeds. 🧪
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
This is a compilation of world’s fastest single cell organisms - enjoy this buffet of rare delightful protists with mind bending speeds. 🧪
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
🚨🚨🚨
And THREE stood up!
Penn has joined MIT & Brown in rejecting Trump’s loyalty oath compact.
When we join together and fight back, WE WIN!
No amount of federal bribery is worth surrendering the freedom to question, explore, and dissent.
LET’S GO!
#DefendHigherEd
@aaup-penn.bsky.social
And THREE stood up!
Penn has joined MIT & Brown in rejecting Trump’s loyalty oath compact.
When we join together and fight back, WE WIN!
No amount of federal bribery is worth surrendering the freedom to question, explore, and dissent.
LET’S GO!
#DefendHigherEd
@aaup-penn.bsky.social
Penn rejects White House proposal for special funding treatment
With the decision, Penn becomes the third university to decline the offer.
www.thedp.com
October 16, 2025 at 5:24 PM
🚨🚨🚨
And THREE stood up!
Penn has joined MIT & Brown in rejecting Trump’s loyalty oath compact.
When we join together and fight back, WE WIN!
No amount of federal bribery is worth surrendering the freedom to question, explore, and dissent.
LET’S GO!
#DefendHigherEd
@aaup-penn.bsky.social
And THREE stood up!
Penn has joined MIT & Brown in rejecting Trump’s loyalty oath compact.
When we join together and fight back, WE WIN!
No amount of federal bribery is worth surrendering the freedom to question, explore, and dissent.
LET’S GO!
#DefendHigherEd
@aaup-penn.bsky.social
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
MCDB Assistant Professor Faculty Search. Please Repost!
Applications Due Oct 15th (TOMORROW!)
We welcome applications from all areas of physiology and neuroscience - spanning molecular, cellular, systems, and organismal levels.
More information can be found HERE:
lsa.umich.edu/mcdb/news-ev...
Applications Due Oct 15th (TOMORROW!)
We welcome applications from all areas of physiology and neuroscience - spanning molecular, cellular, systems, and organismal levels.
More information can be found HERE:
lsa.umich.edu/mcdb/news-ev...
MCDB Opens Search for Faculty | U-M LSA Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology (MCDB)
MCDB welcomes applications at the Assistant Professor level from outstanding biological scientists in all areas of physiology and neuroscience, spanning molecular, cellular, systems, and organismal le...
lsa.umich.edu
October 14, 2025 at 1:49 PM
MCDB Assistant Professor Faculty Search. Please Repost!
Applications Due Oct 15th (TOMORROW!)
We welcome applications from all areas of physiology and neuroscience - spanning molecular, cellular, systems, and organismal levels.
More information can be found HERE:
lsa.umich.edu/mcdb/news-ev...
Applications Due Oct 15th (TOMORROW!)
We welcome applications from all areas of physiology and neuroscience - spanning molecular, cellular, systems, and organismal levels.
More information can be found HERE:
lsa.umich.edu/mcdb/news-ev...
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
Lol the Nobels can't even acknowledge women's contribution to discovery. But sure let's acknowledge The Machines.
October 9, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Lol the Nobels can't even acknowledge women's contribution to discovery. But sure let's acknowledge The Machines.
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
Life knows how to keep going - even if it’s freezing -15 degrees C 🥶 outside. AGU just covered our discovery of ultra resistant ice diatoms gliding into a world record! 🧪🔬Enjoy the story here:
eos.org/articles/ice...
eos.org/articles/ice...
Ice Diatoms Glide at Record-Low Temperatures - Eos
New observations reveal how microscopic organisms move through polar ice and illustrate how they may have evolved to thrive in extreme environments.
eos.org
October 7, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Life knows how to keep going - even if it’s freezing -15 degrees C 🥶 outside. AGU just covered our discovery of ultra resistant ice diatoms gliding into a world record! 🧪🔬Enjoy the story here:
eos.org/articles/ice...
eos.org/articles/ice...
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
1/11 In @science.org: A new perspective on how our intestines renew. Cells are not “pushed out” by crowding or die from apoptosis. Instead, cells play a mechanical tug-of-war, where weaker cells extrude, reframing gut renewal as force-regulated. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Epithelial tension controls intestinal cell extrusion
Cell extrusion is essential for homeostatic self-renewal of the intestinal epithelium. Extrusion is thought to be triggered by crowding-induced compression of cells at the intestinal villus tip. In th...
www.science.org
September 6, 2025 at 7:36 PM
1/11 In @science.org: A new perspective on how our intestines renew. Cells are not “pushed out” by crowding or die from apoptosis. Instead, cells play a mechanical tug-of-war, where weaker cells extrude, reframing gut renewal as force-regulated. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
Dresden researchers @paveltomancak.bsky.social @bruvellu.bsky.social, Carl Modes, @cuencam15.bsky.social & colleagues published in @nature.com that a tissue fold in fruit fly embryos buffers mechanical stresses & may have evolved in response to mechanical forces. www.mpi-cbg.de/news-outreac...
Mechanical forces drive evolutionary change
A small tissue fold present in fruit fly embryos buffers mechanical stresses and may have evolved in response to mechanical forces.
www.mpi-cbg.de
September 3, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Dresden researchers @paveltomancak.bsky.social @bruvellu.bsky.social, Carl Modes, @cuencam15.bsky.social & colleagues published in @nature.com that a tissue fold in fruit fly embryos buffers mechanical stresses & may have evolved in response to mechanical forces. www.mpi-cbg.de/news-outreac...
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
Lab’s latest: (mouse) mums grow their guts during pregnancy and lactation: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
March 19, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Lab’s latest: (mouse) mums grow their guts during pregnancy and lactation: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...