Jessica Zhao
@jesszhiyuezhao.bsky.social
PhD candidate in Brangwynne Lab @ Princeton, previously @ UCLA Chem. and Bio. Eng.
“Science guided by empathy transforms lives.”
“Science guided by empathy transforms lives.”
Pinned
Jessica Zhao
@jesszhiyuezhao.bsky.social
· Nov 18
For my first Bluesky post, I'm excited to share that the first paper of my PhD work is out! In this work, we focus on how condensates in the cell nucleus respond to mechanical deformation during cell confined migration, a process involved in cancer cell metastasis. (1/3)
Reposted by Jessica Zhao
Pathologists have used nuclear & tissue shapes to diagnose #cancer for decades, but what is the molecular basis for this? In our latest work, we develop a computational pipeline to figure this out in #colorectalcancer! Check out 🧵& preprint #mechanobiology #stemcells www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
August 15, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Pathologists have used nuclear & tissue shapes to diagnose #cancer for decades, but what is the molecular basis for this? In our latest work, we develop a computational pipeline to figure this out in #colorectalcancer! Check out 🧵& preprint #mechanobiology #stemcells www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Check out our newest manuscript on how chromatin meshwork controls phase separation of nuclear condensates!
Congrats to Jing @jesszhiyuezhao.bsky.social
& @dnamystrom.bsky.social on cool manuscript!!! Reveals how cell nucleus is a heterogeneous material, w chromatin organization controlling formation & phase behavior of nuclear condensates. #CellBiology #Chromatin #PhaseSeparation rdcu.be/evWxR
& @dnamystrom.bsky.social on cool manuscript!!! Reveals how cell nucleus is a heterogeneous material, w chromatin organization controlling formation & phase behavior of nuclear condensates. #CellBiology #Chromatin #PhaseSeparation rdcu.be/evWxR
Chromatin heterogeneity modulates nuclear condensate dynamics and phase behavior
Nature Communications - Chromatin heterogeneity in the cell nucleus modulates the size, mobility, and formation of biomolecular condensates; decreasing chromatin heterogeneity correlates with...
rdcu.be
July 13, 2025 at 7:42 AM
Check out our newest manuscript on how chromatin meshwork controls phase separation of nuclear condensates!
brangwinners ❤️
An amazing group of students this year in Brangwynne rotation @mblscience.bsky.social Physiology course!!!!
June 30, 2025 at 7:18 PM
brangwinners ❤️
Reposted by Jessica Zhao
Start of 2025 @mblscience.bsky.social Physiology course! This is the second year of Amy @gladfelterlab.bsky.social and I co-Directing this absolutely amazing and life-changing course: www.mbl.edu/education/ad...
June 9, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Start of 2025 @mblscience.bsky.social Physiology course! This is the second year of Amy @gladfelterlab.bsky.social and I co-Directing this absolutely amazing and life-changing course: www.mbl.edu/education/ad...
Reposted by Jessica Zhao
Nucleoli as biomolecular bubble tea! Congrats to former Princeton ugrad Holly Cheng (now GS @MIT) ->Holly's senior thesis work, a close collab w Roggeveen Wang & @zs-biophys.bsky.social &Stone. Come for the cool movies & stay for the viscoelasticity! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2407423122
May 28, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Nucleoli as biomolecular bubble tea! Congrats to former Princeton ugrad Holly Cheng (now GS @MIT) ->Holly's senior thesis work, a close collab w Roggeveen Wang & @zs-biophys.bsky.social &Stone. Come for the cool movies & stay for the viscoelasticity! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2407423122
Reposted by Jessica Zhao
What drives cytoplasmic mRNA organization? We created unbiased, genome-wide maps of mesoscale RNA-RNA spatial proximity, revealing impact of encoded protein function. Fantastic work from @lindsayabecker.bsky.social @sofiquinodoz.bsky.social @davidaknowles.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Genome-wide mapping of mesoscale neuronal RNA organization and condensation
Subcellular RNA organization can affect critical cellular functions. However, our understanding of RNA microenvironments, particularly biomolecular condensates, remains limited, largely due to a lack ...
www.biorxiv.org
April 21, 2025 at 1:48 PM
What drives cytoplasmic mRNA organization? We created unbiased, genome-wide maps of mesoscale RNA-RNA spatial proximity, revealing impact of encoded protein function. Fantastic work from @lindsayabecker.bsky.social @sofiquinodoz.bsky.social @davidaknowles.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Jessica Zhao
1/14 “Epithelial” & “Mesenchymal” aren’t binary categories—they form a spectrum, or better yet, a multidimensional space. This becomes especially clear in collective cell migration, which often depends on a finely tuned degree of “mesenchymal-ness”.
#cellbio #devbio #cellmigration
#cellbio #devbio #cellmigration
April 20, 2025 at 7:32 AM
1/14 “Epithelial” & “Mesenchymal” aren’t binary categories—they form a spectrum, or better yet, a multidimensional space. This becomes especially clear in collective cell migration, which often depends on a finely tuned degree of “mesenchymal-ness”.
#cellbio #devbio #cellmigration
#cellbio #devbio #cellmigration
Reposted by Jessica Zhao
We may not have really squared the circle — but we came close! 😉 In our @NaturePhysics paper w/ @fakhrilab.bsky.social, light-triggered membrane excitability enables programmable shapes — a step toward engineering living matter.
🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#biophysics #syntheticcell #softmatter
🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#biophysics #syntheticcell #softmatter
March 31, 2025 at 1:11 PM
We may not have really squared the circle — but we came close! 😉 In our @NaturePhysics paper w/ @fakhrilab.bsky.social, light-triggered membrane excitability enables programmable shapes — a step toward engineering living matter.
🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#biophysics #syntheticcell #softmatter
🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#biophysics #syntheticcell #softmatter
Reposted by Jessica Zhao
In a remarkable new paper researchers take a very unconventional approach, introducing into yeast cells (S. cerevisiae) entirely new chromosomes whose DNA never existed in a eukaryotic nucleus. They do this by making the entire bacterial genome of two different bacteria into a yeast chromosome 3/n
March 28, 2025 at 11:10 AM
In a remarkable new paper researchers take a very unconventional approach, introducing into yeast cells (S. cerevisiae) entirely new chromosomes whose DNA never existed in a eukaryotic nucleus. They do this by making the entire bacterial genome of two different bacteria into a yeast chromosome 3/n
Reposted by Jessica Zhao
I'm so happy to report that our preprint on light-induced collective cell migration has now been published in Cell Systems! This project was a lot of fun and will be the basis for a lot of our ongoing & future work.
Large-scale control over collective cell migration using light-activated epidermal growth factor receptors
Programmable control over tissue movement is a fundamental challenge for tissue engineering
and wound healing. Suh, Thornton, et al. discovered that a light-controlled EGF receptor
controls long-range...
www.cell.com
March 25, 2025 at 6:29 PM
I'm so happy to report that our preprint on light-induced collective cell migration has now been published in Cell Systems! This project was a lot of fun and will be the basis for a lot of our ongoing & future work.
Reposted by Jessica Zhao
Are you—or someone you know—exploring the crossroads of #AI and #CellularPhysiology?
@hhmijanelia.bsky.social is hosting a free, live-streamed conference March 30 - April 1, diving into the latest AI-driven advances in biological research.
Join via Zoom—register now: janelia.news/register
@hhmijanelia.bsky.social is hosting a free, live-streamed conference March 30 - April 1, diving into the latest AI-driven advances in biological research.
Join via Zoom—register now: janelia.news/register
📢 #AI & #CellularPhysiology researchers 👉 tune in via Zoom March 30-April 1 for a free livestream of our conference on the emerging intersection of AI and biological research.
Topics will range from AI-driven genomic insights to dataset challenges & more.
🔗Register to watch: janelia.news/register
Topics will range from AI-driven genomic insights to dataset challenges & more.
🔗Register to watch: janelia.news/register
March 21, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Are you—or someone you know—exploring the crossroads of #AI and #CellularPhysiology?
@hhmijanelia.bsky.social is hosting a free, live-streamed conference March 30 - April 1, diving into the latest AI-driven advances in biological research.
Join via Zoom—register now: janelia.news/register
@hhmijanelia.bsky.social is hosting a free, live-streamed conference March 30 - April 1, diving into the latest AI-driven advances in biological research.
Join via Zoom—register now: janelia.news/register
Reposted by Jessica Zhao
Interested in nuclear mechanobiology, and how advanced genomic tools can shed light on how the cell nucleus might sense mechanical forces? Read our latest review by excellent Julien Morival and Anna Hazelwood, now published @jcellsci.bsky.social:
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article-...
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article-...
Feeling the force from within – new tools and insights into nuclear mechanotransduction
Summary: This Review discusses new insights and technological advances in understanding how the nucleus contributes to the ability of the cell to translate mechanical stimuli into transcriptional resp...
journals.biologists.com
March 11, 2025 at 3:13 AM
Interested in nuclear mechanobiology, and how advanced genomic tools can shed light on how the cell nucleus might sense mechanical forces? Read our latest review by excellent Julien Morival and Anna Hazelwood, now published @jcellsci.bsky.social:
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article-...
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article-...
Reposted by Jessica Zhao
New online! Integrating model systems and genomic insights to decipher mechanisms of cancer metastasis
Integrating model systems and genomic insights to decipher mechanisms of cancer metastasis
Nature Reviews Genetics, Published online: 10 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41576-025-00825-2This Review explores how experimental models of metastasis, such as mouse models and cell cultures, can complement the (multi)omics analysis of human metastasis…
www.nature.com
March 10, 2025 at 11:29 AM
New online! Integrating model systems and genomic insights to decipher mechanisms of cancer metastasis
Reposted by Jessica Zhao
New Preprint ‼️ Work led by the incredible @ananyac2000.bsky.social 💃🏽💃🏽 Mpipi-T is finally here!!! 🥳🥳 👇🏽👇🏽
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
March 6, 2025 at 10:10 PM
New Preprint ‼️ Work led by the incredible @ananyac2000.bsky.social 💃🏽💃🏽 Mpipi-T is finally here!!! 🥳🥳 👇🏽👇🏽
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Jessica Zhao
#Cellpose 3 paper now out. Not all images are perfect. Restore your images with Cellpose3 to get better segmentations, w/ @marius10p.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
February 12, 2025 at 11:10 AM
#Cellpose 3 paper now out. Not all images are perfect. Restore your images with Cellpose3 to get better segmentations, w/ @marius10p.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Jessica Zhao
1/n Excited to share our new preprint! Using live imaging in Drosophila embryos, we show that RNA Pol II clusters switch from sites of initiation to elongation during zygotic genome activation and that they are stably associated with an active gene: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
February 12, 2025 at 11:36 AM
1/n Excited to share our new preprint! Using live imaging in Drosophila embryos, we show that RNA Pol II clusters switch from sites of initiation to elongation during zygotic genome activation and that they are stably associated with an active gene: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Heading to my first ever GRS/GRC soon! 🌴 Can't wait to learn so much about the field of #PhysicalScienceofCancer www.grc.org/physical-sci...
2025 Physical Science of Cancer Conference GRC
The 2025 Gordon Research Conference on Physical Science of Cancer will be held in Pomona, California. Apply today to reserve your spot.
www.grc.org
February 1, 2025 at 2:55 AM
Heading to my first ever GRS/GRC soon! 🌴 Can't wait to learn so much about the field of #PhysicalScienceofCancer www.grc.org/physical-sci...
Reposted by Jessica Zhao
I put together a small guide on how to get started with Fiji. Please distribute to anyone who might benefit form this! zenodo.org/records/1477... #imageanalysis #fiji #imagej #training
Image handling using Fiji - training materials
Description:This training package provides a guide to image processing and analysis using ImageJ/Fiji, an open-source software widely used in biological and medical imaging. The manual includes step-b...
zenodo.org
January 30, 2025 at 3:10 PM
I put together a small guide on how to get started with Fiji. Please distribute to anyone who might benefit form this! zenodo.org/records/1477... #imageanalysis #fiji #imagej #training
Reposted by Jessica Zhao
If you care about the University of California and life-saving biomedical research, read this and be our ally! Thanks for speaking about it @fleabrained.bsky.social and @christineliu.art
www.latimes.com/california/s...
www.latimes.com/california/s...
UC, a top recipient of federal research funding, is concerned about Trump pause on grant reviews
The University of California, the nation's top recipient of federal research funding in higher education, is raising questions and concerns about the Trump administration's pause in research grant rev...
www.latimes.com
January 25, 2025 at 5:24 PM
If you care about the University of California and life-saving biomedical research, read this and be our ally! Thanks for speaking about it @fleabrained.bsky.social and @christineliu.art
www.latimes.com/california/s...
www.latimes.com/california/s...
Reposted by Jessica Zhao
Attention all you fantastic and energetic student and postdocs!!!!!
The deadline to apply for the MBL Physiology course is fast approaching, January 27th! Consider applying to this amazing, life-changing research discovery experience in Woods Hole! www.mbl.edu/education/ad...
Physiology: Modern Cell Biology Using Microscopic, Biochemical and Computational Approaches | Marine Biological Laboratory
This course is at the forefront of new tools — molecular, computational, biophysical — as it prepares students to tackle emerging biological questions.
www.mbl.edu
January 23, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Attention all you fantastic and energetic student and postdocs!!!!!
Reposted by Jessica Zhao
Excited to share James Jusuf's preprint:
By integrating Micro-C with SuperRes Live-Imaging we can calibrate genomics&imaging to perform absolute quantification of looping (e.g. this loop is present 3%)
We quantify mESC 36k loops: are generally rare (2.3%)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
By integrating Micro-C with SuperRes Live-Imaging we can calibrate genomics&imaging to perform absolute quantification of looping (e.g. this loop is present 3%)
We quantify mESC 36k loops:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
January 16, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Excited to share James Jusuf's preprint:
By integrating Micro-C with SuperRes Live-Imaging we can calibrate genomics&imaging to perform absolute quantification of looping (e.g. this loop is present 3%)
We quantify mESC 36k loops: are generally rare (2.3%)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
By integrating Micro-C with SuperRes Live-Imaging we can calibrate genomics&imaging to perform absolute quantification of looping (e.g. this loop is present 3%)
We quantify mESC 36k loops:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Jessica Zhao
January 14, 2025 at 3:26 AM
Reposted by Jessica Zhao
HNY! In case you thought 2025 is the year of the snake, it's actually the year of the SQUID 🦑 Excited to present this new protocol paper from the @brangwynnelab.bsky.social on isolating+transfecting squid primary cells 🧫✨! Check it out here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Squid primary cell culture as a model system and experimental tool
Squid primary cells from various tissues and ages are isolated, maintained in culture, and express exogenous genes. This protocol opens up numerous opportunities in molecular biology, neuroscience, an...
www.biorxiv.org
January 14, 2025 at 3:07 AM
HNY! In case you thought 2025 is the year of the snake, it's actually the year of the SQUID 🦑 Excited to present this new protocol paper from the @brangwynnelab.bsky.social on isolating+transfecting squid primary cells 🧫✨! Check it out here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Jessica Zhao
Happy to share our new publication in @naturephysics.bsky.social on life and death of eliminated cells! Great collaboration between our CAM team and Doostmohammadi's. Special congrats @lakshmib02.bsky.social and Siavash Monfared! 🎉
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
January 8, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Happy to share our new publication in @naturephysics.bsky.social on life and death of eliminated cells! Great collaboration between our CAM team and Doostmohammadi's. Special congrats @lakshmib02.bsky.social and Siavash Monfared! 🎉
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Jessica Zhao
Excited to share the first paper from my lab 🤩 - a great collaboration with Dani Fachinetti lab - we discover a #mechanosensitive nuclear envelope #checkpoint that arrests cells directly post chromosome mis-segregation rdcu.be/d5AC9 👇🧵 #cancer #mechanics #p53 #chromatin
January 8, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Excited to share the first paper from my lab 🤩 - a great collaboration with Dani Fachinetti lab - we discover a #mechanosensitive nuclear envelope #checkpoint that arrests cells directly post chromosome mis-segregation rdcu.be/d5AC9 👇🧵 #cancer #mechanics #p53 #chromatin