6/6 This was a huge team effort, and I'm deeply grateful to everyone involved: Carlo Bevilacqua & Robert Prevedel @prevedel-lab.bsky.social, Connie Rumpf-Kienzl, Alexandra Zampetaki & Sebastian Fürthauer, Manuel Rufin, Orestis G. Andriotis & Philipp J. Thurner!

5/6 2️⃣ Softening may allow the PCM to expand. This could promote microtubule nucleation throughout a larger volume, which is critical for building a large mitotic spindle quickly, especially in big embryonic cells. A mechanical adaptation for cell division!

4/6 Why would centrosomes need to soften? 1️⃣ Softer material dampens force fluctuations from the astral microtubules, which could protect chromosome attachments. A stiff centrosome wouldn't do this.

3/6 But are mitotic centrosomes more deformed just because they have more microtubules, or also because they get softer? We used two methods to find out: AFM on isolated centrosomes and Brillouin microscopy in living cells. The result? They soften during mitosis!

2/6 This deformation isn't from cortical pulling forces. It's caused by microtubules inside the centrosome scaffold. These internal microtubules define centrosome size, making it scale with cell volume. Deformation is smaller in smaller cells!

6/end This was a huge team effort, and I'm deeply grateful to everyone involved: Carlo Bevilacqua & Robert Prevedel @prevedel-lab.bsky.social, Connie Rumpf-Kienzl, Alexandra Zampetaki & Sebastian Fürthauer, Manuel Rufin, Orestis G. Andriotis & Philipp J. Thurner!

5/n 2️⃣ Softening may allow the PCM to expand. This could promote microtubule nucleation throughout a larger volume, which is critical for building a large mitotic spindle quickly, especially in big embryonic cells. A mechanical adaptation for cell division!

4/n Why would centrosomes need to soften? 1️⃣ Softer material dampens force fluctuations from the astral microtubules, which could protect chromosome attachments. A stiff centrosome wouldn't do this.

3/n But are mitotic centrosomes more deformed just because they have more microtubules, or also because they get softer? We used two methods to find out: AFM on isolated centrosomes and Brillouin microscopy in living cells. The result? They soften during mitosis!

2/n This deformation isn't from cortical pulling forces. It's caused by microtubules inside the centrosome scaffold. These internal microtubules define centrosome size, making it scale with cell volume. Deformation is smaller in smaller cells!

With Microscopy Nodes, you can play with large volumes (this ExM dataset from Granita Lokaj is 49 GB total) and integrate this with all the cool tools in Blender, such as this #geonodes model of the centriole, made by @banterlegroup.bsky.social !